{"product_id":"paramount-style-c-tenor-banjo-1926-13799","title":"Paramount Style C Tenor Banjo (1926)","description":"Paramount Style C Model Tenor Banjo (1926), made in New York City, serial # 8529, natural lacquer finish, laminated mahogany rim and neck, rosewood fingerboard, original black hard shell case. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is a nice century-old example of a Style C tenor banjo, one of Paramount's most attractive designs. Although well off the top of the line the Style C is still a very fancy instrument, richly decorated with multiple lines of wood marquetry and elaborate engraved pearl inlay. The overall look is dark finished mahogany with chain pattern wood edging, wood and celluloid binding and colored wood inlay. The mahogany neck is of multilaminate construction with carved heel, carved peghead back and multilayered wood binding with a chain marquetry inlay up the sides.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Paramount \"fiddle\" shaped headstock is decorated with an extremely detailed engraved pearl inlay and the fingerboard has shaped and engraved pearl in a flying bird motif. The hardware includes the original Page tuning pegs (perfectly functional 100 years along), the Paramount adjustable tailpiece and the \"hot dog\" style armrest. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParamounts were the most important orchestra banjos of their day which introduced the salient features of the modern resonator banjo to the world. These instruments were the firm favorite with professional jazz musicians in the 1920's and are frequently seen in period photographs, especially with the pioneering African-American Jazz Orchestras of the period. Selling originally for $185, the Style C was a comparatively affordable but still upscale professional grade tenor Banjo from that instrument's heyday, and a fine professional orchestra banjo a century along.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOverall length is 33 3\/4 in. (85.7 cm.), 11 1\/4 in. (28.6 cm.) diameter head, and 3 3\/4 in. (9.5 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 23 in. (584 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1\/4 in. (32 mm.). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOverall this is a clean example, showing some light general wear but no alterations. There is only pretty minor wear overall with mostly small dings, dents and scratches; as usual this is most heavily on the resonator back with scratching into but not through the finish. The back of the neck is comparatively clean with a couple of small dinks around the fifth-sixth fret area. All hardware remains original and complete; the plating has only light wear and tear after a century of use still remaining quite shiny. All four cast-housing Page tuners still work properly; it is rare to find a Paramount with these pegs intact so that is a nice touch. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe original small-wire frets show some re-crowning and minor wear; the original fingerboard inlay is mostly crisp with some loss to the lower pieces and a repair to the heads of the tiny birds at the seventh fret. The neck is not absolutely straight with a slight upbow but the banjo is fully playable with the action at 2\/32 treble and 3\/32 bass side. This is a nice find in a Paramount tenor, in what appears to be an original HSC (battered but functional) with the standard two box pockets but a with a snap-fastened ribbon to secure the banjo instead of the usual zipper cover. Overall Very Good + Condition.","brand":"Paramount","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853716377740,"sku":"13799","price":1650.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0672\/8702\/3756\/files\/01_562d8a0b-4b70-4c2e-9eb0-4fd0130b6d37.jpg?v=1774344422","url":"https:\/\/retrofret.com\/products\/paramount-style-c-tenor-banjo-1926-13799","provider":"RetroFret","version":"1.0","type":"link"}