From Artisan Shop to Pickin in the Pines: Tom Nechville’s Journey West
“Go west, young man, and seek your fortune,” as the famous nineteenth-century saying goes. In that pioneering spirit, banjo luthier Tom Nechville left his factory in Minnesota and moved to Sisters, Oregon—a move that led him to foster a bluegrass scene through his shop, Nechville’s Banjos West.
"My dad was an Oregonian,” says Nechville. “If you read my high school yearbook, my plan even back then was to move out West.”
“It took me until I was in my sixties to finally do it, but everything lined up perfectly with my personal and professional life. I just love the landscape and the climate here."
"If you’re a builder of musical instruments, you want a drier climate. If you build in a wet climate, the wood absorbs moisture. When you send that instrument to a drier part of the country, it dries out, the fret ends stick out, and the wood can warp. Climate-wise, Central Oregon is a much better area to build from."
The former Minnesota luthier is immersed in projects, from operating his Custom Shop to teaching banjo and collaborating with his partner, Linda Leavitt. Business partners since 2022, they maintain a positive presence in Oregon’s thriving bluegrass community.
“Linda and I are continuing to schedule our travels,” shares Nechville.
“She has an incredible social network that really helps nurture the bluegrass community. She coordinates with people who are enthusiastic about the music, suggests venues for touring bands, and acts as a sort of ‘Mother Bluegrass’ to help people find their way around this scene.”
Nechville and Leavitt also perform as the bluegrass duo, TLC (Tom and Linda Collective).
As for Nechville, he does his part through luthier work. "My specialty is taking whatever instrument a customer brings in—it doesn't even have to be one of mine—and getting it perfectly playable. I try to put a little 'mojo' into it so they can enjoy making music with fewer mechanical issues fighting them."
Customers can expect more than repairs at Banjos West.
"We have two locations in Sisters, one being the retail walk-in shop where I do a lot of small repairs and have an area we call the 'Banjo Kitchen.' It reminds me of the Tiny Desk Concerts—we have touring West Coast bands stop in all the time to do videos, hang out, and meet people. Then, I have the main shop where I keep all the dust-making equipment and machinery running."
The shop is equipped with modern CNC machinery.
“We use up-to-date CNC machines for cutting pearls and inlay, which makes it possible to create intricate custom designs. Because I'm pretty much a one-man show right now, it limits my production somewhat, but I'm starting to do batches of banjos in a very productive way."
Creating the Nechville banjo
Tom Nechville’s frustration with the banjo’s complicated design inspired him to redesign features, making fast adjustments to the instrument possible.
“The regular banjo had a lot of mechanical problems. The parts would create tuning issues and problems with the tension on the head,” Nechville explains.
“My friend Stan said, ‘Why don’t you just screw the head on like a jar cap?’”
Nechville’s answer was the Heli-Mount, a redesigned banjo pot system that replaces traditional hooks and nuts with a threaded mechanism for more even-head tension and easier adjustment.
His banjos, featuring the Heli-Mount, are used by players such as Béla Fleck, Steve Martin, Alison Brown, Noam Pikelny, Emily Robison, and Billy Failing.
"Other inventions include a rolling tone ring mechanism called the Cyclotronic and the Flux Capacitor, an adjustable neck design inspired by the movie Back to the Future."
“My design ideas are common-sense ideas that just weren’t being regularly copied.”
Taking his banjo to Pickin' in the Pines
Nechville had a chance to introduce his banjo to festivalgoers at Pickin' in the Pines in Flagstaff, Arizona.
“We went to Sedona earlier this summer, and we thought it was cool down there. So, we decided, well, let us come back and go to Pickin’ in the Pines. Part of it was a business choice to target that area and show some presence there. And then we could do some social media coverage of it.”
“We were able to hang out and play and listen to and participate with really good musicians. And that was a joy. That was a really good time,” Nechville says.
“You see that people of all sizes and shapes and political views and everything—they come together in bluegrass.”
