“Olde Frothingslosh” 40th Anniversary can/ electric canjo
The other view of “Olde Frothingslosh”
Olde Frothingslosh 40th Anniversary Canjo
Click on photos to view enlarged.
Some ask, “Why does the CanJoe Companyonly offer and build custom orders?”. There are many reasons… The CanJoe Company of Blountville, TN officially first introduced these items to the market place and has been in continuous business and licensed since 1994. Establishing the cool one-stringed canjo musical instruments into a never before seen or heard by the world market was a very “hard row to hoe” endeavor; an extremely difficult and expensive one man effort. Though Hershel R. Brown was also simultaneously marketing his own mostly kit form design instruments by selling them through a wood working supply catalog, the CanJoe Company, (me), instead, often personally and physically met nearly every single buyer and sold each and every hand made and completed instrument as a face-to-face sale. There were also many who ordered their instruments by phone but, again, each of them were sold as result of person-to-person conversations while creating the orders. From the early years of the CanJoe Company, it was quickly discovered that nearly everyone wanted their own instruments to be completely unique to them. They often wanted specific woods or special cans, so, most orders completed and sold have been “custom” made all along. Many, over the years, who have acquired the original, authentic CanJoe Company instruments also have become very die hard loyal customers. There are a few who have purchased many instruments for their own personal collections with one individual now having fourteen (14) custom designed and hand crafted CanJoe Company instruments that he personally ordered and that he keeps as displayed in his own personal game room. Another die hard CanJoe Company instrument collector who loves his five (5) custom built instruments has also been directly responsible for the sales of over twenty five (25) other instruments (all custom designed) to his friends and relatives through referrals. The “Olde Frothingslosh 40th Anniversary” can now made into this custom electric instrument and fabricated from the fine, exotic spalted maple shown in the photo gallery above, was the most recent order placed as a birthday gift going to a man who had received his first acoustic CanJoe Company canjo instrument several years ago as a Christmas gift. These CanJoe Company instruments are NOT even remotely comparable to any of the wannabe items now being sold elsewhere to the public. For anyone interested in purchasing one of these genuine, original CanJoe Company instruments, a phone call or a personal visit to my shop is required…. The phone number to call is 423-323-0174.
The CanJoe Company of Blountville, TN is the world’s ONLY authentic maker and provider of the genuine, original one-stringed musical instrument called the “canjoe”, or to some, the “canjo”. Established as a licensed business since 1994, there is no individual, and no business operating by any name anywhere in this world with more, or even close to, the experience, credibility, or credentials in designing, creating, making, or offering any better design or any greater quality of any similar product to the public of these instruments, in any market, anywhere. The CanJoe Company over the past 18+ years has experimented with and has physically made nearly every conceivable design possible including, (besides one stringed canjoes), two stringed, three stringed, and other multi-stringed instrument designs; has used huge cans, large cans, tiny cans, square cans, bottle cans, gallon cans, cookie tins, steel cans, aluminum cans, beer cans, soda cans, limited edition cans, old cans, rare & vintage cans, food grade tin cans, beverage cans, collector cans, small tins for mints, long cans, short cans, Spam cans, tobacco tins; has made miniature versions of the full scale instruments, made upright bass instruments with cans, mandolin style instruments with cans, made them as fretless instruments, made them using the pentatonic scale, the diatonic scale, the chromatic scale, made them as 5 string banjos; made thousands upon thousands as acoustic instruments, many hundreds as fully electric instruments using magnetic and/or piezoelectric pickups, and personally own one instrument with specially designed and engineered built in preamp with a divided pickup for use with extreme special effects generators.
The CanJoe Company operates as a sole proprietorship business, is not a factory and has no employees other than myself, the owner. ALL of the CanJoe Company instruments ever made, or that will ever be made, are and will always be completely hand crafted musical works of art. None are copies of anyone’s ideas, designs, or similar items of anybody else anywhere in the world, except for their origins that began from the personally shared original simple creation of Hershel R. Brown who was also my very personal and very close friend. The two recently designed instruments shown in the photo above are examples of the newest designs of the electric instruments created and offered. The CanJoe Company is always striving to improve upon and to offer only the best, the coolest, and the highest quality one stringed musical instruments in the world!
Two newest electric canjoes
Newest Canjoe Picker!
