Circa 1918 Orpheum No. 1 w/ Bart Reiter Neck 5-String Banjo Used

During the early part of his career, Bart Reiter made quite a few 5-string necks for old banjo shells. Generally he used 1920s Vegas but this is the first Bart neck we’ve seen on an Orpheum shell. Orpheum banjos were made in New York from around 1903 to 1935, but most seem to have been built between 1915 and 1925. The banjo shell doesn’t have a maker’s name or serial number but it does have the number 724833 stamped inside the shell, which is for the 1903 patent for the Orpheum tone ring. The maple shell is 11 ¼-inches in diameter and because it’s fairly plain, it most likely came from an Orpheum No. 1, but where it was a tenor, a plectrum or a 5-string originally, we’ll never know.

We’re not sure when Bart Reiter made this neck, but the unique headstock shape suggests it was quite early in his career. (In all the years we worked with him, starting in the late 1980s, Bart Reaiter always used Vega, Bacon or Dobson style headstock shapes.) This is a sturdy well-crafted maple neck with an ebony fretboard. Happily, this is an improvement over the original Orpheum fretboards, which were made of dyed fruitwood that are prone to crumble. The is a great sounding banjo, with lots of volume and a clear, ringing tone.