.. Paramount/Orpheum Banjos ..
(Anything written in yellow is a link to a photograph or another web page.)
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An Orpheum #3 Tenor Banjo
Photos courtesy of Vehengst.
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A Paramount "Junior" Tenor Banjo
Photos courtesy of the
Prescott Folklore Center
of Prescott, AZ, dealing in traditional acoustic instruments.
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A Paramount "Style A" Tenor Banjo
Photos courtesy of my friend in South Carolina.
- The Tone Ring
- A nickeled hollow brass tube set up on struts.
The inlay motif for the Style A's fingerboard was "diamonds".
- The Skirt
- Side view of the pot give a good view of the tone ring skirt.
- The Acousticon
- Showing Paramount's distinctive vertical marquetry stripe.
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A Paramount "Style C" Tenor Banjo
Built in 1926 by the
Paramount Banjo Company
of New York City, NY. USA.
- Peghead - Stripped
- And re-inked with artist's oil paint.
- Back of Peghead
- Stripped
- An old toothbrush was useful for removing the old finish from the
carved area.
- Heel Carving
- stripped
- After the toothbrush treatment an Xacto knife carefully picked out the
remaining stripper.
- Peghead
- The inlay motif for the C and D series was "Songbirds".
Unfortunately, the engraving does not show up well here, but all of those birds
have feathers. Someone drilled the the topmost inlay for a rhinestone I haven't
yet replaced. A simplified version of Paramount's fiddle-shaped peghead cut was
later adopted by Gibson for its Mastertone series.
- Back of Peghead
- A good view of the Page pegs.
- Side View
of the Pot
- The tone ring skirt shows plainly.
- The Acousticon
- Paramount's name for its resonators.
- Tailpiece
- A rotating cam latch holds the cover that flips upward under spring
tension.
Note also the "hot dog" armrest.
- Tone Ring
Disassembled
- The skirt is on the left; inner "arch" ring on the right. Note the
positioning tits on the "arch" ring which fit into holes at neck and tailpiece.
Also the "struts" in the foreground.
- Tone Ring
Reassembled
- Putting that skirt back on was a drag!
Some photos of a later C from my friend in South Carolina:
- The Overall View
- Note the mute, operated by the knob at the neck's heel.
- The Neck
- The inlay motif for the C and D series was songbirds.
- The Peghead
- Who could fault Paramount's inlay work?
- Three Quarter View
- The skirt piercings were apparently standard on Style A and higher after
around 1929 or 1930.
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A Paramount "Style Leader" Plectrum Banjo
Photos courtesy of my friend in South Carolina.
- The Back
- Leaders and "Fs" were made of rosewood with maple (I think) accent strips.
Paramount insisted that Rosewood was "positively the best material for tone".
- The Neck
- The inlay motif for the Leader and Aristocrat series was "Bells".
- The Peg Head
- The Leader inlays, both peghead and fingerboard, were also used on the
maple version of the Style B, which was ordinarily made in walnut with an inlay
set all its own.
- The Side
- Note the early style armrest, precursor of the "hot dog" armrest.
- The Tone Ring
- You can clearly see the tone ring components in this shot, including the
struts supporting the inner "arch" ring.
- The Face
- Those great big round holes in the resonator flange are a distinguishing
feature of all Paramount banjos.
- The Peg Head Reverse
- Page pegs with brass housings. Some models were fitted with zinc alloy
(pot metal) housings that were, unfortunately, prone to cracking.
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A Paramount "Aristocrat Special" Tenor Banjo
Photos courtesy of my friend in South Carolina.
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A Paramount "Style E" Tenor Banjo
Photos courtesy of my friend in South Carolina.
- The Peg Head
- The peghead mother of pearl work on the Paramount Styles E and F is, in
my opinion, the prettiest of any banjos ever made.
- The Side
- The Style E was made of carved White Holly wood with engraved and gold
plated metalwork.
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A Paramount "Style F" Tenor Banjo
- The Neck
- The inlay motif for the E and F series was "Butterflies".
- The Side
- The Style F was made of veneer inlaid, carved Rosewood with engraved and
gold plated metalwork. Frosted chocolate ...
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A Paramount "Style F" Guitar Banjo
When was the last time you saw one of these? I've never seen anything remotely like it.
Many thanks to Scott Philbrick for supplying these photos.
- Overall View
- It seemed somehow strange to see six pegs with that familiar Style F peghead
inlay pattern.
- The Pot
- This banjo takes a 16-1/4" custom made head.
- The Armrest & Tailpiece
- As with all Style Fs, metal parts were gold plated and engraved.
- Tone Ring/Rim Detail
- Featuring a self portrait of the owner/photographer!
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A Paramount "Artist Supreme" Plectrum Banjo
Following photos are courtesy of
Gruhn Guitars
of Nashville, TN.
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A Paramount Wrench
Used for tightening the tension nuts to maintain head tension.
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Orpheum / Paramount Patents
You may be interested in seeing
www.banjopatents.com
, which contains links to a great many patent applications of interest to banjo enthusiasts.
To view the documents you must have a TIFF Image Viewing/Plug-in of some sort. There are
instructions on how to download a freeware plug-in in its Technical Requirements page.
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Orpheum Patent
- An archtop tone ring supported by brackets.
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Paramount Tone Ring
- Note that both the "arch ring" and the skirt are held away from the shell
by the struts to ensure enhanced sustain. Figures 7 and 8 adapt the same logic
to a sound box for a phonograph, based on the text.
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Acousticon
- Ordinary banjos had resonators; Paramounts had acousticons.
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Super Series Pot Assembly
- Often nicknamed the "triple decker".
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Favorite links
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