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Don passed away on May 13, 1995. Below are some things we found pertaining to Don's life after high school:
Banzer, Don, d. 5/13/1995 at 50; b. 1944.
Don was a builder in Ashtabula, Ohio. He built mainly classical guitars, but made forays into steel string territory on a regular basis. I got one of his 6-string steels when he announced a sale (he needed the dough and made up a flyer, a friend saw it...). My friend is a classical player and had a few of Don's guitars.
Don had a contract in-hand for everything he could make for a few years when he discovered he had cancer. It was literally on adjacent days that these two events happened. Very sad. the cancer was a very nasty sort he is no longer with us. This is why there is so little info on the man.
He built a decent guitar. His steel strings were quite a bit better than his classical work, by the way, with caveat or two. Don didn't believe in truss rods or metal of any kind in his guitars, and he had his own ideas about dovetail joints. He did, thankfully, leave a neck channel in place where most builders place truss rods. Or at least he did on my guitar.
My 6-string is a wonderful guitar. It has excellent volume and a nice range of tone. It served me well for about 15 years, then the neck began to twist and come detached. The repairman managed to get it apart (this was not trivial), rammed a bunch of carbon-fiber rods into the neck channel, and re-did the dovetail. The neck joint was between the 14th and 15th frets, rather than the usual "right at the 15th fret" that most builders do. Gene the repair guy called it the worst excuse for a dovetail he had ever seen. He sent pictures. I believe him. The guitar now plays and sounds better than ever. I'm very glad I got it fixed. I now have better guitars, but that one holds many fond memories for me and sits well in any mix. My buddy Brandon is using it when he plays acoustic in his church band while he awaits delivery of his dream guitar.
Banzer guitars were made in Asthtabula, Northeast Ohio by Don Banzer (now deceased) . From examples on web he made steel string, classical and flamenco guitars. DOn's equipment was bought by Trinity Guitars.
Images 1979, 1991 Banzer Guitar eBay;
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