Capek Bluegrass&Jazz Instruments

Rostislav Čapek has been making banjos and mandolins since 1985.

The purely musical environment into which Rosta was born in 1968 foretold his future direction towards making musical instruments. In 1971, his father, Jan "Kristak" Capek, founded the now legendary first Czech girl's country band Schovanky, in which Rosta´s mother Jarka (the first five-string banjo player in Europe) played the banjo.
From the age of 14, Rosta devoted himself to professional education in the field - first he graduated from the violin-making school in Luby near Cheb and then continued his studies in Hradec Kralove at the Secondary School of Musical Instruments. He finished his school education in 1988, but three years earlier he built his first five-string banjo.

Since 1985, when the Capek Bluegrass & Jazz Instruments brand was founded, Rost'a has made hundreds of five-string, tenor and other banjos, as well as instruments of the so-called mandolin family, mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, etc.

Capek instruments are characterized by high quality without compromises and thanks to this the prestige of the Capek brand not only in our country, but also in the world continues to grow.

Today, a long list of well-known and unknown musicians play banjos, mandolins and other less common instruments from the workshop of Rosta Capek. These include many local artists - e.g. Marek Eben, Ondrej Havelka, Jiri Suchy, Robert Kodym, Ivan Mladek, Radim Zenkl and others.
Among the world artists, 14-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Skaggs, who playes several Capek instruments and his capek Mandocello can be heard and seen on the cover of his CD "Songs My Dad Loved". The legendary Doyle Lawson played his F5 Capek Mandolin on the CD "Live in Prague", which was produced by Rosta and Iva Capek. Rosta made the signature model of the five-string banjo for one of the best banjo players in the world, Ned Luberecki, and this banjo, under the name Nedski, became one of the most popular models. Other owners of Capek instruments include Vince Gill, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, Andy Statman and Don Rigsby.