Deering Banjo Company
Encyclopedia
The Deering Banjo Company was started in 1975 by Greg and Janet Deering. They are located in Spring Valley, California
. Deering Banjos makes Deering, Vega
, Tenbrooks, and Goodtime banjo
s.
At the age of 12, Greg purchased his first banjo by investing a months pay from his paper route into a used banjo. He learned to play Kingston Trio songs on his banjo with his best friend Tom playing guitar.
Greg made his first banjo as an industrial arts major at San Diego State College. In 1970, at 19 years of age he joined other enterprising young college students at the American Dream Co-Op and began doing instrument repairs and building banjos. This co-op would become the birth place of at least 4 now world renowned instrument manufacturers - a true tribute to the concept of the American dream! The American dream became the theme of Greg’s life when he and Janet started the Deering Banjo Company in 1975 as a family business. Together they not only raised two children but built, piece by piece, the Deering banjo factory. Today, over 35 years later, the Deering Banjo Company has delivered to over 76,318 happy musicians and counting …. one banjo at a time.
Spring Valley, California
Spring Valley is a census-designated place in San Diego County, California. The population was 28,205 at the 2010 census.The name "Spring Valley" may also refer to a wider area including the Spring Valley CDP, La Presa and part of the neighborhood of Casa de Oro...
. Deering Banjos makes Deering, Vega
Vega Company
The Vega Company was one of an illustrious group of musical instrument manufacturers trading in Boston, Massachusetts at the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. The company first took shape in 1881 under the guidance of Swedish-born Julius Nelson, his brother Carl, and a...
, Tenbrooks, and Goodtime banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
s.
A Master Luthier's Beginnings
Greg Deering began learning woodworking from his father at the age of two by watching him build model airplanes. Growing up in San Diego, he received his first tools and tool box pictured here, which he had carefully laid out in his wagon on his third birthday. Many of these tools he still has today. That is how important this was to him. It was a career in the making.At the age of 12, Greg purchased his first banjo by investing a months pay from his paper route into a used banjo. He learned to play Kingston Trio songs on his banjo with his best friend Tom playing guitar.
Greg made his first banjo as an industrial arts major at San Diego State College. In 1970, at 19 years of age he joined other enterprising young college students at the American Dream Co-Op and began doing instrument repairs and building banjos. This co-op would become the birth place of at least 4 now world renowned instrument manufacturers - a true tribute to the concept of the American dream! The American dream became the theme of Greg’s life when he and Janet started the Deering Banjo Company in 1975 as a family business. Together they not only raised two children but built, piece by piece, the Deering banjo factory. Today, over 35 years later, the Deering Banjo Company has delivered to over 76,318 happy musicians and counting …. one banjo at a time.
Endorsing artists
Some of their endorsing artists are:- Béla FleckBéla FleckBéla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...
- Tony TrischkaTony TrischkaTony Trischka is an American five-string banjo player.-Biography:Tony Trischka was born in Syracuse, New York, and graduated from Syracuse University with a B.A in Fine Arts, and was inspired to play the banjo in 1963, listening to the Kingston Trio's "Charlie and The MTA". Trischka was a...
- Doc WatsonDoc WatsonArthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
- Joe SatrianiJoe SatrianiJoseph "Joe" Satriani is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, with multiple Grammy Award nominations...
- Roy ClarkRoy ClarkRoy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...
- Keith UrbanKeith UrbanKeith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
- Rod StewartRod StewartRoderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
- Jimmy PageJimmy PageJames Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
- The Dixie Chicks
- Los LobosLos LobosLos Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
- Jens Kruger
- Wayne NewtonWayne NewtonWayne Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment...
- PrimusPrimus (band)Primus is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, currently composed of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde and drummer Jay Lane. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by Lane, though the latter two departed...
- The Violent Femmes
- The Elton JohnElton JohnSir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
Band - AerosmithAerosmithAerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
- John McEuenJohn McEuenJohn McEuen , is an American folk musician and entertainer. He was one of the earliest members of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He played with the band from 1966 to 1986, and returned in 2001.The group prior to that 'dissolved' a few times briefly, but none as long as in 1968, right after spending 4...
- Don Wayne RenoDon Wayne RenoDon Wayne Reno is a bluegrass musician and banjo player, and also an ordained minister. He is a son of famed bluegrass musician Don Reno. Reno is a mainstay of Hayseed Dixie with his brother Dale Reno as the mandolinist.-External links:*...
- Pete WernickPete WernickPete Wernick, also known by many as "Dr. Banjo", is an American musician.He is a five-string banjo player who has been involved in the bluegrass music scene since the 1970s, writing several instruction books and videos on how to play the banjo. He's also known for his own musical style called...
- Dropkick MurphysDropkick MurphysDropkick Murphys are an Irish-American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The band was initially signed to independent punk record label Hellcat Records, releasing five albums for the label, and making a name for themselves locally through constant playing and yearly St....
- John HartfordJohn HartfordJohn Cowan Hartford was an American folk, country and bluegrass composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle and banjo, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River lore...