About Us

The Banjo Bolster was invented by husband and wife team - Ric and Deb Hollander. Ric's passion for the banjo and Deb's love of sewing and other crafts have combined over the years to explore creative ways of controlling the banjo's overtones.

“Every time we had a new idea I couldn't wait to figure out how to craft a prototype to see how it worked.  We have quite a collection of things we’ve tried!”   - Deb

When not sewing, Deb enjoys knitting, crocheting and doing macrame. She offers a beautiful line of handmade macrame watchbands on her site - macraband.com.

Ric is also a luthier and focuses on repairing vintage banjos and other stringed instruments. His extensive knowledge of stringed instrument construction and acoustics gives him a unique perspective in approaching the control of banjo overtones.

Ric has built several high-end home recording studio environments and has acquired a deep understanding of how to maximize room acoustics, especially in small spaces, to achieve professional results. You can hear samples of his recordings on Banjo Hangout, all of which were made in a spare bedroom studio that was optimized for recording.

Ric had the idea of approaching the banjo's tone chamber as an acoustic space that suffered from the side effects caused by reflected sound inside the banjo pot. Just like small rooms with low ceilings used for recording studios, reflected sound causes undesirable slapback reverberation as well as low-mid frequency boosting standing waves, all of which are perceived as undesirable overtones.

"We've been at this for quite a while, over a decade to be exact! We've tried lots of different approaches, but none (until now) preserved the full tonal spectrum and volume of the banjo. Each method focused on making contact with the banjo head as the primary method of controlling overtones. We realized that we needed to approach this from a completely different angle."  - Ric

After dozens and dozens of Banjo Bolster prototypes, and a year of refinement, the Banjo Bolster was born! We eagerly made them for our banjo playing friends and the reaction was over-the-top positive. In fact, they wanted one for all of their banjos! Just like with Ric's own banjos, the Banjo Bolster became a must-have item.

We realized we had something very special and began working with our patent attorney to file a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Once filed, we made the decision to launch this site and make the Banjo Bolster available for all banjo players to enjoy.

Every Banjo Bolster is handmade in our home in New York from 100% American materials and the highest quality European thread.