Very happy new canjo enthusiast!
Ready to play music!
For ALL orders, inquiries, or details, please call the CanJoe Company at 423-323-0174. Thanks!
This beautiful custom designed CanJoe Company instrument was made to order using an exquisite specimen of flawless, exotic Rosewood as the instrument neck. The fine ebony fingerboard with gorgeous mother-of-pearl inlays has been seamlessly inset into the rosewood. The resonator is a modified RealTree sport drink can with a built in electric pickup and a way cool “Penguin Peppermints” tin mounted at the underside tail part as the housing for the electronic components. Belonging to a 17 year old Tampa, FL resident, this new instrument owner is one lucky dude who now very proudly and happily owns one extremely fine and really “bad-to-the-bone”, one of a kind, beautiful hand crafted musical instrument work of art!
To place any order, or for all inquiries, please call the CanJoe Company, established 1994, at 423-323-0174. The CanJoe Company of Blountville, TN is the ONLY source of these truly authentic, original one-stringed musical instruments in the world!
2012 NWTF model ‘Oak Leaf & Acorns’ electric canjo
Profile view of 2012 NWTF electric canjo
NWTF 2012 Oak Leaf & Acorns canjo and amp
NWTF 2012 Oak Leaf & Acorns Head Stock
‘Canbination’ electric Oak Leaf & Acorn CJ with Amp
NWTF 2012 Oak Leaf & Acorn CJ
2012 NWTF Oak Leaf & Acorn Canjo
Custom Hand Painted Camo Amp
(click on images to enlarge and to review details)
The annual “Hunting Heritage Banquet” benefit auction held in Kingsport, TN on February 18, 2012 by the Bays Mountain Longbeards chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) sold this cool CanJoe Company instrument along with its specially hand painted, camouflaged, customized amplifier to the highest bidder for a grand total of ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000).
The CanJoe Company has, prior to this year’s model, created and hand crafted four (4) exquisite custom builds for the Bays Mountain Longbeards chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF). The first one, from the year 2008 sold at $225 dollars; the 2009 model sold at $275; the 2010 model sold at $535; and the last year’s model, 2011, sold at $575. This post was first uploaded as a preview of this 2012 model which has now since been auctioned to the highest bidder at the annual banquet held in Kingsport, TN on February 18, 2012. This year’s model was themed to represent the wild turkey’s favorite tree & favorite food, the oak tree & the acorn. It has been named as the NWTF 2012 “Oak Leaf & Acorns” model canjo, and is another genuine, one-of-a-kind, hand crafted work of art, officially and exclusively created by the one and only authentic, original CanJoe Company of Blountville, TN.
The hand carved tail part of this beautiful custom build is of 100+ year old red oak barn wood, designed and shaped to represent a large oak leaf. The can, the instrument’s resonator, is a modified Mountain Dew aluminum bottle showing the face of the original Mountain Dew ‘hillbilly’ image and is a factory dated ‘first of issue’ version by the Pepsi Cola Bottling company. The instrument neck is a very fine, flawless, number one grade piece of white oak wood and inlaid into it is the fretted ebony wood finger board which is also beautifully inlaid with seven mother-of-pearl designs. In the head stock is also imbedded two real acorns that are perfectly positioned just above the inlaid brass NWTF logo. This specific 2012 model has also been designed and created as fully electric with its own built in pickup and 1/4″ jack. Customized to go with the instrument included a hand painted camouflaged Estafon electric guitar amp. A video of the actual auction is now posted below!
For details on how to order your own custom CanJoe Company instrument, please call 423-323-0174
Below is the video of the auction held on February 18, 2012. The 2012 “Oak Leaf & Acorns” CanJoe Company creation has now made and now holds the world record for being the ONLY one-stringed ‘canjo’, or ‘canjoe’, musical instrument ever made or offered by anyone, anywhere in the world, and in the entire world’s history, that has ever been sold, or paid for at the price that this instrument brought. This is a clear testimony to all of the quality of craftsmanship and the true art that is produced of these instruments and exclusively by the genuine, original, authentic ‘canjo’ master, CanJoe*John!
This year’s NWTF ‘Hunting Heritage Banquet’ for the Bays Mountain Longbeards chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) was held at the Americourt, located in Kingsport, TN. A big “thank you” goes out to the banquet chairman, Toy Simpson, for another GREAT event!!!
