1910s Lange-made Orpheum No. 3 Tenor Banjo

I've seen plenty of Orpheum banjos over the years, but this one takes the cake for the most-original, most-clean one I've seen yet. In fact, it's my fault it's not entirely-original as I replaced the skin head (still going strong) and bridge. Those are safely stowed in its original case -- whose protection is probably the reason this instrument is so clean and pretty.

I'm a fan of the Lange sound and tonering and it helps that they're easy on the eyes (and hand), too. These banjos are not the loudest out there in the "professional quality" banjo market of the era, but when pushed hard and loud, they seem to retain the most pure tone to my ears -- a mix of horse-hoof clop-clop springiness and clean, sweet, bite in the upper-mids and highs. You can really dig into these and not get an "ovedriven" tone out of them, which you might get via a flattening-out/white-noise ping on a Bacon or similar from the early '20s when laying-in.

Work included: a new Remo Renaissance head, new 5/8" bridge, fret level/dress, minor cleaning, and a good setup. It has a straight neck, good fret life left, and plays with spot-on 1/16" action at the 12th fret, strung with 32w, 20w, 13, 9 strings for standard CGDA tuning.

Scale length: 20 3/4"
Nut width: 1 3/16"
String spacing at nut: 15/16"
String spacing at bridge: 1 3/8"

Head diameter: 11 1/4" with new Remo Renaissance head

Side depth: 2 3/4"

Rim wood: ply maple(?) with mahogany veneer
Neck wood: mahogany
Fretboard: ebonized maple

Neck shape: flat board with slim-to-mild C/V shape

Bridge: maple/ebony 5/8"

Nut: original bone

Tonering type: solid hoop over brads (archtop setup) with outer thin ring

Weight: 6 lb 4 oz

Condition notes: nothing to report, really, other than that the original head is stashed in the case and that there's minor wear to the fretboard and only the lightest use-wear throughout. It's startlingly-clean and gorgeous. A bonus with that is that all of the colored purfling and inlay is still rich and saturated -- there's this green edging here and there that still pops whereas it's usually a muted grey-brown-green at this point.

It comes with: its original hard case in decent shape.

The pearl in the headstock is... yum!

The patent tailpiece is fully-adjustable for downpressure via the turning gadget on top.

I don't think anyone's going to argue with a pearl fleur-de-lis on the back of the headstock or original, gold-plated friction pegs with ivoroid buttons.

The heel carving is, as usual, excellent.

Per the unofficial Banjo Hangout Orpheum/Paramount serial number list, this dates around 1919 -- right where you'd expect it to be sans-resonator.

Dealer J.J. Levert of Montreal was listed in Lange's own sales materials like this ad in the Music Trades Review of 1923.

If you aren't taken by that back/front-strapping on the headstock, I dunno what would persuade you to admire a banjo like this.