Person Record

Images

1 of 1977 Wayne Fairchild

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Metadata

Name

Fairchild, Wayne

Othernames

Wayne L.

Role

Hall of Fame Me

Spouse

Marlene

Places of residence

Michigan

Titles & honors

American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame Class of 2013

Sphere Of Activity

From a small shop in rural Michigan, luthier Wayne Fairchild has hand crafted a large body of work - including both unique original banjos, guitars, ukuleles and banjo ukuleles as well as masterful instrument restorations - which have won him a world wide reputation for quality and integrity.
Wayne Fairchild's first childhood musical experience was learning scales and arpeggios on the piano. But it was the Bluegrass, old-time country and folk music which he'd heard on the radio that captured the youngster's musical imagination. The gift of a guitar at the age of 10 made the possibility of actually creating the music he loved a reality. While other interests - including hunting, fishing, competitive shooting, and snow skiing occupied much of his time, the love of music has always been part of Wayne Fairchild's life.
Fairchild's first banjo experience came in the early 1970s when he saw a banjo making kit at a local music store. The sales clerk's comment that he "would never be able to build a banjo like that" instilled Fairchild's desire to prove the clerk wrong. Utilizing mechanical and technical skills he'd learned while working for General Motors coupled with woodworking talent he'd developed while making custom gun stocks for fellow sport shooters, Wayne Fairchild hand crafted his first five-string banjo with complete success.
During the first few years of learning the trade and building instruments as a hobby, Fairchild received much encouragement and advice from the four-string banjo community, leading him to try his talents at building tenor and plectrum banjos. As his instrument making skills were honed in the years that followed, Wayne Fairchild became both a friend to as well as a trusted instrument craftsman in the four-string banjo world.
Hallmarks of Fairchild's work include the use of exotic woods and decorative materials typically unheard of in banjo construction; purpleheart wood, gold toned mother-of-pearl and pewter are just a few of the non traditional items that have found their way into Fairchild's creations. Yet, regardless of the raw materials selected for a particular project, it is the craftsmanship with which they are utilized in the Fairchild shop which remain second to none.
While his years of building and restoring instruments have been a great source of personal satisfaction and sense of accomplishment, Fairchild considers his most lasting reward to be the interesting and talented people in the musical community which he has had the good fortune to meet along the way.
In turn, it is the four-string banjo world's good fortune to know and respect an artist such as Wayne Fairchild. Johnny Baier, American Banjo Museum