When the phone rings at the CanJoe Company, there are often some amazing offers, opportunities, and ‘cannections’ waiting on the other end. On a rather gloomy winter Sunday afternoon back in about the year 2002, one such call was received from a man, Vernon Tate, who worked with a charitable medical missionary group that was headquartered in Charlotte, NC. His group, he explained, was involved in special medical missions to the communist country of Cuba and he was seeking information on how his elite group might get some canjoe instruments, or plans to build them, in order to supply them to a few sick Cuban children. After several minutes of discussion, it appeared that the best way to accommodate the immediate needs requested was to offer a significant number of instrument parts that could then be carried by the medical mission members who would then personally deliver them to the intended recipients. One concern, at that time, was that the CanJoe Company, being a very small (one man) operation, could not, alone, adequately accommodate the time factors of the mission’s needs. It was then decided to ask the help from another canjoe maker, an old friend whose operations and financial capabilities better suited that specific situation, that man being Herschel R. Brown. After the initial conversation between Mr. Tate and myself, I immediately made a phone call to Herschel and explained the circumstances. For many years, Herschel and I had often worked together on other canjoe related opportunities and after he heard the issues of this exigency, he gladly agreed to furnish the requested materials for this venture. A connection was then made between Herschel and Mr. Tate for all the final details. Wasting no time, Herschel shipped to Mr. Tate all the materials that would be required in order to complete 25 canjoe instruments; 25 pre-fretted finger boards, 25 tuner keys, an ample supply of strings, screws and other hardware needed along with detailed instructions on how to assemble them. In order to get these items into Cuba, though, each mission member then accepting personal risk, carried separately the different parts in their own baggage. For instance, some carried a few finger boards only, some carried a few tuner keys, others carried in a few packages of single strings, and so on. Upon the arrival of each individual mission member to their final destination and each having successfully gotten through the country’s customs checks with their ‘cantraband’, they then got together, completed the assembly of the instruments and distributed them into the hands of 25 of Cuba’s youngest cancer patients; kids who badly needed the therapeutic power of music and smiles. An email message to my in-box soon followed via Mr.Tate and it simply, succinctly stated that “the hills of Havana, Cuba are ablaze tonight with the sounds of canjoes!” So, in that collaborated and concerted effort between myself, Herschel Brown, Vernon Tate, and a group of dedicated medical missionary professionals, without fanfare, or as some might say, with ‘no cigars’, and when very few US citizens at all could even cross those boundaries, we together effectively conquered the barriers of those communist Cuban borders by successfully hand delivering to 25 sick Cuban kids the coolest hand made one-stringed musical instruments in the world, the one-stringed things officially called “canjoes”… and with them … lots of SMILES!
To place all orders or for more details about the cool, custom made genuine, authentic CanJoe Company instruments call 423-323-0174
The CanJoe Company of Blountville, TN began in 1994 as the first ever licensed business, anywhere, to offer on any commercial market the one-stringed musical instrument made from a “string, a stick, and a can”, of the instrument design historically originated by Herschel R. Brown and officially called and publicly identified as the “canjoe”. This new year of 2012 now marks the 17th consecutive year of the CanJoe Company’s continuous operation. Over these past 17 years, there have been many milestones and achievements by the CanJoe Company. Below is posted a few of the top accomplishments from these past years:
December 1994, filed for and received the license by the state of Tennessee to operate as a business known publicly then and since as, “The CanJoe Company”, a sole proprietorship doing business of making, marketing, and selling, wholesale and retail, the unique one-stringed musical instruments named and marketed as the “canjoe”. I was “dubbed” the name “CanJoe*John” by my wife, Paula, in early 1994 while I was entertaining her with my ‘canjoe’. She had become bedridden and was dying from kidney cancer and the ‘canjoe’ always put smiles on her face. I frequently played for her with the same Mountain Dew ‘canjoe’ instrument that was originally hand made as one of Herschel Brown’s first of five, ever made. I then promised her that I’d “do two things” with my ‘canjoe’ instrument, that I’d “someday play the Grand Ole Opry” and that I’d “put as many smiles on as many faces possible!” She stuck up her thumb and exclaimed, “Go for it, ‘CanJoe*John’!” and that very moment began what has now been ‘cantinuously’ going on for the past 17 years.
