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Thread: This Is Too Cool....

  1. #1
    wood butcher Spruce's Avatar
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    Default This Is Too Cool....

    A friend found this mando-banjo at the dump, and I find it to be totally charming...







    No brand name, but it's very well-made, and totally intact (except for a broken tailpiece)...

    But the 20's graffiti is the cat's meow here, and according to the owner (who googled some of the names) contains names of some well-known Canadian players from the 20's...
    Pretty darn cool...








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  3. #2
    wood butcher Spruce's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    This thing must have been in the case since the 20's, as the writing for the most part is bright and unfaded...













    Anyone have an opinion on the maker?
    It kind of reminds me of an Orpheum tenor banjo I have, but I guess it could have been made by any number of companies...

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  5. #3
    acoustically inert F-2 Dave's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Very cool. Looks like a great mando-banjo. Makes you wonder what goes to the dump that doesn't get rescued.
    "Mongo only pawn in game of life." --- Mongo

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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Way cool. I'll bet it has some stories to tell. Wonder if the owner played in those orchestras, or was just a fan. Either way, it did a bit of travelling. Also, there are some members that show up in a couple different bands. And I have to wonder, what was going in Venice, CA on July 8, 1926, when three different people signed it. "So's your old man" - priceless!

    BTW, I love the way the owner spelled it, "bango." As anyone who has ever played one of these knows, that's the sound they make!
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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  8. #5
    wood butcher Spruce's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    ...it's interesting to see the spelling of "bango"....
    Was this common back then??

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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Never seen it before. Probably just an oopsie. Consistently misspelled, if that means anything.

    Let us know how it plays when you get it going. I hope the skin holds, after all these years.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

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  10. #7
    Registered User LongBlackVeil's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Quote Originally Posted by Spruce View Post
    ...it's interesting to see the spelling of "bango"....
    Was this common back then??
    banjo pickers never have been the smartest of beings, Herb just misspelled it, Roy didnt know how to spell it either so he copied off of Herb .

    In all seriousness, i dont know why but i have a strange urge to own a mando-banjo
    "When you learn an old time fiddle tune, you make a friend for life"

  11. #8
    Registered User sgrexa's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    The bango, possibly a combination of bongo and banjo, pre-beatnik. Beatnik meets redneck? Way cool, I bet the tuners alone are worth something. It is amazing what people throw away. My sister has created a very lucrative Ebay business for herself rummaging through trash in some of the nicer parts of town. Gold and silver are not at ALL uncommon, but the motherload was boxes and boxes of very expensive, precision made, most pneumatically driven surgical power tools and accessories. Some of which have fetched over $1,000 and she has yet to even scratch the surface.

    Sean

    PS- When and why did Americans lose the very neat penmanship that seemed to disappear in the generation after the baby boomers?

  12. #9
    Capt. E Capt. E's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    I wonder if some elderly person died with no heirs and their house was cleared out. It is is fabulous condition, obviously well cared for. Some of these house buyer/flippers do just that. They don't give a damn about the contents...just clear it out, fix it up and re-sell. Wonderful this was rescued. Some research is in order for the names. What a treasure. The common name in all the bands is Bob Seifert on sax. The girl in profile is named Greta Garbo! Was it drawn from life?
    Jammin' south of the river
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  13. #10
    I may be old but I'm ugly billhay4's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Cool find, Bruce. Where is that dump?
    Bill
    IM(NS)HO

  14. #11
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    I am pretty sure that bango is a deliberate misspelling - some joke that turned into a habit.

    The fancy writing would be because it is to appear on the bango itself. I have written on my mandolin cases and I do a very careful job with the fonts.

