Lyon Healy mandolin

[karen1455]

We have a friend that would like to buy our mandolin. My Husband got it from his mother, she never played it, just used it as an decoration in the guest bedroom. We have no idea what it is worth. I did some research and find prices that are all over the place. It is in good condition, with some visual scratches on the back of the mandolin.

What I read inside is Lyon Healy style B #50. It is in it's original case. Hopefully, I attached the photo's correctly. These are the only pics I have right now, as our friend has the mandolin.

Your opinions are greatly appreciated. Thanks

[MikeEdgerton]

Someone will be along shortly to tell you what it's worth. That's a nice mandolin. While we are waiting for one of our L&H experts to chime in here are the sold L&H Style B mandolins on eBay. There was only one solid sold price. The other two people accepted an offer, probably for more than the single sold price.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=...&LH_Complete=1

[MikeEdgerton]

Here is on for sale in our classifieds.

[mrmando]

I sold Style B #821 last month to a friend in my mandolin orchestra for $2,600, and he was quite happy to get it.

It was in very, very good condition and had all its original parts. I don't have enough photographic evidence to tell about yours. What I can see looks good.

Since, as you say, yours has some scratches on the back, it may be worth a little less.

[karen1455]

I sold Style B #821 last month to a friend in my mandolin orchestra for $2,600, and he was quite happy to get it.

It was in very, very good condition and had all its original parts. I don't have enough photographic evidence to tell about yours. What I can see looks good.

Since, as you say, yours has some scratches on the back, it may be worth a little less.

Thank you, these photos aren't very good, but maybe you can see more of the mandolin.

[mrmando]

I'm not certain that the tuners are original, but I can't really tell. Can't see how badly scratched the back is.

Proper high-resolution photos might yield more precise information.

Market prices for Style B's vary between $2,000 (scratched up/worn/repaired cracks) and $2,750 (clean as a whistle). Missing parts, etc., can also affect value.

There are many other models and styles of Lyon & Healy mandolins, and their prices have no bearing on Style B prices. Each style should be considered separately.

Given the low serial number it's from no later than 1918. Possibly 1917. Does it have the pull-out rest on the treble side?

[karen1455]

I'm not certain that the tuners are original, but I can't really tell. Can't see how badly scratched the back is.

Proper high-resolution photos might yield more precise information.

Market prices for Style B's vary between $2,000 (scratched up/worn/repaired cracks) and $2,750 (clean as a whistle). Missing parts, etc., can also affect value.

There are many other models and styles of Lyon & Healy mandolins, and their prices have no bearing on Style B prices. Each style should be considered separately.

Given the low serial number it's from no later than 1918. Possibly 1917. Does it have the pull-out rest on the treble side?

Thank you, I don't know about the pull out rest as it is at our friends house. I will find out and let you know. I really appreciate your help. The scratches are just minor surface, nothing significant.

[dwc]

Based on the information at hand, the answer is, as Martin says, somewhere between $2000 and $3000 (I'll push the upper end value just a touch higher, but understand that getting absolute top value will require extreme patience and the right buyer). In order to give more than a cursory appraisal, more information is needed as well as some very high resolution pics. The high resolution pics will probably be necessary for any sort of sale anyway, unless you happen to live within driving distance of a large mandolin dealer who can photograph and consign it for you (Gruhn in Nashville, Elderly in Lansing, etc).

[mrmando]

Well, she's looking to sell it to a friend, so as long as the friend is willing to pay a fair market price somewhere in that range, there's no need to involve dealers and formal appraisals and whatnot.

[mrmando]

Another caveat: if it has been sitting in the guest bedroom for some time, it would be a good idea to have a repair technician check it out to make sure the brace isn't loose, the neck isn't out of alignment, there aren't open seams, etc.

[karen1455]

I believe these are better pictures. If anyone could give me feedback on what to sell it for, I would appreciate it. Was told by someone it was worth around $2400.00.

[karen1455]

Sorry I doubled the photos. Wasn't sure how to fix that.

[Bob A]

It seems to be in good shape. Too bad about the scratches on the back, but they don't affect the playability and are not seen by anyone while the instrument is in use, so a minor issue to anyone but a serious collector.

I can't tell whether there's much fretwear, which would be an issue if it affected the intonation.

It's an early instrument, so it has the longer scale, which is thought by some to produce a better tonality. Others find the shorter scale to be more useful for classical playing. It will make a difference, perhaps, to the eventual purchaser, but is a wash, price-wise, I think.

The neck joint looks good; I'm assuming there's no warping or concerns, but an in-hand inspection would determine that pretty easily.

I've often thought these L&H mandolins to be under-priced for the quality of construction, quality of tone, and general scarcity. I think 2400 would probably be a fair retail, absent any of the above issues. I paid 1700 for a similar one maybe 15-20 years ago, long since departed, and 3200 for a model A with a moldy case that disgraced my trash can at around the same distant time.

The only drawback is that it would not be of particular interest to the typical bluegrass mandolinist; anyone looking for a quality instrument for any other genre of music ought to find this one of interest. They typically have a delightful tonal range, with a sparkly treble, and less bass thumpishness than a Gibson.

[karen1455]

Thank you, Bob, I appreciate your feedback.

[brunello97]

Nice looking mandolin....I tend to prefer the L+H B design over the iconic As. The action in Karen's photo #3 looks suspiciously high to my playing taste.

