by Spud1950 » Wed Jul 22, 2009 10:58 pm
That would be Orpheum.The United connection is mentioned here.
"The subject of Orpheum guitars is one of those obscure corners of guitardom awaiting more research, and what has been published is vague and at times contradictory. The Orpheum brand dates back to the late 19th century and is primarily associated with William L. Lange of New York. In the late 1800s, James H. Buckbee was one of the top New York banjo makers. He supplied instruments to other companies, which marketed them under their own house brands. Buckbee sold his business to Lange and William P. Rettberg in 1897, and they introduced the well-respected Orpheum-brand banjos. In around 1921 Lange apparently took over the business and sold both Orpheum and Paramount banjos. When the guitar overtook the banjo in the 1930s, Lange added Paramount guitars to his line. He is reported to have marketed some Orpheum-brand guitars, but this is not certain and nothing is known of them.
Lange weathered the Great Depression but went out of business in 1941 or '42. In 1944 the Orpheum brand name was picked up by New York distributor Maurice Lipsky, who applied it to both guitars and banjos. Most Orpheum guitars I've encountered date from the Lipsky era. In the 1950s, Lipsky marketed Orpheum electric archtops and little Les Paul–sized electric hollow-bodies, which look very much like those made by United (formerly Oscar Schmidt) in Jersey City, the source of many similar Premier guitars sold by Sorkin, Lipsky's competitor at the time. In the early 1960s, Lipsky began to use the Orpheum name on guitars imported from Japan, but the name doesn't seem to have survived beyond the big crash of 1968. In any case, be cautious when purchasing an instrument with the Orpheum brand name."
Harmony also made some guitars that were branded as Orpheum.
I thought of the Bulgarian made guitars,but the brand name is actually spelled Orfeus,not Orpheus.
Whats wierd is that the name on the Orfeus pickups is spelled Orpheus,like on this one.
Most confusing!