wilmye - Posted - 05/24/2013:  11:27:53

I'm new to the forum and just picked up my first banjo at auction over the weekend!  I've been a guitar picker for awhile now and am really pleased with my first purchase.  I'd love to know a little more about it though.  A search on Kalashen (a Klassic) brought me here.  This one's a Kleartone.  Can anyone help me with an ID?  Seems like it was well cared for.  Mother of pearl is in good shape.  The pegs are original and it tuned right up and played really well (for a novice like me).  Let me know what you think

Jim D - Posted - 05/24/2013:  11:35:46

Welcome to the Hangout!


I believe your banjo was made by Oscar Schmidt co. for the J J Kalashen brand... ca. 1920s

Jim

BDCA - Posted - 05/24/2013:  11:57:12

Based on the Gold plating, inlays and woods, it would have been a top end tenor. Is it 17 frets? should make an ideal Irish tenor.

Cya!

Bob

beezaboy - Posted - 05/24/2013:  14:01:46

Your Kalashen banjo is an exceptional find IMO.  Very scarce, I think.  I have seen a few Kleartone banjos that were amateur grade and I thought that the Kleartone models were limited to student grade.  Yours is the first I've seen in that group of mid-range tenor banjos from the mid-1920's.  It was made, I think, by Gaetano F. Puntolillo of New York City.  I have the Kalashe Klassic that was made by this same maker.  Puntolillo's banjos are recognizable by his trademark feature of attaching the neck to the rim by a long bolt encased in a nickel plated sheath or conduit.  Puntolillo made banjos for many jobbers (mostly in New York City) and had his own brand, Majestic, as well.  Puntolillo made several grades on archtop tone rings.  Your banjo is odd in that the appointments (like geared pegs instead of friction) are of a higher level and more expensive than the entry level while the tone ring appears to be Puntolillo's very basic design.  Just a metal band afixed to the top of the rim giving the archtop appearance.  Also, your banjo has 18 frets and you don't often see that (most were 19 frets at the time yours was made in mid-20's and 17 frets in the aughts and early 20's.

As for M.J. Kalashen - he was a New York City jobber that dealt mostly in band instruments.  Kalashen  added banjos to his offerings at the beginning of the tenor banjo boom.  First he sold Orpheum banjos then later apparently coined his own model names unique to his house.  Here is a listing for him in my personal list of New York City tenor banjo makers and purveyors.

KALASHEN KLASSIC

M.J. Kalashen, 14 Cooper Square, New York, N.Y.

                Orpheum banjos [ca. 1918]; Kleartone [1924];  Kalashen Klassic banjos.

Kalashen has been described in the period literature as "head of the well-known musical merchandise house at Cooper Square, New York City. and also as "the Cooper Square band instrument dealer".    I think this was sort of an upscale address as the very large and famous jobber, Karl Fisher, had his headquarters on Cooper Square too.

Bottom line - you found a scare model of a mid-price-range tenor banjo made by G. F. Puntolillo during the mid-1920s (1924-1926) and named and sold through musical instrument jobber, M. J. Kalashen, who had his headquarters on Cooper Square in New York City.  The banjo would have been sold to the original owner from a music store that purchased instruments from the Kalashen house.

wuzapicker - Posted - 05/24/2013:  14:14:41

From the photos is shouts Majestic all over. Thus I agree with John it was made by Gaetano Puntolillo. Majectics are rare and unappreciated banjos. Wilme has such a rare and beautiful find. Congradulations!

Michael