Starr Banjos made right here in Colorado
Starr Banjos are handmade instruments in Gold Hill Colorado by Chuck Osbury. Chuck has been building banjos from the early 1960's, starting with the creation of Ode Banjos. Ode Banjos was the beginning of Chuck's journey of banjo instrument building and it eventually changed hands and was sold to Baldwin Piano Company in 1966. Eventually, the business went bankrupt and Chuck was able to buy back Ode Banjos. Ode Banjos still survives to this day, under the expertise of his son, Zen Ogsbury.
After selling off Ode Banjos, in 1970, Chuck started Ome Banjos and ran it with a small crew, including family members for many decades. Ome was very popular with many banjos players of all styes and genres. Openback banjos was especially popular but also players enjoyed Ome resonator banjos, as well.
Eventually through tough times and rising cost of running a business, Ome Banjos was sold to Gold Tone Music Group in 2024 and is still run in Florida to this day, maintaing tight requirements of original design, but also moving forward with new ideas in banjo models. You can find our listings of Ome Banjos.
After selling Ome Banjos, Chuck was left with many different parts that wasn't taken by Gold Tone he kept in his original shop in Gold Hill. He also has 200 some necks that he purchased over 40 years ago from Gibson Guitar and Banjo company. These are highly figured maple necks that are now handcarved and finished by Chuck, himself.
Starr Banjos is named after Chucks middle name, Starr, and he continues his journey of handmade banjos, using high quality materials. Let's start with his Tone rim. Some tone rims are three ply, but he uses 12 ply curly maple on of his rims to make it really strong and give the tone an nice fundamental base. This highly figured maple rim is matched with the vintage Gibson maple neck to create a warm, woody and clear tone. This is constructed with a solid aged brass hardware to tie it all together. This gives Chuck a nice basis to build his clawhammer and bluegrass banjos.
