Prucha Bluegrass instruments are the premier manufacturer of banjos and mandolins in the Czech Republic. Their instruments are of finest quality and are being played by some of the most prominent bluegrass musicians around the World today. Each instrument is handmade to meet the highest standard of perfection using only the best materials available.
Behind the creation of PRUCHA BLUEGRASS INSTRUMENTS is Jaroslav Prucha. His obsession with bluegrass music began when he was still a small child on a boy scout camping trip in the woods. At the time, the Czechoslovakian government had banned all country and bluegrass music which was believed to be a symbol of Western culture that dealt with such dangerous topics as freedom, love and patriotism. It was seen as a type of subversive force which might have the power to bring people together. The five string banjo was the driving force of that music and was new and exotic to Czechoslovakians. Jaroslav heard banjo the first time on this camping trip. A band of traveling musicians joined the boy scouts around the fire where one of them played his four-string tenor banjo. Those first sounds instantly found a home in Jaroslav‘s heart and his life was changed forever. He felt driven to learn to play, but there were no banjos to be found in Czechoslovakia in those days.
