.....
A Long ‘Lost’ Friend .....
Walking past the tables of the Society Shop at the
last November meeting I noticed this rather attractive Banjo-Uke which
had been put on display as a raffle prize, a photo of which appeared in
the last ‘Vellum’, and it seemed strangely familiar. When I went to
have a closer look at it I suddenly realised that this instrument was my
old Abbott ‘Monarch’ that was made for me by the late Jack Abbott
(Jnr.), and I thought that you may be interested to know a little more
about it’s history.
My main interest within the Society has always been with the instruments
themselves, their history, and their connection with George Formby, and
from 1979 when I joined the Society I always wanted to have three
instruments in particular;
a ‘Ludwig’, a ‘Gibson’, and an Abbott ‘Monarch’. I was
fortunate enough to already own a ‘Ludwig’, and I then bought a
‘Gibson’, but the only Abbott ‘Monarch’s’ available were the
excellent but more recent models made from the mid-seventies onwards,
and I very much preferred a ‘bottom tension’ model with ‘slots’
in the flange like the older pre-war models.
Eventually, in about 1983 I decided to ask Jack Abbott (Jnr) to make me
one, and at first he refused point blank saying that he had neither the
time nor the inclination to tool up and make a model based on his
Father’s design.
However, when Steve Helme heard what I was trying to do he became very
keen to have one as well, so I went back to Jack and pestered him again
and again until he finally, though
still rather reluctantly, agreed to make us both an Abbott ‘Monarch’
in the
pre-war style, but he stressed that it would not be a complete copy.
When the two finished instruments were delivered Steve and I were
absolutely delighted with them, and Jack later told me that they were
the last two ‘bottom tension’ banjo-ukes that he ever made, although
he did make one or two other top-tension ones shortly afterwards before
he finished making them altogether. That instrument gave me a huge
amount of pleasure and it was a delight to see it again at Blackpool.
The sad thing was that when I eventually found a pre-war Abbott ‘Monarch’ I very reluctantly decided to sell the one that Jack had
made for me, so I was especially pleased to see it again last November.
So I can verify that the instrument in the Grand Draw which appeared on
page 13 of the Winter 2000 edition of ‘The Vellum’, is a genuine
bottom tension Abbott ‘Monarch’ banjo-uke made for me by Jack Abbott
(Jnr), and the lucky winner will end up with an excellent, and rather
rare, instrument.
John Croft.
December 2000. |
