A friend has asked me to help find homes for some banjos. A lot of banjos. A whole lot of banjos. Like, dozens of banjos.
From the estate of a violin luthier is Southwest Kansas, one who apparently also had a fondness for 1920s tenor banjos. We have only scratched the surface, and will no doubt be digging through boxes for some months. There are boxes of banjo rims with no necks. There are necks with no rims. Boxes and boxes of vintage and new parts. We haven’t even tried to look at the boxes yet. Most of the instruments are going to need work. We will be listing all AS-IS. Some only need new strings, others new heads and setup, and some are what you’d cal “wall hangers.” We have already sold 6 or 7 that were essentially ready to go.
In this picture (above) are a few of the pieces we’ve found. Bacon Style B plectrum, ca. 1920s..Mint; Orpheum No 3 tenor, ca. 1920; Orpheum No 1 tenor with huge 12 1/8″ rim (warped neck…great candidate for conversion to 5-string); Orpheum No 1 11″ tenor, needs new head etc…; S.S. Stewart Wondertone 19 fret tenor; ca. 1949 Harmony lap steel (ok, there is more than just banjo stuff).
There seems to be a lot Orpheum tenors in here. We have a lot of extra necks that could be good for folks needing to replace original inlays on their instruments. The Bacon Style B plectrum is an amazing banjo, presently tuned to Chicago tuning. It would be great for a guitar player looking to get a banjo tone. It’s all original, with possible exception of tailpiece. There is a Bacon Blue Ribbon tenor that caught my eye…I will be carefully searching for the original pop-off resonator and hardware. The inlay and neck carving on this is amazing, and this will be a priority to restore if I can find the missing parts.
Lots of no-name tenors, such as the Gretsch pictured in lead image. Nothing fancy, but it was all original and plays great. Many more like it to uncover. Couple Ludwigs, Bruno, couple Stromberg-Voisenet (Kay). Can’t wait to see what in there…
Check out the Lange “Triple X” made for Stadlmair Music. Ca. 1924, this is an early one with no serial number, but instead is stamped “PATENTS PENDING”. Had to do some research on these. Very unusual arch top tonering with 20 resonator tubes. This has a walnut resonator that attaches with two small clasps. Typical high-end craftsmanship from Lange, everything heavily engraved and inlaid. Seems all original, including case. Can’t find another with this exact construction, betting this is a very early production.
So there you have it, for now. If you are interested in restoring a banjo, need one for parts, want to hang it on the wall, whatever, please give me a shout. This is going to be a long process, as we both have full-time jobs and this isa lot to organize. I’ll post updates as we uncover cool stuff. Please check my personal Facebook page, where I will be selling most of this on Marketplace.