I was handed an old Mandolin in fair condition with Orpheum on the headstock. Pick Guard is missing. looking for model number and age of instrument. Thanks Everyone!
I was handed an old Mandolin in fair condition with Orpheum on the headstock. Pick Guard is missing. looking for model number and age of instrument. Thanks Everyone!
A picture would help
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It would, in fact, be a necessity. "Orpheum" was a brand used on a wide variety of instruments from different manufacturers. We've seen Kay, Harmony, and Strad-O-Lin instruments with that label. Orpheum banjos were made by Rettburg & Lange around the turn of the 20th century. After WWII it was used on a variety of arch-top guitars, made by Chicago manufacturers in the low-to-mid-price range.
We'd need to see the instrument you were handed.
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Late 1900's, most likely made in Korea, possibly Japan if it's a few years earlier. This brand has been owned by lots of people and has been applied to instruments from several manufacturers and countries.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Not bad. Got my curiosity up because it doesn’t resemble any of the other “Orpheum” mandos I could find via websearch, which tended to have the 3-cut f-holes. I doubt it ever had a pickguard, which is a matter of personal preference on an archtop. Since it’s good enough to have a truss rod it’s probably at least solid top, maybe all solid. I wonder if that bridge is original. Tacoma was using the Orpheum brand in the early 2000s until Fender bought them, but most of the mandolins they built were unconventional-looking compared to this. How are the tuners? They look like standard upgradable dimensions. I suspect this is a case of “as good as it feels and sounds”, a nice player’s instrument.
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Mandoline or Mandolin: Similar to the lute, but much less artistically valuable....for people who wish to play simple music without much trouble —The Oxford Companion to Music
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