Not an ODE freak myself but I've seen quite a few Ode banjos coming through my workshop over the years. However you might find it more interesting to hear that Guild did some experiments with banjos during the early '70s and at that time they used the plant manager's Ode banjo as an example of how the instrument should be constructed. The banjo never made it to the Guild production line!
What ever happened to the few banjos and mandos that Guild made?
Ode was big in the early 70s. They had just been sold to Baldwin/Gretsch and changed from the aluminum rim to a wood one. The 1970s ODE model D goes for thousands of Ameros (as opposed to Euros).