Tom Nechville's Dream

Around age 30, young Tom Nechville was contemplating his place in the world, and decided to combine his main interest, playing the banjo, with his work experience of manufacturing, design and engineering. The result of his self study lead to the two words, “Banjo Designer”. Equipped with the knowledge of his fate, but not yet knowing how he was going to drastically modify his favorite instrument, he confided in a friend who suggested perhaps a banjo that employed a head that screwed on like a jar lid. This food for thought triggered a light bulb moment the next day, when Tom realized that you can’t really screw on a banjo head, but you can screw the banjo tone pot into the “lid” of the jar! The Heli-Mount concept was born. By firmly but adjustably fixing the neck to a hardware frame, any sort of banjo pot could be inserted from the back of the instrument and tightened with a single threaded flange, yielding perfect head tension.

The Heli-Mount frame, (meaning Helical Thread Mounting system) allows for easy, quick and simple adjustments, and offers the most versatility of any banjo. It has been the staple of our product line for over 30 years. The sound of a perfectly tensioned banjo head is remarkable: rich, deep, and sweet. The time spent changing the head transformed from an all afternoon event to a two minute spin.

Since that time in the late 1980's, he has made many other improvements to the banjo. These include an adjustable and removable neck connection that negates the need for coordinator rods. Also a compensated bridge, wooden armrest and radiused fingerboard. These are modern conveniences not traditionally found on the instrument. The result is cleaner sound and easy adjustment.