Lyon and Healy Mandocello #1

[Nat]

Please, someone buy this before I do, save me from myself:

http://www.folkwaymusic.com/vintage-...ndocello-0915/

Lyon and Healy mandocello #1 for sale at Folkway Music in Canada. I own one of these, and it's everything they say and more. My opinion is that the L&H mandocellos were better designed and sound superior to their Gibson equivalents.

I wish some modern maker would use one of these as their starting point, rather than a K1/K2/K4.

NFI

[Martin Jonas]

That's a beautiful instrument, for somebody with CAN$ 10K to spare. I'm a bit sceptical about the serial #1 claim, though. Looks more like a slash in the photo, indicating perhaps that no serial number was given to their mandocellos.

Martin

[BradKlein]

A truly lovely instrument! I does have a partial headstock/neck crack. It does seem that more A models - many more - have headstock cracks and/or repairs than B and C models. Perhaps the weight of the scroll, along with the routing for the recessed tuners create a weak point that has taken a toll on quite a few of them over the years that have experienced the 'whiplash' of a dropped case.

[Nat]

I have no doubts about the serial number. Same handwriting and ink as many other examples, including my own. Looks exactly like the label on Lyon and Healy mandola #1 (picture below), written about in the thread linked below.

:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...+healy+mandola

[OldGus]

Really nice collectors item. That partial 'back of the neck' crack seems to be common on these.

[darrylicshon]

Really nice, think i need to play the lottery

[gweetarpicker]

The serial number in my Style A mandocello is four digits long starting with the number 1. I wonder how many were made...beautiful instruments for sure.

[mrmando]

Heh. I had a spare L&H tailpiece and finally sold it a few weeks ago to this shop ... and lo and behold, here it is on a mandocello!

[mrmando]

The serial number in my Style A mandocello is four digits long starting with the number 1. I wonder how many were made...beautiful instruments for sure.

Well, as with my mandola, yours probably belongs to a second batch that started with a 4-digit number and there's quite a gap in numbering between the batches.

[violmando]

If I could only win the lottery....HA~!

[Bernie Daniel]

Certainly a beautiful instrument!

The neck crack that is "not concerning" to the seller, would be very concerning to me.

It is impossible to tell from the photo but I would guess that is not just a crack but a repaired broken head stock.

Mandocellos are under much more string tension than mandolins. So yes I would be concerned -- all due respect to the sellers.

[j. condino]

One of those hides here in Asheville; it has quite a beefy neck. They are wonderful instruments that capture everything you'd want in a mandocello voice. Every time I play it I'm always amazed at how nice it is compared to the same concept made by Gibson that consistantly sound like an uninspiring overpriced wet box of Cheerios.....

Is the center strip on the mandocellos the same funky pre-war bakelite as on the mandolins? While they are rare, $10k seems like the price for a clean one. A broken neck , regardless of the repair, is a completely different conversation. Visualize a Loar or a '59 Les Paul or a Stradivarious with a mediocre neck repair like that and then figure what the percentage price drop would be in this market. Either way, those are one of the very few instruments I lust after. if it was in my shop, I'd likely price it high just so It would be around for a while and I could play it after hours every night!

As a side note, I'm working on a blueprint for one of those as we speak.

J.
Www.condino.com

[JFDilmando]

Would be really interested in what you might have to have for your work on such a creation. If you ever get serious, pm me

John D

[j. condino]

".... If you ever get serious, pm me...."

Thanks John. I'm serious every day of the year and rarely have the time or the need to solicit people, so if you ever get serious, contact me....

J.
Www.condino.com

[Charles E.]

James,I think I know that instrument. I played it over twenty years ago and it deserves to have a full scale set of plans taken from it.

It is an amazing mandocello.

[John Soper]

For the West Coasters:
https://shop.gryphonstrings.com/prod...axon_id=115591

NFI. It was $9500 earlier today...