About my Mandolin “Lyon and Healy”

[CoryDr]

I inherited a Mandolin from my grandfather. It is a Lyon and Healy NO. 92 Style A. On the pickguard it is inscribed with a patient and what I believe is 11-12-18. Can anyone tell me the age, worth, and history of this beautiful instrument.

[Charles E.]

Lyon and Healy made quality mandolins in different models. Posting photos of the instrument will go a long way to getting answers to your questions.
That is a nice gift.

[CoryDr]

<Links removed by Moderator. Folks, the people at ############ are feeding up some bad ads with some malicious content. Please do not use that as a hosting site for pictures. The images have already been posted below>

[Eric F.]

Those are lovely instruments. There is one for sale at the Parlor in Knoxville for $3,500.

[Mark Gunter]

Adding pics here for posterity

[William Smith]

That's a nice one for sure!

[rcc56]

According to the literature that I have here, the L & H carved models were introduced in 1917. Yours is an early one, with low serial number and symmetrical body points. Since the pickguard was double stamped with "Patent applied for" and a patent stamp of 1918, my guess would be that the instrument was shipped in late 1918 or early 1919.

Does the neck have a knobbed heel [kind of like the end of a broom stick] or a flat topped heel [like a Martin guitar]?

[Charles E.]

It has the original tailpiece and cover, do not lose those! Nice mandolin.

[rcc56]

A tiny bit of Lyon & Healy history: The company was founded by George Washburn Lyon and Patrick Healy, and made many thousands of guitars, mandolins, and banjos, from the 1880's through the 1930's under the Lyon & Healy and Washburn names. They also distributed violins and made professional grade orchestral harps.

The carved "Professional Series" mandolins were introduced in 1917 and were of very high quality. Your style A is the top of the line model.

The Washburn name was sold to the Tonk Brothers during the depression. The last Washburn instruments were probably made during WWII. The Washburn name was revived on a line of imported instruments starting in 1974.

The old Lyon & Healy company remained independent, but turned to manufacturing harps only. Their instruments are of very high quality and are favored by classical musicians throughout the world. They are still in business.

[William Smith]

That case has my frothing at the mouth, chomping at the bit! Way KOOL. Now that is a rare case! Too bad someone drew all over the label!

[William Smith]

I see there is one like it on Reverb but a Mandola with some issues for a pretty high price of 3600? That's a bit high! Low # like the mandolin above, Don't know about price till we can see some more photos of the sides, back, neck/neck angle, peg head and if there are any wood issues etc..

[CoryDr]

What is the best way to post pictures? I have more I can post.

I love this instrument even if i cant play it yet! This was found in my grandparents basement and was given to me by my grandma. It is in great shape from what i can see, and the little i know.

[Charles E.]

Here is a tutorial......

https://vimeo.com/33795824?cjevent=4...6100940a240610

Enjoy your new-old mandolin!

[DavidKOS]

I sure wish some of the better Asian makers of F style instruments would make a decent copy of the L and H.

I guess I'm a small market.

[Charles E.]

Eastman used to make an asymmetrical two point oval based on L & H but I think they discontinued it.

[Mark Gunter]

I sure wish some of the better Asian makers of F style instruments would make a decent copy of the L and H.

I guess I'm a small market.

+1

[mrmando]

That is only the second time I have seen a Lyon & Healy Style A in one of those cases.

If you remove the tailpiece cover, there should be another patent date stamp on the tailpiece base. IIRC the tailpiece didn't receive its patent until 1919, so if the tailpiece says "PAT APL'D FOR," that will help you pin down a date of 1918 or early 1919 for this instrument. It likely can't be narrowed down any more than that.

A completely clean symmetrical Style A with no issues can be worth $4K. The deluxe case here is a bonus and very rare, and should add $500 to $750 to the value. Well worth having this appraised and insured if you want to keep it. If you want to sell, you can find willing buyers here in the Mandolin Cafe Classifieds.

[mrmando]

My 2 cents on some of the other comments in this thread: $3600 is not a high price for the repaired Style A mandola at Wildwood. Style A mandolas are incredibly rare, much harder to find than the mandolins, and one with no issues should fetch somewhere between $8K and $10K. $3600 is not unreasonable for one with significant repairs. My Style A mandola has an ugly headstock repair but I wouldn't dream of letting it go at any price.

Eastman did make a copy of the Style A mandola for a while. It had symmetrical points, not asymmetrical ones. There was an asymmetrical 2-point mandolin copy by Washburn in the 1980s. Neither of these was really up to the standard of an original L&H.