Debuted and performed with that original Herschel Brown hand made ‘canjoe’ musical instrument in the world’s first ever public stage performance of the “canjoe” instrument, on the stage of the sold out Paramount Theater of Bristol, TN by invitation of the “Father of Bluegrass” Bill Monroe on September 7, 1995; in the grand finale act, along with bluegrass legends Mac Wiseman, Jim & Jesse, and several others.
Created and published the official CanJoe Company website, 1996 to present; many stories published in various magazines, for example the world-wide circulated‘Beverage Industry Magazine’, 1996, featured “canjoe” story; published in many books, for example “I Don’t Need A Record Deal” by Daylle Deanna Schwartz, (Billboard Books), 2005, as featured contributor, “The Story Behind the Hank Williams Commemorative Stamp” by Beecher O’Quinn, Jr, (McMinnis Publishers), 2005, featured photo with caption, “Strange But True Tennessee“ by Lynne L. Hall (Sweetwater Press), featured “canjoe” story, 2006, “The Way It Used To Was: 1800-1965″ by O’Quinn & Clark (McKinnis Books), 2009, special photo contributor, “Images of America: Sullivan County”by Joe Tennis, (Arcadia Publishing), 2008, featured photo and story, “Tennessee Waltzing in the Kitchen Cookbook” by Billy & Sharon Stewart of Ambridge Music, Inc (Morris Press), 2004, featured contributor; aired on many TV news casts and interviews; among others: KYMA-TV11 of Yuma, AZ in 1996, featured interview and performance, WLOS-TV13 of Asheville, NC, 1997, featured news story, WECT-TV6 of Wilmington, NC, 2000, featured interview and ‘canjoe’ performance; many ‘special’ TV news stories, examples, ‘Cable Country News’ of WJHL-TV11 in the years 1996, 2001, 2006, & 2011; WCYB-TV5, many interviews on the “News at Noon” from 1996 to present; several featured interviews, cooking and performing on the “Day Time Tri Cities” show,WJHL-TV11, hosted by Amy Lynn & Morgan King; owned and hosted the weekly aired “Canjoe Old Time Radio Show” on radio WPWT AM870, 2003; Guest on numerous and various local and syndicated radio programs across America such as Nashville’s WSM AM650, IRN Network by Marcia Campbell, 1997, and XM Radio 107 , on Dave Nemo’s, “Open Road Show”, also as special guest of show host, Marcia Campbell, 2007.
Toured as a performing artist regularly on the old-time, bluegrass and country music circuits/venues from 1996 through 2006, meeting and performing for, and/or on stages with many great stars; including Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, Doc Watson, Mike Snider, Clair Lynch, Raymond Fairchild, Dr. Ralph Stanley, John Hartford, Tony Trishka, Little Roy Lewis, Jim & Jesse, Michael & Raymond McClain, Roni Stoneman, Ralph Blizard, John Lily, Mel McDaniel, Charlie Daniels, Mike Seeger, Ricky Skaggs, Mac Wiseman, and many, many others.; became a Tennessee performing artist with the Tennessee Arts Commission performing for the Tennessee public school systems, state and local arts sponsored and related programs, and many other public performance venues; “Mountain Music: Then & Now”, first performance at the historic Cameo Theater, Bristol, VA in the year 2002, a public presentation of the history of old time Appalachian music with performance on several common Appalachian folk instruments, including the “canjoe” instrument; “A Mountain Top Experience”, a music and story presentation for church groups on the ‘why and how’, of the history of the ‘Tour of Smiles’; organized, hosted and held the world’s first ever “CanJoe Festival” in July 1999, in association with the Sullivan County Historic Preservation Group, a day of music, canjoe pickin’ competitions (judged by Herschel Brown, himself), fun, and food on the grounds of the historic SmithHaven Farm in Sullivan County, TN; won first place as the “Best of Show” in competition at the “SlideFest” 1997, held at the Appalachian Fair Grounds of Gray, TN, playing the electric ‘canjoe’ and performing “My Mamma Done Told Me”;
Performed many world famous Nashville venues/stages: examples, ‘Tootsies Orchid Lounge’, 1996; ‘Woolfies’, 1996; ‘The Bluegrass Inn’, 1997; ‘Barbara’s Lounge’ 1998; ‘Lonnie’s Lounge’ 1998, ‘The Nashville Palace’ multiple times from 2000 until 2006, ‘John ‘A’s Place’, several times since its opening 2007; ‘The Station Inn’, as guest of Jimmy Campbell and the “Side Men”, 2000 & 2001;
MerleFest Artist from 2000- 2006; featured performer on the “Little Pickers Stage” and the “Americana Stage”, 2005; performed as opening for Pete Seeger at MerleFest, 2006 on the “Little Pickers” stage; featured performer of the ‘Chitaugua Festival’ of Wytheville, VA, 2007, sharing the stage billing with the legendary, “Joey Dee & the Star Lighters” and the also legendary, the “Platters”; Awarded the 2007 “Bluegrass Instrumentalist of the Year” by the North American Country Music Association, International (NACMAI).
