Heres a piece of banjo history,this banjo was made for Mike Pingitore,of the Paul whiteman orchestra,by Orpheum,who actually spelt his name wrong on the headstock engraving! When I was shown this banjo,i pointed this out and doubted its veracity,but when i blew up several photos of Eugene Pingitore playing the banjo,there it was,the same spelling.
The banjo passed from Mike to Eugene ,who migrated to australia and was well known on the music scene here.Somewhere along the way,Eugene replaced the worn centre sections of the fingerboard diamonds with large pearloid blocks(this was probably the 50s!)When he died,his widow passed it on to Maurie Dann,who passed it on to Lance Mguire. Lance took the banjo to Pat Doole,a banjo maker in Geelong,who replaced the mangled fingerboard with an exact replica of the original and refinished the neck.
An interesting feature is the laminated neck and headstock,not stock orpheum laminations,as far as i know.
The provenance of this banjo can be traced in an unbroken line from Eugene Pingitore to its current owner,David Hines,and i have no doubt of its authenticity.
Should be an interesting banjo for you early jazz buffs,hope the photos come out ok!