Long before he ever stamped his name on a banjo tailpiece. Bob Fults had his fingers in some pretty high-tech manufacturing projects. In the 1950’s Bob learned the metalworking trade working as a machinist aboard the USS Tutuila (ARG-4) , a Navy repair ship. After his military stint, Bob settled down in Champaign, Illinois, repairing small farm equipment. Later as the space race started heating up, he landed a machinist job at Impact Register, a local company that manufactured small instruments for logging the jostles and jolts that rockets and missiles encountered during ground shipping. From there he embarked on a 38-year career at nearby University of Illinois, beginning at the Betatron, one of the world’s first magnetic electron accelerators. Throughout his years at the University, Bob worked in physics, chemistry, and materials science labs designing delicate equipment ranging from high-vacuum electronics systems to high-pressure chemical reaction vessels. Bob’s interest in tailpieces sprung from his own banjo picking, although he claims to not be very good. ”I’ve been working on page 32 of Earl’s book – for the past 25 years!” he admits. He started out taking lessons from John Gantz- Alison Krauss’s first banjo player- but gave up in frustration after a few months.

Meanwhile, another of his passions, radio-controlled aircraft, took off. He started a side-business manufacturing landing gear assembles for model airplanes. His components generated such high demand that he expanded his business to supply landing gear for larger R/C planes, including weather and surveillance drones, and even military drones.

About ten years ago Bob picked up his banjo again and started taking group lessons. But his mind and hands always seemed to stray from the music back to tinkering. One day he had an idea to make a new tailpiece and brought some leftover wire from one of his nose-gear struts to his lesson to show the group. They weren’t amused, but Bob continued brainstorming on his own. He finished a tailpiece out of high carbon steel aircraft wire that mounted firmly onto the two brackets at the end of banjo pot. It gave a surprisingly good tone. Then he experimented with different materials: brass, copper ebony, even ivory and sapphire. Each material imparted a unique- and in many cases, improved- tonal character. Convinced that he was onto a viable new tailpiece design, Bob brought some prototypes to the SPBGMA convention in Nashville. Mark Poe, the SPBGMA master of ceremonies, liked what he heard, but advised Bob that most bluegrass pickers wouldn’t go for the non-traditional look to the tailpiece. So Bob returned to his workbench and came up a design based on a Presto, but which incorporated his innovative bracket mounts and offered more adjustability and tonal improvements. After three years of experimentation, the Cumberland and Blue Ridge were born.

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