Frederick J. Bacon

Frederick J. Bacon (1871-1948) was a late 19th to mid 20th century performer and recording artist on the five string banjo. He was also an inventor and entrepreneur, educator, composer, and designer and manufacturer of banjos. At the height of his performance career he played the banjo nationally. Along with Fred Van Eps and Vess Ossman he was part of a group of banjoists labeled "virtuoso" in the newspapers. He founded the F.J Bacon Co., possibly as early as 1902, after having invented a new resonator for open-back banjos. It wasn't until 1908 that Bacon came up with Bacon Mfg. & Publishing Co. to sell his banjos and music compositions. During the Big Five tour Bacon became Bacon Mfg. Co in 1911 from Forestdale and incorporated Bacon Mfg. Co. in 1912 (dissolved in 1915). In 1918 from New London he called himself Bacon Banjo Mfg. Co. around 1918, and formally the Bacon Banjo Co. Inc in 1920 with E.O Winship and wives. In 1922 his company gained business experience in David L. Day, formerly of Vega. Together they produced Bacon and Day banjos (B.&D. on the headstock), some of which have been considered worthy of display in museums, as showpieces of artistic impulse from the Jazz Age. Frederick and his wife Cassie were proponents of the classic banjo style of playing banjo, in which the strings are plucked with the fingers, without picks.