Produced , granted copyright & performance rights, registered with the Library of Congress, registered with BMI and commercially released the first ever in music recording history, the ‘canjoe’ as featured lead instrument on music CD, “One String, One Can, One Man, and One Band”, 2000, now on the SVM Music Group label; released for commercial radio airplay the single track , “Wayfaring Stranger” from that debut CD through HMG Nashville , charting in the top 100 on the “Christian Perspective County Music” charts; recorded and released the second ‘canjoe’ instrument featured music CD the“Uncanny Christmas”, produced by Tom Conrad of Studio City, CA, 2001; released the beautiful music video “Wayfaring Stranger” by producer Dave LeBlanc filmed in pre-Katrina New Orleans, LA for broadcast on cable TV networks across America, 2001, receiving heavy viewing, getting much positive response and with frequent requests by viewers of the Heritage Cable Networks in the southwestern United States areas, NM, AZ, southern CA.
Performed the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, 2000 & 2003; performed on the Ryman Auditorium stage as the fiddler for ‘John Steed & the Red River Band’, on the CCMA Music Awards show, Nov 1, 2001, which was broadcast worldwide on cable networks to >3 million viewers;
Performed the Grand Ole Opry, November 4, 2006 as guest of Mike Snider, was debuted on the world famous stage of the Ryman Auditorum to a sold out Saturday night crowd, performed the tune “Red Wing” for the first time in the Grand Ole Opry history on the ‘canjoe’ instrument with Mike’s band backing me up and aired live to a world wide audience on radio AM650 WSM. Was the highest honor and most exciting four minutes of the ‘canjoe’, so far!
Created the ‘Tour of Smiles’, 2007- present; “A Magical, Musical Tour of Children’s Hospitals”. The ‘Tour of Smiles’ operates as a agape mission to provide chronically ill children and their siblings with simple one-stringed ‘canjoe’ musical instruments to use as ‘smile therapy’. It is a regular monthly scheduled event functioning as a special entertainer of the Child Life department of the Niswonger Children’s Hospital, Johnson City, TN caring for patients of specialty children’s hospitals and their families; visit and provide music entertainment, fun, and donate many cool, “Tour of Smiles” model ‘canjoe’ musical instruments that are freely given to be forever kept, used, enjoyed and shared by those who receive them; performing special events at the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, Knoxville, TN, such as, “Camp Eagles Nest”, 2007, for kids with cancer, “Camp Cure”, 2007, for kids with JODM, “Jammin’ in Your Jammies”, 2008, an overnight fun event for all former patients of ETCH; “Dream Night at the Zoo”, 2008 & 2009, a night of fun held each year at the Knoxville Zoo for ETCH patients and their families; as well, the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital of Nashville, TN, 2010, a special stage performance in association with “Playing by Air Productions” of Nashville, TN, and presented /donated many ‘canjoe’ instruments for use by the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital’s department of music therapy. The ‘Tour of Smiles’ instruments are each hand made and each are then personally hand delivered to the patients and/or their families where they then receive free lessons and share lots of smiles. There have so far been well over a thousand of these instruments now made and distributed out to many sick kids over these years, always free of any cost to the receivers of these gifts. The smiles on all their faces are ever evident and the musical sounds of cool ‘therapeutic’ “canjoe” musical instruments flow sweetly from the rooms and down the children’s hospital hallways as the ‘tour’ continues now into its seventh year.
