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Thread: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

  1. #1
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Hi all, what does anyone or everyone think of this mando and/or deal?

    http://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/...uery=retrieval

    Thanks!
    jc.
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Frets could use some work eventually, neck heel seam has opened a sliver, but it's stable (played it for 3 years) and still plays fine as it is. Neck has slight bow to it, but does not affect playability or intonation.
    These are nice mandolins but those issues concern me as a playing instrument. Bridge is not original and possibly tailpiece. Also bridge position might not be right in terms of intonation.
    Jim

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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    I've got one just like it and it is a great fun instrument. The bridge on the OP is not correct but the placement of the bridge, to the rear of the cant, is correct. If you were to move the bridge forward of the bend it would be sitting on the scratch plate. It also appears that the tail-piece is correct though missing the cloud cover. The fingerboard on mine is nearly flat with just the slightest relief. Can't say if the price is too high or not, I paid $200 shipped for mine a few years ago.
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    In my uneducated guess I would say the price is a bit high.... Needs frets,,,, bent neck. Maybe wrong tailpiece and bridge.... However even as is it is pretty nice...

    Maybe $700 including necessary work. If I had the cash I would be interested at maybe around $400 but I would be doing the repairs myself.

    But whoever said instrument purchases have to make sense? It sure looks cool.
    Bart McNeil

  5. #5
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    I have a copy of a 1925 L&H catalog picturing one of these. I will see if I can scan pages later. The line starts with the carved instruments style A, B, & C and then goes thru styles D, E, F and G (IIRC) which are all flattop mandolins like this one.
    Jim

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    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    I agree with the folks above comments. Find out all you can about the neck and fret condition. The bridge is repositionable so it should be a problem to get set up and straightened out. I think the American Conservatory line are some of the best $/value ratio you can find in vintage (or new) mandolins.

    To me the price (5 Benjamins) is pretty high, with a dodgy neck and frets. You are paying a premium for the two points, but these (spruce top, mahogany back) are nice sounding instruments. The ebony fretboards that L+H used on the AC line are also nice.

    Before you spring, you might check this AC two point out on the ebay:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1920...#ht_500wt_1070

    Looks to be in good shape and has the Waverly tailpiece cover (a good $50 saved there as well.) The bridge needs to be replaced but that should also be an easy task for your luthier setting it up for you.

    Mick
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    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    I think there might be a red flag about the headstock plate on the back of the peghead. There was an instrument on eBay a few weeks ago that looked similar but had the tuners replaced and a 'replacement' backplate. I am not saying this is the same instrument, but worth asking.
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    It is the same mandolin. I think though, what he said was that he "thought" that the tuners had been replaced "because" there was a plate covering them. This is a pic of the back of the headstock of the AC mandolin that I showed in earlier post. The cover plate is original to the mandolin, which is not unusual to mandolins of this era.
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Quote Originally Posted by brunello97 View Post
    I agree with the folks above comments. Find out all you can about the neck and fret condition. The bridge is repositionable so it should be a problem to get set up and straightened out. I think the American Conservatory line are some of the best $/value ratio you can find in vintage (or new) mandolins.

    To me the price (5 Benjamins) is pretty high, with a dodgy neck and frets. You are paying a premium for the two points, but these (spruce top, mahogany back) are nice sounding instruments. The ebony fretboards that L+H used on the AC line are also nice.

    Before you spring, you might check this AC two point out on the ebay:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1920...#ht_500wt_1070

    Looks to be in good shape and has the Waverly tailpiece cover (a good $50 saved there as well.) The bridge needs to be replaced but that should also be an easy task for your luthier setting it up for you.

    Mick
    I saw that mandolin the other day but did not pay too much attention to it. Went back this evening and took another look and noted that it appears to have had another glued-in paper label that was removed and replaced with the American Conservatory label, mine is the same. Also noted that that label was marked 2520 as well as mine, so assuming that that is the model number. Same handwriting.
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  10. #10
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Why did they use that metal headstock plate? It is soooo ugly! (IMHO)
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Don't know, maybe easy to stamp out?? It does seem to be the norm for instruments of this era though. From what I've seen, the higher in quality you go, the more ornate the back plate is, from plain on the entry models to very nice engraved on higher end instruments. I went back and looked at the OP mandolin and the back plate on that one appears to be mahogony. Maybe a replacement?? Well done though.
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  12. #12
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Quote Originally Posted by jaycat View Post
    Why did they use that metal headstock plate? It is soooo ugly! (IMHO)
    I never thought it was particularly ugly. It covers tuners which are routed into the headstock. The wooden cover is not original; the metal one is.

    In 1920 this mandolin was part of the upperend Washburn line and was called model 2424. By 1925 it was relegated to the mid-range American Conservatory line and called model 4983 Venetian "Tupoint" model. That may explain why the two labels.
    Jim

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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Interesting that both the mandolin that "brunello" posted http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1920...#ht_500wt_1070
    and the one that I have are both marked 2520 on the label in the same handwriting. Based on that, either the model number is 2520 or all have the same serial number??
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  14. #14
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    I never thought it was particularly ugly. It covers tuners which are routed into the headstock. The wooden cover is not original; the metal one is.
    Mick
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Those are Grrrrrrr8 aren't they!?
    What The ....

  16. #16
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    L&H switched model numbers around a lot as I noted above. I think 2520 is prob a model number and not a serial number.
    Jim

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    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy 2 point 4 sale

    Quote Originally Posted by ourgang View Post
    Those are Grrrrrrr8 aren't they!?
    Well, some are nicer than others (thanks Brunello) but I still think they're strange. They look something out of a shoe store.
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
    --Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

    Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos

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