Home / About

About Banjo Warehouse

Banjo Warehouse has been selling fine banjos since 1977, now based in Yellow Springs, Ohio. We’re a small shop that does one thing well: we find great banjos, set them up right, and put them in the hands of people who will play them. Owner Geoff Hohwald personally evaluates our used and vintage banjos and the new banjos in our shop. The ones that ship from our shop are set up by our banjo tech Tara first. New Gold Tone banjos that ship directly from Gold Tone are set up at the Gold Tone factory in Titusville, Florida. If you’ve ever received an instrument that needed work before it was playable, you know what that’s worth.

What we carry

We carry new banjos from Gold Tone and Deering as authorized dealers, professional-grade instruments from Gibson, Huber, Stelling, Bishline, Davis, Nechville, Yates, and other respected builders, and a rotating inventory of vintage and used banjos chosen by a player with more than 60 years on the banjo. We ship free anywhere in the United States.

Call or text us at 404-218-8580, or email [email protected]. We love to talk banjos.

Meet the team

Geoff Hohwald

Owner

Geoff Hohwald has played banjo since 1963 and has been buying and selling banjos since 1977. He started in Columbus, Ohio, which was a hotbed of bluegrass at the time, studying banjo under John Hickman and Robby Robinson. In Columbus, Geoff played with some of the most important musicians in bluegrass history, including Bill Monroe’s last two guitar players Tom Ewing and Wayne Lewis, along with Red Allen, Sandy Rothman, Sid Campbell, Dave Evans, Frank Wakefield, Hylo Brown, Buddy Thomas, The Fields Brothers, Landon Messer, Earl Taylor, and Brian Aldridge.

Read Geoff’s full story

Before moving back to Ohio, Geoff spent 50 years in Georgia as a working musician. He played with Bear Creek, performed at the Alliance Theatre in The Robber Bridegroom, played with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, and is a founding member of the Greater Atlanta Bluegrass Band. He opened his first music store in 1977 and has been a full-time banjo dealer and teacher ever since. Banjo Warehouse has one location, in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Geoff is the author of The Banjo Primer, which has sold over 200,000 copies and is one of the best-selling beginner banjo methods. He’s also written Intro to Banjo Rhythm & Backup, Banjo Backup Licks & Rolls, Classic Banjo Backup, and a series of improvisation books that are used by banjo teachers worldwide.

He has taught at the Frank Hamilton School, Georgia Pick and Bow in Dahlonega, Georgia, and founded the Scruggs-style banjo clinic at the John C. Campbell Folk School. He now teaches lessons from his home in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

His relationships in the industry run deep. Geoff collaborated with Gold Tone founder Wayne Rogers on the design of the OB-12 Top Tension banjo (alongside Greg Rich) and the OB-Standard. He has known Greg and Janet Deering for over 45 years and once served as Deering’s largest distributor nationally. He has owned dozens of original five-string prewar flathead Gibson banjos.

When you call Banjo Warehouse, you’re talking to someone who can tell you exactly how a 1932 Gibson flathead compares to a modern Huber, and why that matters for the music you want to play. That’s not something you get from a big-box retailer.

Tara

Banjo tech

Tara is our banjo tech and Chris’s wife. Every banjo that ships from our shop goes through Tara’s hands first. She provides a professional setup, installs spikes at your preferred fret positions, and makes sure your banjo arrives ready to play.

More about Tara

Tara trained at the Huber Banjo factory in Hendersonville, Tennessee under Steve Huber and Bennie Boling. That means the person setting up your banjo at Banjo Warehouse learned directly from the people who build some of the most respected professional-grade banjos in the world. She has been with Banjo Warehouse since 2023.

Tara is also a licensed social worker and a banjo player. Her own banjo is a 1976 Stelling Starflower, but during the week she’s usually playing whatever just came through the shop. She studied dance in college and more recently has been learning to clog, which means she understands rhythm from both sides of the stage. It’s a good gig.

Chris

Digital marketing

Chris is Geoff’s nephew and is married to our banjo tech Tara. He manages digital marketing for Banjo Warehouse, including the website, email, social media, marketplace listings, SEO, and advertising. Chris is an award-winning journalist and podcaster, contributing to NPR, This American Life, MSNBC, USA Today, ESPN, CNN, and other outlets. He was selected to participate in the 2026 Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses cohort on behalf of Banjo Warehouse.

More about Chris

Chris plays upright bass and sings. His primary instrument is a 1950s Kay bass that belonged to his cousin Andy. He grew up around bluegrass music through his uncle Geoff and brings that same attention to detail and authenticity to the way Banjo Warehouse communicates with players around the world. When he’s not working on Banjo Warehouse, he’s probably on a disc golf course.

Jake

Data engineer

Jake is Geoff’s nephew and serves as the Banjo Warehouse Data Engineer, handling the systems and technical infrastructure that keep the business running. Jake has been officially involved since December 2023, but he grew up around bluegrass and banjo music through his uncle Geoff.

More about Jake

When he’s not working on Banjo Warehouse, Jake is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Arizona State University, where he’s pursuing a Ph.D. in Environmental Life Sciences. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and works in ASU’s Marine Benthic Ecology and Ecophysiology Lab at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. His research focuses on carbon removal, marine ecology, and ecosystem restoration. Jake is a certified scuba diver who splits his time between Tempe, Arizona and St. George’s, Bermuda.

Jake is a beginner-to-intermediate banjo player who learned from Geoff’s books. His primary banjo is a vintage Japanese Fender Leo, and his backup and travel banjo is a Gold Tone CC-100R.

Tiger and Shadow, our shop dogs

Tiger, a five-year-old purebred German Shepherd and Banjo Warehouse shop dog, lying in the grass in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Shadow, a one-eyed German Shepherd mix and Banjo Warehouse shop dog, cuddling on the couch next to a laptop with a Banjo Warehouse sticker

No visit to Banjo Warehouse is complete without meeting Tiger and Shadow.

Tiger is a five-year-old purebred German Shepherd who is fiercely protective of his older sister but a complete doofus the rest of the time. If you visit the shop, expect Tiger to lean on you. That’s his thing. He leans on new friends until they pet him, and then he leans harder. When he’s not greeting visitors, he’s cuddling with Geoff on the couch.

Shadow is a ten-year-old German Shepherd mix who is the quieter half of the pair, at least until someone pulls into the driveway. Shadow has one eye and a slight head tilt, which only adds to her charm. She’s shy at first but has a mischievous streak once she warms up. She loves playing with her little brother Tiger in the backyard, and she has been known to get into things she shouldn’t.

Both dogs are fixtures at Banjo Warehouse. If you call and hear barking in the background, that’s Shadow letting us know you’re important.

Visit Banjo Warehouse

Banjo Warehouse is located in Yellow Springs, Ohio. We see visitors by appointment, so call or text us at 404-218-8580 with at least a day’s notice, because sometimes we’re out looking for banjos. We’re available seven days a week. When you visit, you can play everything in the shop and compare instruments side by side. Geoff will help you find exactly what you’re looking for.

We’ve had people fly in from across the country to visit the shop. They all have a ball, and most of them leave with a banjo.

Call or text 404-218-8580 Email us

Yellow Springs, Ohio
By appointment, seven days a week. Please give us a day’s notice.
Play everything in the shop, side by side