    The sketch of the "old man" must have been some kind of common doodle back in the days, my father used an almost identical sketch when writing letters to his Dad from the Navy during WWII.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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  15. #12
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Very very cool.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  16. #13
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Bango was a common misspelling of banjo and still is.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  17. #14
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Here is what I could find on the S.S. Prince George, a cruise ship in which the bango apparently made an appearance with the orchestra.

    http://www.cruiseshipodyssey.com/prgeorge.htm

    This article mentions both Mart Kenny (on the bango as part of the Bohemians Orchestra, drums and sax), and Len Chamberlain, of the Vancouver Hotel Orchestra.

    http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.c...gentlemen-emc/

    Mart Kenney and His Western Gentlemen was, apparently, a very successful dance band throughout Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b5Aw8klSvo
    Last edited by JeffD; Sep-15-2014 at 3:15pm.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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  19. #15
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    How common a misspelling is bango? Look at this. These are all from bangohanjout.org.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  21. #16
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    ^^^^ hahahaha.

    Jamie

    PS. What a cool find.
    There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. Logan Pearsall Smith, 1865 - 1946

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  22. #17
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Quote Originally Posted by sgrexa View Post
    When and why did Americans lose the very neat penmanship that seemed to disappear in the generation after the baby boomers?
    I'm sorry, what is this word "penmanship?" Does it have something to do with handwriting? I'm not even sure what that means, but I think I've heard of it. It has something to do with how people wrote before they had computers and keyboards, right?

    OK, kidding aside, it's true - a lost art, slipping further and further away with each moment. I'd think in a case like this, the writer would make a point of being neat, as it was going to be shown around.

    JeffD, that ship you found was launched in 1947, completed in 1948. Sorry.

    Also, the article has that orchestra as being formed in 1931. Don't know what to make of that.

    Capt. E, I'm not sure that's Garbo. Her first American film was "Torrent," in 1926, and she had two more movies that year, too, so it's possible, but still ... I dunno, it could be, I see a resemblance, but that was a very popular look back then. You'd think our verbose owner would have written her name. Just my guess ...
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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  24. #18
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Yea but did you read the whole history. The ship started in the teens, and was refurbished and bought and sold and bought over and over.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  25. #19
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    I don't see any of that. No reference to any date earlier than 1946, when the build order was placed.

    HOWEVER, wiki to the rescue! The article you found is of the second ship by that name. It was a replacement for the original ship, built in 1909, burned in 1945.
    Last edited by journeybear; Sep-15-2014 at 3:50pm.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  26. #20
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    I don't see any of that. No reference to any date earlier than 1946, when the build order was placed.
    Wrong link. I guess there were more than one S.S. Prince George

    Well here is a story about the end of the S.S. Prince George - the one that would be age appropriate:

    The $500,000 ship had been built at Wallsend-on-Tyne in England in 1910. It was approximately 306 feet long, carried more than 200 passengers and crew and traveled at speeds between 16-18 knots. It had been on the Vancouver to Southeast Alaskan run since the early 1910s, and was part of CN's "luxurious" sailing fleet, although it probably represented luxury sailing circa 1910 more than luxury sailing circa 1945.
    http://www.sitnews.us/Kiffer/SSPrinc...ce_george.html
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  27. #21
    Capt. E Capt. E's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Starting date is 1924. That at least is the starting point in Brooklyn, NY.

    Looks like Garbo to me...see the name written at her base.

    The dancing figure is named Muriel Chess.
    Jammin' south of the river
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  28. #22
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    I notice Muriel Chess, 1926, is signed in at one place but is also the artist that signed the drawing of the back of the girl dancing. Sounds like more investigation.

  29. #23
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    It would be cool to dig up all the references and place this bango in history. More cool to see a picture somewhere of someone playing it in the 30s. Most cool to have a child or grand child of the original owner check in here to the thread and tell us the story.


    I love it when an instrument can be definitely tied to a living breathing identifiable living person. I mean every old instrument was owned by someone, but to get that history of who, when and where, so that when you hold the vintage instrument you can feel the connection to a specific past, a very special feeling. And when you string it up and re-animate it, playing sounds not heard in over 50 years, wow.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

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  31. #24
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    Quote Originally Posted by Capt. E View Post
    Starting date is 1924. That at least is the starting point in Brooklyn, NY.

    Looks like Garbo to me...see the name written at her base.

    The dancing figure is named Muriel Chess.
    You're right! I see her name now, off to the left, kind of smudged. Sorry!

