Lyon & Healy No. 375 Style A Model Tango/Melody Banjo (1920), made in Chicago, serial # 714, natural varnish finish, laminated maple rim and neck, ebony fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
This beautiful small Lyon & Healy represents one of the more unusual 1910-20's banjo configurations -- a four-string Melody, Mandolin, or Tango Banjo, depending on how one defines those terms. It is built on a 10 3/4" pot with a short 13" scale neck, originally intended to be strung with four steel mandolin strings for melody playing ("solo or with orchestra") during the late 1910s Tango craze but is equally adaptable to ukulele tuning with gut or steel strings. In either configuration, it is one loud and sweet-sounding little banjo and quite capable of making itself heard!
The Style A was a high end instrument, Lyon & Healy's top model in a short-lived new "Own Make" series launched just before 1920: "The Aristocrat Of Banjos" they claimed. The heavy laminated maple rim is a very elaborate design with an elevated tone ring sitting in a trough suspended on pillars leaving a substantial gap in the side of the rim to allow sound to escape laterally. This was referred to as "The Washburn Patented Truss" in the company's publicity; this one is marked Pat. Apl'd For.
There are multiple layers of capping on both sides of the rim, topped with what appears to be ebonoid dotted with four little Ivoroid nubs along the bottom of indeterminate purpose. The heavy hoop is not notched; the hooks fit into holes drilled in the side making for a very neat appearance. All hardware is very high quality, including the then-new Kershner "Unique" tailpiece which Lyon & Healy had recently secured the patent rights to.
The 13" scale neck is laminated maple with a black center strip. The double bound ebony board (with a black outer later) has fancy shaped abalone inlay. The headstock is an elaborate carved Art Nouveau shape with some fancy filigree carving on the face and sides but no inlay. The original straight-shaft friction tuners have ivoroid buttons.
The Style A was the highest grade Lyon & Healy banjo style in 1920, built to an "unsurpassed standard of quality" for the dedicated orchestra banjoist. It was available as a 5-string, 4 string tenor and 8 or 4 string models. This 4-string "Tango" variant is likely the rarest of an already very obscure line, but one of the highest quality short-scale models of this configuration we have ever had. It is a very powerful sounding and most playable instrument, for the Tango and beyond!
Overall length is 23 5/8 in. (60 cm.), 10 3/4 in. (27.3 cm.) diameter head, and 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 13 in. (330 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/8 in. (29 mm.).
This rare Lyon & Healy Tango banjo (we have never seen another!) remains in VERY nice original condition, with nothing altered save for a recently fitted high-grade calfskin head. It is very clean overall with only some minor finish wear; the original plating is superb. There is some minor restoration to a couple of the fingerboard inlays, but no other repairs. This is a REALLY LOUD little banjo but with a nice rather bell like tone compared to many of this type; it has less of the "Icepick to the Forehead" character than some 4-string Tango models. This is simply a beautiful, very cool and quite playable 105-year-old rarity complete in a very nice OHSC. Overall Excellent Condition.
