Baldwin Ode Banjo Serial Numbers

Ole, Baldwin Ode banjos were made from 1966 until the very early 1980's, so your banjo had to have been built sometime during that 14 or 15 year period. Most that I've encountered have been from the 60's and early 70's. The ones I've seen and played have been very serviceable instruments.
The instrument you're considering matches the specs of the Baldwin Ode Model C, which was their midrange instrument. You can find the model description about halfway down on this PDF file of their 1967 catalog:
http://www.omebanjos.com/Misc/Baldwin.pdf
Hopefully someone with far greater personal experience with Baldwin Ode banjos than I have chime in on this thread, but having put together more than one five string banjo from parts, I can tell you that the asking price sounds fairly reasonable to me. Just getting parts of that quality to build one for yourself would cost close to that.
So I'd definitely try to haggle on the price if I were you, but it doesn't sound outlandishly expensive to me. You might want to check with the folks on the Mudcat Cafe website, to get their opinions on the price - there are probably more dedicated five string banjo players on that forum than on this one.
But it sounds like a good deal to me. I actually prefer the sound of walnut banjos to maple ones, as they have a sweeter midrange and low end, in my opinion.
Hope this helps.
Wade Hampton Miller

Baldwin Ode Banjo Serial Numbers
Baldwin Ode Banjo Serial Numbers List Printable

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The very last banjo built at the Nazareth factory was #1969 as documented with a Letter of Authenticity by Martin historian Mike Longworth. But, what about the missing 23 other banjos bearing #1946 through #1968? The BRC has received information on only one Tu-Ba-Phone Deluxe, but its serial number was a duplicate and spurious. Feb 17, 2012 Doug Hutchens with Baldwin Style D banjo #519 In the late summer of 1967, Cam Joyce decided to sell one of his banjos. He had a Gibson banjo he had gotten from Larry Richardson and a Style D Baldwin that he had ordered in September of 1966 and it had been delivered to Melody Haven Music in Roanoke in April of 1967. Baldwin / Ode 2LR. Long Neck. 5 string Banjo with original HSC serial number 3393. The other was an intractable conflict with a union. Just as Epiphone had a problem in ’52 when it left New York for Philadelphia to escape labor disagreements, Baldwin moved manufacturing to Arkansas. Eventually it would operate plants in Fayetteville, Booneville (which would handle Gretsch), and DeQueen (which would handle Ode banjos).

Of 1980.This numbering code started in the early 1970's, after Baldwin moved the Ode banjo works to Arkansas from Colorado. There were several earlier numbering systems used before the buyout and the move. This one made the most sense by far. The first 2 numbers are the month, second 2 are the year, and the third 2 numbers are the individual piece.

Baldwin Ode Banjo Serial Numbers

serial numbers

From oded28 on 4/23/2013 9:37:43 AM

does anyone have an accurate/ definitive serial number list for odes that transitions into the early baldwin years( 1966-1971)

plus styles made and description

Baldwin Ode Banjo Serial Numbers List Printable

2 Comments
stanger says: 5/7/2013 2:48:32 AM The short answer is no. When Chuck sold to Baldwin, Baldwin got all his records at the time of sale along with everything else. And when Baldwin went bankrupt, all the records were lost. It's possible they may exist, stuffed away in a pile of Baldwin documents or in the hands of a former employee, but with each passing year, the chances of anything showing up dims. Ed Britt spent a lot of time for about 5 years building a data base which includes serial number, banjo particulars, and date of sale/manufacture, and a few of us and I contributed all we could to it, but it still has a lot of big holes. Their serial system under Chuck was sequential, but gave no indication of banjo type, model, or anything else other than the style number. Baldwin continued to use it until ca. 1971, but seems to have modified it, and when they did, Baldwin left a 1000 number gap in the sequence. Shortly after 71, they went to the system they used until the end. The paper labeled banjo serial system has more info as to what the banjo is, but it doesn't say how many were made over a year's production. We could only guess. All the system gives us is the number made in a month, and even that is sketchy. All Ed can do is make educated guesses much of the time. While some of the years were fruitful for his database, others were not, especially the years around the factory fires. 1974-76 are particularly sparse. Those years were the time when a lot of details, such as the peghead shape and proportions, got real wobbly and the production seems to have been very low. The banjos made then still were to spec, but neither of us have dug up very many. He's been quite busy the past 2-3 years doing other stuff, and I don't know how the database work is progressing at present.
GeneRutt says: 5/5/2019 9:26:13 AM GeneRutt
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Baldwin Ode Banjo Serial Numbers

serial numbers

Baldwin Ode Banjo Serial Numbers List Printable

2 Comments

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