Ome

Chuck Ogsbury Biography

One thing you notice from the start is that Chuck Ogsbury is eminently likeable. He is sincere about his instruments, sincere about his love for the banjo, sincere about wanting to make the best banjo that can be made. Throughout his career as a banjo maker, Chuck has never considered quantity as the ultimate goal. Instead, Ogsbury believes in quality. He is ever searching for the "right" tone, which as banjoists know, is a quest rather like trying to find the right star or the right person.

Ogsbury has had a double life as an instrument maker. He first came on the musical instrument scene by making the ODE banjo, one of the favorite instruments of the folk revival era. In his first life as a maker, Chuck produced around 1,900 ODE banjos, ranging from basic aluminum pot long-necks to fancy bluegrass models. As Chuck states, many people remeber or own ODEs he made in Boulder and like them.


Yet, true to his notions of an ever-evolving quality for which he constantly strives for in his instruments, Chuck thinks that the OMEs, the banjos of his second life as a maker, are so much better. One thing is sure: just as he was not able to leave the Boulder area for long, neither was he able to leave the manufacturing of banjos.

Artists who play Ome: Clarence Hall Jerry Krahn David Jones, Frontier Ruckus Johnny St. Cyr Shanti Curran Tim O'Brien Kort McCumber, McCumberland Gap Bob Buckingham Ruth Moody, The Wailin Jennys Mike Gentry Chip Arnold Seth Taylor Chuck Hughes Darrell Scott A