Neck problem or bridge problem? +2 big ones seems a lot to pay sight unseen, but these are muy trendy mandolins right now, so who knows? You might find someone to pay that sight unseen.

Mick

[Bob A]

I had no idea that I could enlarge the pictures to such an extent by a few mouseclicks. I see what Mick was referring to; I can't judge from a photo, but the more I enlarge, the bigger the gap appears. Also makes the new strings more apparent.

The mix of old and new strings on the two bass courses makes me wonder if the new strings might be exerting more stress on the neck than is proper for the instrument. That could cause the distortion, if it's the case. In-hand inspection by someone who was familiar with mandolins would be advisable, bearing in mind that modern heavier gauge strings would be inappropriate for this mandolin.

Regarding the backscratching, I suppose a bit of French polishing - by someone who knew what he was doing - would render them far less objectionable.

[mrmando]

I'm not sure how a new string would exert more stress on the neck than an old string. Mass and tension are the properties that matter, not the age of the string.

The action on #821 was a bit on the high side when I sold it. But the gentleman who bought it is a student of Chris Acquavella's, and Chris advised him to keep it the way it was.

[Jess L.]

I think it looks like there's a crack in the wood on back of peghead (headstock) where it meets the neck, I took the liberty of enhancing your picture in Photoshop to bring out the detail, click to enlarge:



And with correction for dust-specks and zoomed in more:



I don't know how serious such cracks are, if that's actually what it is. It looks like it's only on one side of the black center strip, so it might not be a big deal?

My only personal experience with peghead cracks is my old Favilla mandolin which has a monster peghead crack much longer than that, been there for eons but not while strung up to pitch, and on mine the crack is angled weirdly such that the string tension actually *closes* the crack, whereas when the string tension is released the crack opens up, but the motion of the thing spooked me enough to quit playing it (didn't want it doing a catastrophic failure) and it's currently detuned and back in storage. Mine isn't worth a whole lot as far as mandolins go, maybe $600-$700 tops after repair, I've already spent enough on other repairs for it so I simply replaced it with something less worrisome. *But* your mandolin is worth a lot more than mine, so it's presumably justifiable to repair as needed.

Hopefully someone else here will have better ideas about your mandolin as to what, if any, amount of concern is warranted.

P.S. I hope it was alright for me to enhance that one picture for purposes of answering your post, if not please let me know and I'll remove the pic, no problem.

[karen1455]

Thank you all for this wealth of information. I truly appreciate it. Does anyone know of an "expert" we could contact any where in Northern New Mexico? Is there something we should do regarding the crack in the interim? We looked at it, it's very small hairline crack and seems to have not spread. While it looks minor to us, we obviously have no idea. We already had one mandolin player look it over in Taos, he thought it was in good shape and enjoyed playing it. I have no idea how much he knows about stability of the instrument, he is a friend of our neighbors. Again, thank you all.

[Eddie Sheehy]

I'm not sure how a new string would exert more stress on the neck than an old string. Mass and tension are the properties that matter, not the age of the string.

The action on #821 was a bit on the high side when I sold it. But the gentleman who bought it is a student of Chris Acquavella's, and Chris advised him to keep it the way it was.

The Style B that I sold came to me with slightly high action that I found uncomfortable, but it was the original bridge, straight neck, no sinking or bellying on the top, so I have to assume the action was intentionally this way. I had the bridge professionally sanded down a tad and it played like a dream.

[brunello97]

The Style B that I sold came to me with slightly high action that I found uncomfortable, but it was the original bridge, straight neck, no sinking or bellying on the top, so I have to assume the action was intentionally this way. I had the bridge professionally sanded down a tad and it played like a dream.

I hope you weren't trying any tremolo on some "Irish Trad" with that, Eddie.

Mick

[Eddie Sheehy]

Actually I took it to the Great 48 Bluegrass Fest and gave it a workout... yes, Irish Trad featured as did Jazz, Blues, and Old Time...

[Willy O]

Hello, I am resurrecting this thread because it already contains so much info about this Lyon Healy Model B Mandolin. I am a friend of the original poster (karen1455) and I have had this Mandolin in my possession since last year when you see the higher resolution pictures added. That was me that took them and uploaded for her. (Post of March 20, 2016 above). I am in Red Wing, Minnesota and my sister hand carried the instrument to me back then because we have a very well known instrument building and repair school here and the head instructor is also a Mandolin player and has built many Mandolin's himself. I have just got it back from him freshly set up, intonated, and strung. The high action that was noted in the thread was visually much less than the picture indicated, and was further adjusted by some bridgework just completed. The small crack identified by a poster was looked at and he said it appears to be stable, and previously repaired. Cudo's to the poster that spotted that. I had to use bright light and best reading glasses to see it. It is now ready to go up for sale. It will be on an auction site. I don't know if I am allowed to list it on this site? Working on some new pictures. I have a degree in Brass and Woodwind instrument repair, but a Mandolin is out of my wheelhouse.

[Willy O]

I don't know if this works, but here is a quick video I shot yesterday with the luthier and uploaded to youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpiS2186m-4

Willy O

[allenhopkins]

...It is now ready to go up for sale. It will be on an auction site. I don't know if I am allowed to list it on this site?...

The Cafe accepts classified advertising from members here. You might want to post here before going on an auction site, as you'll have a guaranteed readership of mandolin enthusiasts.