1924 Paramount Style A (Lange-made) Resonator Plectrum Banjo

If you're into trad jazz and chord-melody work, plectrum banjo will probably be on your radar. It's like a 5-string minus the 5th drone string and is traditionally tuned CGBD low to high, though I usually retune them to DGBE "Chicago" or "baritone uke" tuning for ease-of-use for our modern brains. They'll, of course, retune to whatever your needs are.

This plectrum banjo is, however, quite a thoroughbred. Lange-made Paramount and Orpheum banjos were mostly used by professional musicians at the time and they've got the volume, snap, and cut to hang-in with the jazz bands of the time they were built. They also have a pleasingly-sweet sound to them that's not quite as brutally sharp or piercing as the higher-end Bacon or Vega instruments which were their competition, really. I think of Lange's higher-end stuff and Gibson's higher-end stuff having a similar "color palette" in that regard.

This one arrived at the shop with a new head and bridge on it but it was otherwise original. The neck was warped, however, so my guy Tim had to plane the board and refret it, which he did with pyramid/jumbo stock. After that it was quick to clean-up a bit and setup and now it's playing like an absolute beast -- fast and spot-on and ready to hang with any brass band (or loud acoustic group) you'd want to throw it in.

At home, I like to sing with these plucking bare-fingered or strummed uke-style with my nails.

Repairs included: a fretboard plane and refret, cleaning, and setup work.

Weight: 9 lbs 3 oz

Scale length: 27 1/8"

Nut width: 1 1/8"

Neck shape: medium soft V

Board radius: flat

Head diameter: 11 1/8"

Resonator diameter: 13 1/4"

Depth overall at rim: 3 1/4"

Rim wood: ply maple

Tonering: archtop-style Paramount ring

Bridge: ebony/maple 3-foot

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: maple

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16” overall (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 22w, 13, 11, 9 for DGBE "Chicago" tuning

Neck relief: teensiest bit of relief tuned to pitch (under 1/64")

Fret style: jumbo

Condition notes: it's all-original save head, frets, side dots, and bridge. It's really very clean for its age, though there's mild playwear/usewear here and there. The back of the neck might have one coat of overspray on it but the finish does appear to be original throughout otherwise. Because of the wood fretboard binding, to refret the neck on these instruments with a deeper tang, the slots usually have to be cut right through the binding and so to the edge of the neck -- which is what we've done here. It does not detract from the look or feel and gives a little more room to play on the neck, too.

It comes with: a nice old original hard case in good-enough shape.

Consignor tag: C64