Van Eps Fretboard Slotting Jig

by Jim DeCava

Originally published in American Lutherie #74, 2003 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015



The call came from Paul Morrissey, sole owner of Liberty Banjo Company in 1984. Would I like to buy some parts? I had no idea Paul was selling out. When I got there, 90% of everything was gone, sold to a company out West.

I had been managing the repair department of an electronics firm that made digital nurse-call systems in 1975, and doing some banjo inlay work on the side. Bob Flesher asked if I’d like to work for Liberty full time when they opened a shop in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut. Two weeks later, I was making banjos full time and have not stopped yet. I left to start my own business in 1983.