1935 Orpheum Imperator C

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1935 Orpheum Imperator C

In the far-off recesses of the evolution of the modern guitar there is an interesting little branch of history occupied by William Lange, the industrialist behind the Orpheum and Paramount brands. Both of these trademarks were originally applied to banjos built by Rettberg and Lange in the late 1800’s, and then by Lange, alone, after Rettberg left the business in the early 1920’s. As popular music began to favor the guitar over the banjo, Lange pivoted to embrace the trending new instrument and introduced Paramount and Orpheum branded guitars. The Paramount Style L is a unique resonator flat-top that Lange commissioned C.F. Martin to build in 1930. It was an oddity, at best, and only 36 of them were built before the Great Depression started to make itself felt. There have been other styles of Paramount-branded instruments unearthed, but are few and far between. Beginning around 1934, Lange commissioned Regal to build a line of 16” archtops that were inspired by Gibson’s and Epiphone’s 16” instruments which had recently been introduced. This series was given the Orpheum trademark and consisted of Styles A, B, C, and D, from least fancy to most lavish. A scant few of the Style D were built, and for all practical purposes the Style C, as pictured here, was the most ornate and best sounding of the lot. Lange survived the Great Depression but closed his doors with the onset of WWII. Little is knows about him from after about 1940.

The Style C is a carved 16” archtop with delicate X bracing, figured maple back and sides, spruce top, and white binding. The neck has a mid-1930’s Martin-like carve, with a very soft V shape, 1-3/4” nut, and a longer 25.4” scale length. The rosewood fretboard features 3-ply binding and pearl inlays that have a Gibson Nick Lucas meets Larson pattern. This example is crack-free, the X brace remains well glued, and the top shape is perfect. It’s completely original but for replaced tuning machines, an added strap button, and a long-defunct passive pickup, and its playability is excellent thanks to a well-executed neck reset and fret dressing. We’ve set-up the guitar here at folkway with phosphor bronze 13-56 strings.

A stunning sounding archtop, this Orpheum C has incredible power across the fretboard, a thick and chewy treble string tone and strong mid-range. The bass is dark, fairly resonant, and nicely articulated; and there is a fundamental presence that other 30’s archtops would have a hard time matching. It’s an excellent choice for single-note melodic-style flatpicking, comping jazz standards, or can even hold its own in a heavy-hitting fingerstyle ragtime style. It’s more complex and interesting than almost any post-WWII Gibson or Epiphone archtop we’ve played, and would compete well against a good 16” L-5, or a 16-3/8” 30’s Epiphone. If you’ve encountered a Regal or Washburn roundhole carved archtop model from the early 1930’s, you’d have a fairly good idea of what a high-end Regal-built X-braced archtop is about.

If you can’t already guess, we’re big fans of this guitar.

With period / original hardshell case.

We have a selection of other Orpheum models that aren’t on our site. Feel free to ask us about the others that are here.

1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C
  • 1935 Orpheum Imperator C

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Folkway Music in Guelph, Ontario Canada

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