banjo ukulele by dennis taylor
The Wizard Banjo Ukulele
This instrument was featured recently for sale on a Ukulele web site. There were a lot of unmarked American banjos that were sold by department stores, catalogue sales outlets, etc. Some were marked by the retailers. I believe that Wizard was a mark of Montgomery Ward, but can't swear to it. Almost all of these were made by Rettburg and Lange, in the Buckbee plant which they bought in 1897.They also made more well known instruments - Lange, Paramount, Orpheum, Bruno and others in the same plant. I got this info from Joe Bethancourt's site in an article called "An Encapsulated History of Classic Banjo Manufacturers" If you run a search for his site, it will be under the "Miscellany" section. It has serial number lists for many American makers. There is also a large section on British banjo makers. My grateful thanks to Glen Simpson, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for the above information
This instrument was featured recently for sale on a Ukulele web site. There were a lot of unmarked American banjos that were sold by department stores, catalogue sales outlets, etc. Some were marked by the retailers. I believe that Wizard was a mark of Montgomery Ward, but can't swear to it. Almost all of these were made by Rettburg and Lange, in the Buckbee plant which they bought in 1897.They also made more well known instruments - Lange, Paramount, Orpheum, Bruno and others in the same plant. I got this info from Joe Bethancourt's site in an article called "An Encapsulated History of Classic Banjo Manufacturers" If you run a search for his site, it will be under the "Miscellany" section. It has serial number lists for many American makers. There is also a large section on British banjo makers. My grateful thanks to Glen Simpson, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for the above information
banjo ukulele by dennis taylor
The Wizard Banjo Ukulele