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Lizabeth - Posted - 09/15/2019: 12:13:34
I am looking for information on a banjo. I can only ID it with Orpheum No2, a serial number and tag. Where can I look to find a year made and any additional information.
Thank You
Lizabeth
thisoldman - Posted - 09/15/2019: 12:15:46
Sorry for your loss, but that is quite an inheritance.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/15/2019: 12:47:59
Thank You...
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/15/2019: 12:51:00
He played a lot of different styles on the banjo. Always out on the front porch playing for the neighbors... I never had the chance to learn from him, but I did pick up the banjo once and practiced all day before he came home from work just to play him one tune. I think that's why I got it...
beezaboy - Posted - 09/15/2019: 13:05:48
What is the serial number stamped on the stick in the middle of the drum?
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/15/2019: 13:10:54
00220
Andyrhydycreuau - Posted - 09/15/2019: 13:21:35
Is that a five string @lizabeth?
It's probably my dream antique banjo right there. If ever you come to the UK and felt like selling......
Good luck with it all.
Andy
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/15/2019: 13:26:08
Yes, it is a 5 string... Any information on this banjo would be appreciated.
Andyrhydycreuau - Posted - 09/15/2019: 13:38:17
Hi @lizabeth.
Lots of Rettburg and Lange info on this site vintagebanjomaker.com/rettburg...594323523
There will also be some r and l experts on this site.
They are really high quality, and the orpheum banjos have a tone ring which is unique (some similar types on other makes) with a ring floating on metal pins. The tone produced by this tone ring is why I want one. Also they are beautiful. But there aren't many in the UK, and people hang on to them. There are more valuable banjos, eg a similar tenor is on UK eBay currently for £800. 5 string would be worth more.
Check out the link, but there will be more on line I'm sure.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/15/2019: 13:45:24
Thank You for the additional info.... your speaking way beyond my beginners language on banjo's but I guess I'll learn...
Andyrhydycreuau - Posted - 09/15/2019: 14:03:29
quote:
Originally posted by Lizabeth
Thank You for the additional info.... your speaking way beyond my beginners language on banjo's but I guess I'll learn...
Ok, sorry. The tone ring is the circular piece of metal which the skin (the head) pulls down on. In many banjos there isn't one of these at all, in some there are simple brass hoops. As banjos developed tone rings became more elaborate, and the orpheum tone ring is an early example of this more elaborate style. The metal hoop sits on metal spikes, so the metal vibrates freely and adds a ringing sound when the strings are played.
There is more info on tone rings if you look for this in Google banjo-info-3344161312015.pdf
They only built banjos with the R and L name and Orpheum from late 1890s to the mid 1920s.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/15/2019: 15:33:42
Thank You Andrew and David. I really appreciate all the help from everyone. Does anyone know of a website that has the serial number to match the year made.
Lizabeth
G Edward Porgie - Posted - 09/15/2019: 16:07:41
There are several date charts listed in the BHO archives, the best of which have been posted by Beezaboy (John Hoft). If the actual charts he's compiled do not show up, You should contact him through the Hangout.
He has done much research on these, has gathered advertising, and has collected quite a number of serial numbers, so his information on Orpheums is probably the most accurate you'll find. I am sure he will also be interested in adding your banjo's serial number to his list.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/15/2019: 16:22:05
Thank you so much. I will go back to his reply...
beezaboy - Posted - 09/15/2019: 17:04:26
I don't believe the serial number is correct.
Perhaps if you look at it with a magnifying glass and move it about so the light strikes it from different angles it may become more apparent.
Sometimes serial number stamps are very difficult to make out.
Meanwhile, attached is a date chart fashioned from a BHO project we've been working on for several years.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/16/2019: 05:11:36
That is the only number on that bar. I uploaded another photo...
G Edward Porgie - Posted - 09/16/2019: 09:45:04
quote:
Originally posted by Lizabeth
That is the only number on that bar. I uploaded another photo...