Wishin’ all Y’ALL, everywhere, a GREAT new year! WOW!!! Looking forward to 2012!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Herschel R. Brown would be delighted to see what his one stringed musical instrument design and creation, the “canjoe”, has become. Herschel is the indisputable sole creator of the original basic design of the first ever unique one stringed instruments, called “canjoe”. In the earliest days of his making his very first canjoe instrument creations, I personally visited his shop. There, Herschel introduced them to me and gave me one. I still own that instrument which is clearly dated and indelibly marked with many of the earliest of my personal “Canjoe” premiere experiences; autographed signatures of Bill Monroe (Sept 7, 1995), Mac Wiseman, Jim & Jesse McReynolds, John Hartford, Little Roy Lewis, Raymond Fairchild, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Mike Snider, Fiddle great and friend, Jimmy Campbell, Clair Lynch, and many others; all who I personally met and of whom I played for or I actually performed with on stage, before they each signed it. Herschel loved all the publicity my public performances generated and attracted. Herschel also personally felt that his canjoe instruments should be standard issue for virtually everyone alive. He gave away hundreds of his own instruments to folks just because he thought they “needed” to have them. Herschel enthusiastically provided his instruments to kids in schools, too, giving whole class rooms his instruments. Anyway, over the past 17 years licensed and operating since 1994 as the CanJoe Company has seen many ‘canjoe’ moons. I’ve always been personally dedicated to providing only the highest quality in materials, with unequaled quality of craftsmanship, and each instrument made as custom and specific in design unique of every hand made CanJoe Company instrument. The simplicity and true functionality of Herschel’s original basic instrument design can not be easily improved on. The simple to play diatonic scale is perfect and the equally simple design makes the canjoe also the perfect stringed instrument for anyone to learn to play. The only improvement that can actually be be done from the basic instrument design is to improve on the quality of materials used to build the instrument and with the details in accuracy and the finish of the builds. The CanJoe Company has been continuously creating and providing these beautiful hand crafted and extreme quality musical works of art for the past 17 years now. In memory of Herschel’s own charitable uses of canjoes, the ‘Tour of Smiles’ is also dedicated to giving hundreds of CanJoe Company instruments to chronically ill patients in children’s hospitals. The ‘tour’ has been ongoing and remains very successful now for the past six years.
The original basic Herschel Brown design is so appealing in its simplicity and is so easy to play that truly anyone can learn to play one. The CanJoe Company uses the same basic original Herschel Brown design, for instance, to build the Deluxe special ‘Tour of Smiles’ model instruments that are made specifically to give to the chronic care patients in the children’s hospitals for use as “smile therapy”. The ‘Tour of Smiles’ instruments, too, are always made only in the highest quality of crafting possible. Regardless of the many, many thousands of instruments I’ve personally made or of any that I’ve now observed, no design alterations in any have yet proved superior to the original Herschel Brown basic design. “Why try to reinvent the a mousetrap when the original works the best?” Herschel’s original concepts and designs, to this day, still never fail. For more details on how to order and to own a GENUINE, AUTHENTIC CanJoe Company instrument, please call 423-323-0174.
The CanJoe Company was established in the year 1994 and pioneered the crafting of and introduced the commercial availability of these cool one-stringed instruments. Over the many years of producing first quality products and due much experience with learning what the majority of consumers desire, the CanJoe Company now sells only commissioned works. In the beginning years, as the CanJoe Company first introduced these cool one-stringed items to the market, the instruments were pretty much all made the same way, with the same designs, wood materials, and common cans that I chose to put on them. Now, each and every CanJoe Company ‘canjo’ musical instrument is made specifically and exclusively for whoever will own the instrument. Each instrument created is designed and crafted to ‘fit’ the specific person who will own it with many factors considered such as that person’s age, gender, size, personal tastes and desire, etc. Choosing the right can, the level of build and other factors that make these instruments special makes a big statement reflecting a lot about the “who” that is particular to the person that owns his/her custom CanJoe Company designed ‘canjo’. So, please be aware that ALL CanJoe Company builds are now ‘canmissioned’ only! Below are some photos and descriptions of some recently commissioned CanJoe Company instruments:
Click on photos to enlarge and view details
Matching Cherry wood instruments
View of the ‘Bubba’ can and housing for the pick-up.
Red Dog Can
‘Red Dog’ Canjoe
Can my brother gave to me.
