A professionally made 17 fret open-back tenor banjo which is a pleasure to play. The mahogany block rim, coordinator rods and tone ring were made by Patsy Toman from Lurgan and the mahogany neck was made by Thomas Jones from Bury. Full details are listed below and a video to hear how it sounds.
22 – 3/4″ scale length (55.5cm)
Nut width 33 mm
12th fret width 41 mm
Honduran mahogany neck with adjustable trust rod.
Ebony fret board with pearl dot position markers
24 x round hooks and nuts
Clamshell tailpiece
nickel armrest with rosewood top
Gotoh geared tuners with black plastic buttons
3/4″ solid mahogany block rim with archtop rolled brass tone ring
Paramount is one of the “big five” of the professional prewar tenor banjo makers, the other big four being (no special order) Gibson, Bacon & Day, Epiphone and Vega. Paramount was owned by William L. Lange who also owned Orpheum, Langstyle, and other banjo companies. The higher grade banjos have more expensive (and prettier) woods in them such as rosewood, holly, and ebony. Other banjo makers did the same thing with their banjos, the fancier they are, the rarer the wood and the more carving, marquetry, etc. on the banjos.
The Style D is made from holly wood, with the same built laminated maple rim & laminated holly resonator with a rosewood fingerboard. Although originally finished in a similar colour tone to maple but a whiter holly wood, I had this banjo professionally refinished in a tobacco brown sunburnt finish. I find the overall sound of the Style D very loud and powerful more so than any of the other Paramount models. The neck is slightly thicker also than the other models, maybe this is what gives it the extra sustain. The banjo is totally original and was shipped to me from San Francisco a couple of years back, see details below
Banjo Details
The neck is joined through the centre with carefully matched woods, glued in block design. The fingerboard is inlaid with original designs of mother of pearl, engraved with songbird motif. The heel and back of peg head are hand carved. The headstock has beautiful pearl inlay featuring the brand name William Lange Paramount Style D, this model has the indestructible page geared tuners, silver plated and genuine pearl buttons. All of the metal hardware is matt silver plated and includes the original swivel tail piece and hotdog armrest. Fitted with new Remo 11 – 02 white smooth top head and a handmade rosewood bridge. Comes with original Paramount case in excellent condition. I also give this Paramount a complete refret so there is many years playing ahead for it.
Original (indestructible) page geared tuners (all working well)
Hotdog armrest
Paramount tail piece
Nice Carving to heal & back of neck head stock
Multi piece holly neck featuring holly & ebony centre blocks
original paramount vintage banjo case with zipper dust cover.