It appears to me that someone missed badly with the serial number stamp. I suspect the second digit is actually a "6," but I still can't decide on the first number, because if it happened to be another "^" as it looks to be, it doesn't fit any date chart known to man.
What may have happened is that the guy with the stamp missed the mark with the first number and decided he should start over again in a different place.
Edited by - G Edward Porgie on 09/16/2019 09:51:42
Hawgfiddle65 - Posted - 09/16/2019: 09:53:24
Hi
Lovely banjo!
Would there be a matching serial number anywhere on the rim?
Jim
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/16/2019: 10:07:47
I have been searching thru piles of papers with the instruments and found the serial # for it, 06220. Your right the second number didn't look like the last zero. So now I have that much going. I have other instruments I am working on, an Orpheum No 1 Banjo/Mandolin, an SS Stewart and a few others. As a newbie I still have so much to learn...
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/16/2019: 10:17:35
So by looking at the chart from beezaboy and finding the additional papers on it, it was made around 1918. Thank You so much everyone.
Andyrhydycreuau - Posted - 09/16/2019: 11:15:09
quote:
Originally posted by Lizabeth
So by looking at the chart from beezaboy and finding the additional papers on it, it was made around 1918. Thank You so much everyone.
And so to sleep, perchance to dream..... As Hamlet is reported to have said to no-one in particular.
I can but dream. Simply beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Andy
beezaboy - Posted - 09/16/2019: 11:22:33
Excellent.
I've attached our 2019 Orpheum Serial Number Chart.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/17/2019: 07:48:40
Beezaboy - I take it these listings are the number order in which Orpheums were made. So ours being 6220 will be added? Do you need any more information? or pictures?
Thank You for the listing. I can now check the others I have.
Lizabeth
beezaboy - Posted - 09/17/2019: 09:55:51
Lizabeth -
I already added your 06220 #2 to our serial number list.
Thank you.
If you encounter another Orpheum I would love to have the serial number and particulars.
One of Rettberg & Lange's advertising points was that their Orpheum 5-strings had a slightly extended fretboard but most I've seen do not. I noted in your listing that yours has the extended fretboard.
Also, we have never been able to figure out why R&L stamped a zero prefix on some Orpheums in batches 06XXX and 011XXX and comingled them with regular 4-digit 6XXX and 11XXX serial numbers. They probably weren't thinking about fans and collectors pondering their serial number sequences a century later.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/17/2019: 17:01:43
The next one I have is an Orpheum No 3 S#8591 I really think this one is beautiful...
Edited by - Lizabeth on 09/17/2019 17:04:48
beezaboy - Posted - 09/18/2019: 03:14:59
Is 8591 a 4-string or 5-string?
Emiel - Posted - 09/18/2019: 03:46:59
quote:
Originally posted by beezaboy
Is 8591 a 4-string or 5-string?
I see a 4-string bridge with four strings.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/18/2019: 04:33:01
It's a 4 string...
beezaboy - Posted - 09/18/2019: 06:45:01
Emiel - I never would have thought of that!
Duh!!
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/18/2019: 07:05:04
Hahaha... I have my days... I still have more to go thru. I take it even though I've been talking about Orpheum's, this website is for other banjo's correct? Know of any good guitar and violin sites that can help me. I see some but I would like some advice from you guys (or gals)... I still don't know what I am going to do with them. I know it's never to late to learn and I might keep a few but I do know if we don't take care of them instruments have a tendency to do whatever they do over time...
Thank You
CEParagon124 - Posted - 09/18/2019: 07:45:58
There are companion sites, Mandolin Hangout, Flatpicker Hangout and Fiddle Hangout.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/18/2019: 08:26:56
Thank You CE...
beezaboy - Posted - 09/19/2019: 02:29:58
I put #3 Special S/N 8591 into our list.
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/20/2019: 10:57:54
Beezaboy - Orpheum #1 Banjo/Mandolin #13073
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/20/2019: 11:02:56
Pic 4 & 5
Lizabeth - Posted - 09/20/2019: 11:13:56
Also wondering if there is a Gibson list like there is for the Orpheum's?
