Welcome to
Ellis Banjo Company

The Story Behind Ellis Banjo Company LLC

My name is Emily Ellis Richards, and I live on a family farm in south Alabama. We have horses, cows, chickens, ponies, goats, dogs, cats, one pig and one large tortoise. Most of my family lives on this farm. Mom and Dad are next door and my brother is just down the road. Lots of cousins call this farmland home as well. I enjoy riding horses, creating art, woodworking, being in nature, making music with friends and camping with my husband, Joel, and two kids. I have always loved the old way of doing things and often feel like I was born during the wrong time period.

            All of my banjos are hand-guided in their building, meaning I do not use laser cutting, or a computer program or a CNC machine for my inlay or shaping my necks or any other part of the building process. I mainly use hand tools like spokeshaves and variously sized files and also a shave horse. I do use an electrically powered bandsaw and drill press. All this to say that you are getting an instrument that is handmade, and that is really important to my personal process. I love the deep, soulful sound that gourds and tackhead banjos produce, and one of my favorite parts of the building process is oiling the neck for the first time and seeing the wood really come alive. I spent the last several years building banjo after banjo until I started producing banjos that I love to own and play.

It is truly an honor to build your banjo for you, and I take being your builder seriously.