Posted by BUGGY (C) on December 30, 2011 at 9:52am
Found this today!7 string RelianceI know its not a gigar box but it slides wellanyone now how to fix a machine head thats seems to be bust inside, snapped?Does anyone know anything about these, it's supposed to be 1930's?
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"The curious thing about most 5-string zither-banjos is that they had six tuning pegs. The lesson from all this is that our wonderful Western tuning system is a. I clung to the name of ‘zither-banjo’ and used it from that day. (Interesting to note that. If you have seen a Windsor zither-banjo you may have noticed that the portion of the. Banjo zither: A type of zither (not to be confused with the zither-banjo. Stamopec G H Reliance on the back centre.( George Houghton) stamped Unwarpable, patent no. 23874. The tone of a zither banjo tends to e very different from that of one built for playing bluegrass."
Me think's its missing its back? However there are no signs of it ever having one or marks from any fixing brackets! ...hmmm...
George Houghton established his Reliance Works in Heaton Street, Birmingham in 1888 and the range of banjos and zither-banjos he made were branded "Reliance." His well made inexpensive range of instruments quickly found favour with dealers and players alike and before long his factory was extended, his staff increased and the name changed to G. Houghton & Sons and production almost wholly devoted to making instruments for other firms to be branded with the vendor's name and/or trademark. Houghton's maintained a stock catalogue of instruments (usually marked with a gold-embossed lion with the initials G. H. & S. underneath) with which many retailers and most of the wholesale houses made up their own catalogues. One of the most popular selling lines of their banjos was the inexpensive instruments labelled "Melody Jo." Besides making, their own stock instruments they would also copy other firms' prototypes for them, to be branded with the latter's name as "makers".
In 1962, town-planning development in Birmingham plus staff difficulties finally decided George Houghton (son of the founder) to close down and he moved to London to become associated with John E. Dallas & Sons Ltd. The plant and materials and a few of his key workers he brought from Birmingham was established in a factory-at 12 Gravel Hill, Bexleyheath, Kent, and from that time until he retired in 1965 he made the inexpensive banjos sold under the Dallas label.
Comments
http://www.zither-banjo.org/pages/gallery.htm
http://hakletn.blog.com/2011/11/19/zither-banjo-tuning/
http://www.pamelasmusic.co.uk/images/Forsale/string/banjos/Bf150.htm
More interesting reading on the history of the Zither Banjo
http://www.shlomomusic.com/zitherbanjo.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTgh7vIP8K4
(not a lot comes up for 7 string Reliance banjo)
"The curious thing about most 5-string zither-banjos is that they had six tuning pegs. The lesson from all this is that our wonderful Western tuning system is a. I clung to the name of ‘zither-banjo’ and used it from that day. (Interesting to note that. If you have seen a Windsor zither-banjo you may have noticed that the portion of the. Banjo zither: A type of zither (not to be confused with the zither-banjo. Stamopec G H Reliance on the back centre.( George Houghton) stamped Unwarpable, patent no. 23874. The tone of a zither banjo tends to e very different from that of one built for playing bluegrass."
Me think's its missing its back? However there are no signs of it ever having one or marks from any fixing brackets! ...hmmm...
http://xasurco.blog.com/2011/11/01/zither-banjo-tuning/
http://cindysguitarplus.com/2011/11/reliance-5-string-banjo-early-1...
HOUGHTON
George Houghton established his Reliance Works in Heaton Street, Birmingham in 1888 and the range of banjos and zither-banjos he made were branded "Reliance." His well made inexpensive range of instruments quickly found favour with dealers and players alike and before long his factory was extended, his staff increased and the name changed to G. Houghton & Sons and production almost wholly devoted to making instruments for other firms to be branded with the vendor's name and/or trademark. Houghton's maintained a stock catalogue of instruments (usually marked with a gold-embossed lion with the initials G. H. & S. underneath) with which many retailers and most of the wholesale houses made up their own catalogues. One of the most popular selling lines of their banjos was the inexpensive instruments labelled "Melody Jo." Besides making, their own stock instruments they would also copy other firms' prototypes for them, to be branded with the latter's name as "makers".
In 1962, town-planning development in Birmingham plus staff difficulties finally decided George Houghton (son of the founder) to close down and he moved to London to become associated with John E. Dallas & Sons Ltd. The plant and materials and a few of his key workers he brought from Birmingham was established in a factory-at 12 Gravel Hill, Bexleyheath, Kent, and from that time until he retired in 1965 he made the inexpensive banjos sold under the Dallas label.