Circa 1920 Orpheum No 1 Four String Tenor Banjo With Original Moss Green Interior Case

***Please be advised, as shown in the photos, the fretboard has a LOT of wear and is completely worn through at the second fret. Additionally, the case is certainly showing its age, it is missing the handle and there is quite a bit of wear on the exterior and with the felt interior***

This #1 model boasts was made in the 1920's in NYC and features exquisite pearl inlay, with a neck and shell made of maple.

Orpheum banjos were made by William Rettburg and William Lange, two music industry veterans who purchased the bankrupt Buckbee banjo company in 1897. In its day, Buckbee was the largest banjo maker in America, a firm that made instruments for Dobson, Benary, Farland, Bruno and perhaps a dozen more companies. The banjos made by Buckbee wereprimarily in what we think of as the minstrel style, with thin wooden shells, no metal tone rings and large, usually fretless necks. Rettburg and Lange had figured out early on that the instruments that Buckbee was making were quickly going out of fashion. By 1903 they had developed a simple tone ring that helped increase the banjo’s volume along with giving it brighter crisper tone. The Orpheum banjo proved to be a big success and by 1915, it was one of the most popular banjos styles in America. Orpheum banjos came in a variety of styles including five-strings, banjo mandolins, plectrums and tenors, like today’s Catch. Orpheum banjos were very well made and they have a lighter, delicate tone than the instruments from Gibson and Epiphone that come out a few years later.