Orville applied for his patent on May 11, 1895. Three months later, in August, this article appeared in the Kalamazoo Telegraph. The editor of the Telegraph was William L Eaton, a fellow stage brother of Orville’s who often wrote about and reviewed their stage activities. Taking this relationship into consideration, I feel the information in this article can be taken at face value.

Why Orville did not remain the in-house luthier at The Barrow’s Music Company is not known. But there are clues as to what may have been the reason. In 1891, Barrow’s became the Michigan selling agent for Waldo banjos and guitars. In 1895, they began manufacturing the Waldo brand themselves. This may have been a point of contention between Orville and Barrow’s as to whose name and whose design would prevail.

The length of time Orville was employed by Barrow’s is not known. It might have been a day, a week, or maybe a month. But in the September Saginaw newspapers, Barrow’s was still advertising the Waldo brand and design. My guess is that this information is buried somewhere in their business records, if those still exist.

Barrow’s  continued to manufacture a more traditional line of instruments and was later reorganized as the Waldo Manufacturing Company.

From his studio in Kalamazoo, Orville continued to flourish as an individual craftsman and serve an ever growing elite clientele.