Majestically Speaking!

I have had numerous requests for a Majestic tenor banjo and I’m happy to say that I now have one in stock. 

A very highly ranked tenor banjo from the 1920’s era made by the Puntillio Company, New York and featured in the famous Akira Tsumura 1001 banjo collection.

Its archtop tonering patent was issued in 1920 to Gaetano F. Puntolillo and it is this which gives this instrument its unique tonal qualities. It has a sweet sustain with bass resonance and a rich soft tone.

A little bit of Majestic history

Gaetano Puntolillo came to the United States from Potenza, Italy in August 1892.  He traveled here with his sisters Rosa (age 19), Concetta (age 14), and Adelaide (age 9) aboard the SS Italian Bermania, and joined his parents, Gerarda and Vincenzo, and brothers Savino (age 5) and Nicolo (5 months) in New York City. Gaetano skipped school at an early age and began his apprenticeship in banjo building.

He founded The Majestic Musical Instrument Company in 1900. He originally began by building mandolins, but as the company grew, he became more known for his tenor banjos. On August 30,1919, Gaetano filled out the application for a patent on a tone ring he designed which allowed sound to resonate through it. Patent #1,345,104 was granted to G.F. Puntolillo on June 29, 1920 which is the same date found inside many Majestic banjos.

He ran a factory at one point which could be where a lot of the more mass-produced Majestics came from. The metal parts and rim assembly were contracted out to William Lange Co. (Paramount Banjos) and the necks and resonator were made and assembled by  Puntolillo.

“The tooling to make the big parts for the Majestics would have been too expensive for a small shop to own”.  

Going Forward into a new century

Around the depression, Gaetano moved to Lyndhurst, New Jersey where he began making instruments out of his house. This is where the highest quality instruments were produced. I believe most of the fancier Tsumura instruments (but aren’t most of the M.O.T.S. banjos from the late twenties and thirties) were made in Lyndhurst, NJ, as were most, if not all, of the guitars. He lived there until his death in August of 1946 at the age of 73. His daughter, Helen Puntolillo-Rago, lived in the same house with her husband James until his death. The house was sold soon after.

This article was partly extracted from the writings of Anthony Marchitelli, who is the great grandson of Gaetano. As part of his great grandfather’s legacy Anthony founded Majestic Guitars a century later in 2000, he mostly builds acoustic, solid electric, and archtop guitars. His instruments are available at the GuitarBar in Hoboken and Golden Age Fretted Instruments in Westfield. This is a link to his website https://majesticguitars.co/