Vintage GH&S George Houghton and Son Tenor Banjo Made in Britain

This is a great old vintage banjo from
GH&S aka George Houghton and Son of Britain. This is in great
playable shape but the pot dowel was replaced at some point. Also, due
to age,  the finish is crazing and little pieces of finish have chipped
and come off. There is some finish loss on the headstock, the back of
the neck, and the resonator. There are also some light dings and
scratches from previous ownership over the years. Nothing serious.
Please see pictures and enlarge to get a closer look, no big deal, just
mentioning these things for accuracy. We put a new bridge and strings on
it and and put on a replacement vintage tailpiece bracket, the original
was missing. Great sound and playability. Very Cool. Buy with
confidence this is a great little banjo.

George Houghton established his Reliance Works in Heaton
Street, Birmingham in 1888 and the range of banjos and zither-banjos he
made were often branded Reliance. As the firm grew, the name changed to
G. Houghton & Sons and production was increased to make OEM
instruments for other firms to be branded with their own name or logo.

Houghton's also kept their own range on the market (usually marked with
a gold-embossed lion, British Made, and sometimes with the initials G.
H. & S. underneath - the Lion and British Made often featured on
models they produced for other to brand too)

They had a number of their own model brand names too that often
featured across the middle of the headstock, Some model names I have
seen on Banjoleles, as well as Reliance are, Melody Uke, Melody Major,
Melody Junior, Maxitone, Pageant, Silver Knight and the Marvel.

As one of the major British manufacturers of the time they had their
own Music Hall Star endorsements too. Theirs was Harold Walden, a man
largely forgotten now but in the 20's and 30's was a music hall bill
topper with a couple of films to his credit, (and also prior to his
music hall career he was a gold medallist at the 1912 Olympics and a
professional footballer with Bradford and Arsenal).

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  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