.
When I bought this wonderful instrument I was told that it was from the 1917 period but after a lot of searching, and asking questions it seems that this is indeed not the case. It now looks more like it is somewhere from the period of 1918 to the early 1920’s. Dating a Lyon and Healy A mandolin has become a difficult thing to do, since most of the early records for the company were destroyed in a fire but you would think that there would be more info on such a classic instrument, than there is.
The design of the Lyon and Healy A mandolin stands as one of the most beautiful
and distinctive mandolins of all time, up there with the wonderful Gibson
F4. The craftsmanship and attention to detail on these mandolins is exquisite
and the grade of spruce (top) and highly figured maple (back and sides) left
many other makers at the time, including Gibson, in its shadow. Today there
seems to be a wave of copies, but there is something much more magical and
inspiring about the original.
The violin styled head, and the wonderful engraved tailpiece ( pictured above)
on these instruments are beautifully done. The tuner heads, flat top plate
of the instrument head, and the scratch plate are all made of vulcanized rubber.
This looks like ebony and gives the instrument a wonderful balance of the
mat black to the shiny highly figured woods. They even have a vulcanized rubber
strip running through the neck , acting as an early truss rod. Slight radius
ebony fret board is a true pleasure for the fingers. A fast and fluid of playability
is a true credit to its impressive craftsmanship. The tone is has less bass
than your Gibson, but the balance of tone across the strings is quite superb.
A tone that is very much favored by classical musicians across the world but
also very welcoming to celtic and jazz players.
Most of the Lyon and Healy mandolins I have seen, seem to carry the ‘Washburn’
label, whereas mine carries a ‘Lyon and Healy’ label. I am not
quite sure why, and I would be very interested if anyone could educate
me more about the Lyon and Healy A styled mandolins. These mandolins
have become very rare over the years and have become a very desired piece
for many collectors.
If you own a Lyon
and Healy mandolin, mandola or mandocello, I would be very interested to see it.
