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Deering Banjos offers a full range of American made banjo’s including the Deering, Vega, Tenbrooks, and Goodtime banjos, all of which are hand built by a dedicated team of specialists in Spring Valley, CA. The facility is located 10 miles east of downtown San Diego.
Greg and Janet Deering 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.
The Deering Banjos staff has nearly 300 years of combined banjo building expertise. The focus is making the highest quality banjos in all price ranges, while providing the best banjos in the world.
This is a family run business with tight, personal business relationships with craftsmen, suppliers, dealers, and customers. The focus, and passion of the company is to create great banjos that enable artists to enjoy expressing their music.
Today, some 44 years after it all began, the Deering Banjo Company has seen many a milestone including the launch of the Goodtime Series in 1997, the relocation to a new 18,000 sq. ft. facility in 2001, and the launch of the Eagle II in 2009, a breakthrough in banjo tone with the development of the new Twenty-Ten™ tone ring. Deering has delivered the finest hand built American instruments to over 100,000 musicians and counting.
Jamie Deering, Greg and Janet’s daughter, has been an integral part of Deering Banjo Company from a very young age. She attended her first NAMM trade show in 1979 when she was just 6 weeks old.
Now, 40 years after her first NAMM Show, Jamie was recently appointed to the position of CEO of Deering Banjo Company.
Jamie began working at the Deering shop at an early age, cleaning the bathrooms and taking out the trash. In middle school she assembled banjo drums, punched the Boston flange pieces and holes, and helped organize the files in the office. In high school she worked staining and in-between-coat finish sanding.
Jamie simply knows banjos – inside and out. She was her mother's right-hand person at the first summer NAMM Shows held in Nashville, TN. She has also managed banjo sales at the Walnut Valley Festival where the National Banjo Championship takes place every September.
“It is a great honor to have grown up a part of a family company and get to be a contributing part of it,” Jamie says. “Seeing how hard my folks and their team have worked to make Deering Banjos what it is, has been inspiring. I learned the importance of hard work, doing a good honest job, and the amount of persistence in both the challenging and easy times that you must have in order to succeed.”
In 2017, Jamie accepted the position of VP Public Relations, which led to her being named CEO of the Deering Banjo Company.
“We are delighted and very excited to have Jamie become the CEO of Deering Banjo Company, to take it into the next generation,” says Jamie’s father, Greg Deering. “While Janet and I have accomplished a lot in 44 years, Jamie, if anything, has more horsepower and is smarter than we are. She has stellar people and communication skills. Deering Banjo Company will see a wonderful and expanded banjo world with Jamie as our CEO.”
Here is a quick overview of the primary banjos produced by Deering Banjo Co.
The Goodtime™ Banjo
Easy to play, durable, and easy to maintain. The Goodtime banjo produces a vibrant ringing tone from its natural finished violin grade maple rim. At only four pounds, the weight makes it ideal for both children and adults to play and to travel with conveniently. Teachers and professionals around the world recommend the Goodtime banjo for greater success in learning.
Goodtime Americana™
Continuing the long-standing Goodtime philosophy of offering the best value American made banjos available, the Americana is the lowest priced 12” model on the market today and retains the distinctive natural blonde Goodtime aesthetics. In keeping with the rest of the Goodtime line, this banjo also features guitar style tuners, a rock maple neck, nickel plated hardware, and hardwood inlays.
Vega® Banjos
The story of how Greg Deering came to own the 200-year-old Vega trademark is one of childhood dreams and an unmissable opportunity. Since that day in 1989, Deering has breathed new life into the Vega name, blending over a century of tradition with Deering's banjo building expertise, to create a range of heritage rich open back and longneck banjos that are as integral to the modern folk sounds of the Avett Brothers as they were to Pete Seeger’s personal revolution.
The Flagship Series™
The Flagship Series™ banjos are the essence of the original banjos that Greg and Janet Deering started making around the time of the company's inception. Players can expect an inspiring collection of professional grade banjos which, when played, will leave the player longing for more. Flagship Series models come packed with original Deering features including beautiful intricate inlay work, more choices of wood, ebony fingerboard, gloss finish on select models, a hardshell case, and a lifetime warranty.
Tenbrooks Series™
The professional Tenbrooks banjo line has proven itself to be amongst the very finest banjos ever manufactured. Trusted by many of the top performing banjo artists worldwide, the Tenbrooks banjo (introduced to the market in 2002) has traveled the world over and proven itself to be truly extraordinary in tone quality as well as playability.
In addition to making great banjos, the company creates, and shares, an extensive library of knowledge regarding owning and playing a banjo. Check out their website at www.deeringbanjos.com for lots of valuable information and a complete product rundown.
The Acoustic Shoppe in Springfield, MO is honored to be a Deering Banjo dealer. We stock Deering banjos and would love to visit with you about these excellent instruments.
Give us a call at 417-720-1223, shoot us an email at info@theacousticshoppe.com, or stop by our showroom at 1913 E Seminole St. in Springfield, Missouri. Happy pickin’!