    There is a 1922, in the third photo.Also, I wonder if that is a drawing of Muriel Chess, or by Muriel Chess. She was one of the signers on July 7, 1926.

    JeffD, I amended my earlier post after doing some digging, but I see you were doing more sleuthing in the interim. Oh well! At least we seem to have cleared that bit up.

    I prefer to believe all these inscriptions date from the 1920s. I don't see any difference in their image density - ie, any fading. In any event, in case I haven't said so in a while, this is really cool.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

  32. #25
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: This Is Too Cool....

    All right. I've been doing a little armchair sleuthing, googling the names of the three ladies who signed the bango pn July 8, 1926. I've had a few nibbles regarding Muriel Chess. If I am reading it right, she was a dance performer in Vancouver, getting mentioned in a local daily at least three times.

    I'm including a bit of extra text for a few reasons, such as context, cross-referencing (in case someone recognizes something or wants to do more googling), and a bit of humor. Please note: these are excerpted from text scans of pdf files, and required some typo corrections, and some errors (esp. names) are just left as is, as it's impossible to know what's correct in these instances.

    I'm not completely sure this is the same Muriel Chess - those three signatures were from Venice CA, although dated 1926 - but the Vancouver dconnection seems strong. I am reasonably certain, though that she is not the same Muriel Chess who appears in "The Lady in the Lake," a 1943 detective novel by Raymond Chandler starring Philip Marlowe. That one is fictional, though the possibility exists she was the inspiration for the character.

    Read on!

    VANCOUVER DAILY WORLD The Newspaper of the Home MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1922: News of Vancouver Society and Women's Organizations

    Plans Completed For Hebrew Aid Function The women of the Hebrew Aid Society are hoping for fine weather on Wednesday afternoon when the home of Mrs. N. Swartz, 1470 Twelfth Avenue West, will be the scene of their annual garden party. Elaborate plans aro being made to ensure the success of this affair, of which Mrs. S. Petersky Is acting as general convener. A decorative scheme will be carried out in blue and red, the colors of the new Zionist flag and summer flowers In abundance will be used to enhance the attractive booths. An out - of - doors tea room Is being arranged for when Mrs. li. Nessenbom will be assisted by the girl members of the Junior Hadassah, who will also serve at the supper hour. Mrs. S. Jacoby and Mrs. Herbert Morris will sell cut flowers, and a pretty candy stall will be presided over by Mrs. B. Ablowitz. Mrs. H. Brown and a group of helpers will conduct a sale of horac - cooklng, and a miscel. laneous stall will be in charge of Mrs. J. Cullins. Two attractions for the children have been planned, one a paddle wheel operated by Mrs. M. Foulks and the other a well stocked fish pond, whose contents will be angled for under the supervision of Mrs. S. B. Harris, Miss Muriel Chess and Master Ezra Lando will contribute musical numbers and following the supper hour a card party will be held.

    VANCOUVER DAILY WORLD The Newspaper of the Home SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 1923

    Miss Muriel Chess, Wolfe Avenue, was hostess at a delightful dancing party on Friday evening. Mr. and Mrs. Percy Kirkpatrick and son, R05', who have been visiting friends aud relatives in tbe Maritime provinces for the past six mouths have returned home. Mm. L. M. McKechnia is enter - taning at a formal reception on Tuesday in honor of her daughter. Miss Margaret McKcchnle. Mr. McNeelcy of Scottsburg, Ind., shot an eagle. This will teach eagles to leave Mr. McNeelcy alone

    VANCOUVER DAILY WORLD The Newspaper of the Home THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1923: Clubs

    HEBREW SCHOOL DANCE The fourth annual Purim ball given under the auspices of the Hebrew school attracted a large number of dance devotees to Lester Court on Wednesday evening. An entertaining programme of fancy dances given at intervals throughout the evening was contributed to by little Miss Rita Ripste.in. Miss Muriel Chess and Miss Lovely Robins. The committors in charge of the arrangements of this most successful affair included Mr. B. Jaffe, Dr. Hirschberg, Dr. S. Prtersky, Mr. M. Hadinski and Mr. N. Swartz.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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