The ‘BroJo’
Close Up of ‘BroJo’
The ‘BroJo’
Nearly Identical Twins
‘CanJoe*John’ Limited Edition Custom Cans
Crossed Twins
For ALL orders and prices please call 423-323-0174.
When Herschel Brown created his first one-stringed musical instrument over 20 years ago, and that he also named as “canjoe”, he made it from a 1″ x 1″ straight stick of relatively unaltered pine wood. He initially nailed the can down to the wood with just one small brad nail and other than him accurately fretting the wood using real fret wire, the only alterations to the newly created finger board design was the two holes he drilled into the instrument’s head for the tuner key and the small piece of wood that he glued to the finger board as the instrument ‘nut’. Over the many years, since, Herschel’s original prototype design has undergone improvements, but even his very first design of his creation provided a product that is of much better quality than most of what is now being made by others who are also calling their concepts “canjo” or “canjoe”, and of which are now showing up in the market place.
The CanJoe Company of Blountville, TN began with Herschel Brown’s direct assistance, support, and his supplying of materials. At first, there was little difference between what Herschel made and the products sold by the CanJoe Company, but over time, due the consumers desires for even higher quality and more detailed designs, significant improvements have occured in the products. Herschel maintained providing his simpler designed unfinished pine wood only products for the remainder of his life. He did adapt two major improvements to his line that actually were changes original to the CanJoe Company versions; the modified angle cut at the tail piece to accommodate the can and the metal screw used as the instrument nut. These earliest design improvements, Herschel quickly recognized and adapted them to his versions. Herschel Brown and I remained close friends over the years up until his death in 2007 and we often collaborated on instrument design improvements.
For the first several years in business, the CanJoe Company also used pine wood only, just like Herschel, but consumers, early on, began requesting other materials such as hard woods and even exotic woods. Special and specific cans were also frequently requested and, so, the CanJoe Company supplied these demands by offering and making instruments made of these materials; select woods and special cans. As the expenses and the demands for producing these higher cost materials increased, so did the prices of the instruments. Also due the many thousands of instruments that have been hand produced by the CanJoe Company (me) over the many years, and, too, because of the years of hard earned experience, the quality of craftsmanship of the modern day CanJoe Company ‘canjo’ instruments has also significantly evolved and improved. There is no greater teacher than experience. The CanJoe Company is a sole proprietorship and has only ONE employee … ME (CanJoe*John). The CanJoe Company was legally established as a business in the state of Tennessee on December 17th of the year 1994 and has continued to remain in business since. This month marks a total of 17 years in continuous operation. The ONLY way a business remains in business this long is that the business operates with the highest levels of integrity and honesty and that the consumers recognize, purchase, respect and support that quality and value of the products offered by the business. Thank you to ALL out there who, over all these years, have purchased CanJoe Company instruments and who also continue to believe in, recommend, and refer others to purchase the ‘real deal’, official, original and highest quality products of their kind, anywhere.
For all inquiries on products and prices, please call 423-323-0174.
I have been receiving many phone calls and email messages from people around the country who start out their communication or conversation with “I saw your instruments at a craft fair, or at a mall in Gatlinburg, or at ‘Dollywood’, or at so-and-so festival, etc”. The fact is, NO they didn’t! The reason is, I DO NOT sell my instruments or my products in ANY venue, not in stores, not at craft fairs, not in Gatlinburg, not anywhere… except unless the transactions occur where I am personally present or are as directly ordered personally from me and/or my shop. Jack Bradshaw, of Blountville, TN is also authorized to accept orders for CanJoe Company products, but otherwise there are no others anywhere that represent official CanJoe Company products. What consumers in the public are now seeing elsewhere are often the examples of bogus, poor quality made gag gift level junk. There are only 3 ways the public can purchase or receive from me any of my instruments: 1) Order directly from me 2) Encounter me wherever I’m attending a public event and most likely am a scheduled performer 3) be a very ill, hospitalized child or a sibling of one. ALLCanJoe Company instruments are each custom ordered for and specifically handcrafted for who ever will be owning or playing the instrument. Anyone wanting to discuss, inquire about, or order, the REAL, ORIGINAL, and AUTHENTICCanJoe Company ‘canjo’ instrument, please call 423-323-0174.
