vital mental medicine

"Gorgeous... a great companion, its voice crisp and precise with lots of tonal variation on hand... with the quality and service on offer here I really don't think you could go wrong." 
Acoustic Magazine

"British-made Shackleton products illustrate the spirit of exploration personified by my grandfather Ernest Shackleton."

 Alexandra Shackleton

The great Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton described his ship's banjo as "vital mental medicine" and insisted on rescuing the instrument when his ship Endurance was crushed and sunk by Antarctic pack ice in 1915. Two years later, after an epic adventure of extraordinary courage and fortitude, Shackleton brought all his men home alive. The original banjo (autographed by Shackleton and his men) now resides in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

A century on from that great expedition and inspired by the morale-boosting role of the legendary banjo from Endurance, we create the finest quality hand-made British instruments, in our own factory in Norwich, Norfolk: the first banjo factory to be launched in Britain for more than 60 years.