S. S. Stewart Guitars... Born of a Banjeau Maker

One of the very first guitars that caught my attention when I started out was an instrument that was proclaimed on it’s headstock to be an “S. S. Stewart”. I would eventually discover that my guitar… and possibly ANY guitar… actually had little to do with S. S. Stewart himself.

Samuel Swaim Stewart was a banjo maker… or perhaps more properly a “Banjeau” craftsman. (yes I am aware that most writings about him seem to have his name as “Swain” but this is an error, he published as Samuel Swaim Stewart) Born in Philadelphia in 1855 he was such a craftsman by 1878 building instruments in his own name and branded “Acme” for Sears. He had coined the word “Banjeau” and created a smaller instrument in 1885 called a “Banjeaurine” with the intention of elevating the banjo’s stature to a classier, orchestral arrangement. (there is another take on this part of the story that states the “Banjeaurine” name and the elevating of the banjo’s prestige were just a combination of advertising chicanery and Mr Stewart’s humour showing and not meant to be taken as written) Stewart banjos were the top brand until A. C. Fairbanks came up with the tone ring in the 1890s. Samuel Swaim Stewart passed away in 1899 after making over 25000 “Banjeaus” and “Banjeaurines”, his son Fred and business partner George Bauer continued to make banjos out of the S. S. Stewart company the families had founded in 1898 until around 1910. Between 1910 and 1915 there appear to have been a handful of guitars made but I don’t see anything concrete as to who made them, Keenophone (the owner of the “Stewart” name by this time) or Gibson. Then in 1915 Bugellsein & Jacobsen (B&J), a distributor from New York, bought the “S. S. Stewart” brand name and would hire numerous companies for decades after this point to make “S. S. Stewart” and “Stewart” branded instruments to order. I will be coming back to B&J in the future but I want to remain focused on Stewart for this post. I have since determined that Gibson did make a flat top folk guitar for B&J with “S. S. Stewart” branding as you will see in the galleries of “Stewart” branded guitars sorted by actual manufacturer below. I will be sticking to North American manufacturers for this post but I will probably come back with an Asian manufactured gallery or something later on.

R. S. Williams and Sons

The first “S. S. Stewart” branded guitars I found were a couple of models that I am sure were sold by R. S. Williams and Sons but that I am not convinced were made by that company and I have not yet found who did… so these are “Stewart” models that were at least sold by the Williams family in Canada, most likely in the late 1920s to early 1930s.

1920s-30s Williams sold “Stewart” concert model

This all mahogany model was made in Toronto likely in the 1940s, it has the typical Hensel neck profile and Williams bridge. It is also bound and has a Brazillian Rosewood fretboard and bridge. The video is of a more capable player than myself playing a spruce topped version of the same model. There’s more information about R S Williams and Sons available through this link.

1940s R S Williams and Sons built mahogany model

1930s-40s R S Williams and Sons built “Stewart”

1940s R S Williams and Sons built bird’s eye maple archtop

Gibson

So far as I can find Gibson appears to have only made “Stewart” instruments for a couple of years in the early 1930s.

Martin

Martin made some “Stewart” models in the mid 1920s, these tend to have the company name and location impressed into the back of the headstock like Martins often do… but Stewart’s brand name and Philadelphia of course.

Harmony

Harmony probably made the most “Stewart” branded guitars of the US manufacturers (unless of course it’s Kay that made the most).

Kay

Kay probably made the most “Stewart” branded guitars of the US manufacturers (unless of course it’s Harmony that made the most).

1950s Kay made “Stewart” dreadnought guitar

1950s Kay made “Stewart” electric guitar

United

United was a maker in New Jersey that kind of rose from the ashes of Oscar Schmidt when the company’s assets were sold. They made quite a number of electric models in the 1950s.

Vega

I have only found two examples online thus far.

Regal

I have only found one example.

So there you have it… in my observation up to here and I assure you I am certain I am going to find more manufacturers that made “S. S. Stewart” guitars and I will return to add them to this post. I can also assure you that, especially with Harmony and Kay, this story only touches the surface, there are dozens and dozens of guitar models out there… but probably at least with about 90% certainty I can also say that whatever model it is, it did not come from Samuel Swaim Stewart.