1910s/1920s Lange/Orpheum 5-String Resonator Frankenstein Banjo

This is a customer's banjo that Tim worked-on. It's got a 1920s Lange-made Orpheum tenor banjo rim with the whole Orpheum-style tonering and gadgetry and it's mated to a neck that's probably about 10 or 15 years older -- also made by Lange, but likely for the Supetone (Sears) brand at the time. This mating was done before it ever arrived here and there's some quirky workarounds to get it to fit to the rim but, fortunately, the fit was good enough that we didn't have to do major surgery to make it work a little better.

The major issue on this instrument is that the neck was warped and so Tim compensated for that by pulling the old frets, repairing damage to the ebonized (read: dry/brittle) board and binding, and then refretting with jumbo fretstock. He then leveled/dressed the warp out of the top of these larger frets and, as a bonus, the long tang of the jumbos helps keep the neck a little more rigid, too. It had geared tuners at the headstock so we also fit a new, parts-bin, geared peg for the 5th string as well and I fit some railroad spike capos while doing that. I think Tim made a new nut for it, too, and repaired a little binding on the resonator.

Post-repairs this thing plays quick and easy and has a bluegrassy, fairly loud, poppy sort-of sound. It's charming and nowhere near as heavy as, say, a Mastertone-style instrument. It's also a snazzy looker.

The rim is ply maple and the neck is maple with an ebonized fretboard and headstock veneer. It's got the usual Orpheum archtop tonering design.