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| Photos of our facilities
The photos below are "thumbnails."
Click on the thumbnails to see full-sized photos.
Paul Hopkins watches closely as Lee Nease machines another Hopkins flathead tone ring.
Each stage of the work is meticulously excecuted. Lee has machined hundreds of tone rings. Each one passes a rigorous inspection. Samples are taken on a regular basis and submitted for metallurgical analysis to insure the correct composition.
In order to produce the most precise inlays possible, we use this state of the art CNC cutter to produce both the inlays and the openings into which they fit.
Then the fingerboards and inlays are brought over to this table, where they are assembled carefully by Paul or David Hopkins.
David Hopkins at work on a neck assembly after fingerboard has been attached. Next, David will stain it and Paul will put the finish on it.
Some of the assembly is done at this table, under Mike Longworth's watchful eye, using the very tools he used to work with, shown below.
Final assembly is done here under bright light so every aspect of the instrument can be clearly seen.
On this same table, Mike Longworth inlaid the fingerboards of the stringed instruments of many famous musicians. His work is still known world-wide.
Paul inspects the glued-up necks before binding and final shaping.
David and Paul Hopkins inspecting a banjo after assembly is complete. Then the instrument is placed into a hard shell case, carefully packed, and shipped to one of our dealers. They make sure that every banjo looks right, sounds right and feels right.
After all, their personal signatures are inside every banjo.
Lee Nease's Home page is located at www.neasemachineandbarrel.com.
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