Individual luthiers who have built L&H-style instruments include Kevin Mathers, Pete Langdell, Graham McDonald and Peter Coombe if I'm not mistaken, and one other chap whose name escapes me at the moment.

[MikeEdgerton]

What is the best way to post pictures? I have more I can post.

I love this instrument even if i cant play it yet! This was found in my grandparents basement and was given to me by my grandma. It is in great shape from what i can see, and the little i know.

As has been said above, just post them to the Cafe, They don't have to sit on a third party site. The site you used is being flamed all over the web for feeding malware to the people that visit it. They should be shut down and they have been banned here. You can't even type their name.

[CoryDr]

Here are some more pictures of my Lyon & Healy

[Charles E.]

Beautiful!

[Jim Garber]

Individual luthiers who have built L&H-style instruments include Kevin Mathers, Pete Langdell, Graham McDonald and Peter Coombe if I'm not mistaken, and one other chap whose name escapes me at the moment.

Douglas Woodley built Marilynn Mair's L&H copy. I believe he no longer builds.

Here's is an excerpt in which she talks about it from Mandozine:

Q - Please tell us about your exquisite Woodley mandolin. Your Lyon&Healy asymetrical
Style-A sounds gorgeous on recordings and in person, but that Woodley is something else.
How does it differ from the L&H? Do you find that one works better in some contexts than
the other?

A - Ah, my two fabulous instruments, sigh... Would that my love life were so good! But
maybe it's time for a better-than-original replacement to manifest itself there too! I played
my original beloved L&H for years, accepting no substitute-- not even another of the same
sort! Then-- the fateful summer I met you, Peter, and your charming wife and daughter at
AMGuSS-- my mandolin world changed forever! Well, that may be a little dramatic, but it's
getting late here. Anyway, my L&H case latch failed and my instrument tumbled out onto the
concrete floor and was beheaded! In the middle of AMGuSS and miles from home! I had no
other instrument there, and borrowed a remarkably good one made by Doug Woodley, a
longime AMGuSS student. I think it was yours, Peter... Anyway I played my Gibson F-4 that
fall until the L&H was repaired and breathed a sigh of relief to get back to its gorgeous rich
sound.

The next summer I remember another Woodley being passed across the orchestra at
AMGuSS for me to play, and that time I decided that I was going to get Doug to make me an
instrument, with the same measurements and scale-length as my L&H. I think it took a
about a year-&-a-half. It was gorgeous from the get-go. But I was definitely a one-mando
woman to that point. So I decided, to give it a chance, that I would play my Woodley
exclusively for 3 months, to break it in. It sounded so good after that there was no reason to
stop playing it. Doug made the D string stronger and kept the great balance of sound across
the strings that characterizes the L&H and makes it great for classical music. He made the
instrument look like his, but he built it to measurements from my L&H, so it felt comfortable
from the start. He also made it easier to play.

The next year at AMGuSS, I played half a concert on each instrument, and there was intense
discussion, over beer, as to which was better. The crew was definitely divided. But I've played
the Woodley ever since I got it, with a brief break to play & record the "Mandolin in the 18th
Century" project (because I thought the rich heavy sound of the L&H would be good for that
period.) On the whole the Woodley is a better, more versatile instrument for me. It allows me
to create a lighter sound for Brazilian music, but still spin a rich tender tremolo. It has
amazing power for those intensely violent Piazzolla chords, but balances beautifully for
classical pieces. And it just keeps getting better.

I have one of each of the A models, both the symmetrical (longer scale length) and the asymmetrical (shorter one which is generally preferred by many classical folks). I believe that the earlier ones had a design flaw and often have neck problems due to the routing out of the scrolled headstock for the tuners. The later one I have with a Washburn label has a thicker area where the neck and headstock are carved so is stronger at that point.

[rcc56]

That is an instrument of high quality, and is in decent condition. Be sure to take good care of it. Don't leave the instrument in a hot car, and use a humidifier in the case during the heating season. It would be best to use light gauge strings on it. I would also advise against taking it to a jam session at the Dew Drop Inn.

It is the earliest version of the model, with symmetrical body points and flat-bottomed neck heel that is covered by the back. Lyon and Healy's with these features can be considered to be rare. As has been said above, the rectangular case is considered to be desirable also.

Not long after this mandolin was made, the body was redesigned with asymmetrical points and an uncovered, knob shaped neck heel. These redesigned instruments are much more common than yours.

We generally see the Lyon and Healy style A mandolins in good condition listed for 3 to 4 thousand dollars.

[BradKlein]

And extraordinarily fine example! And the case adds very substantially to its value and uniqueness. Really a wonderful and very rare instrument. A serious appraisal would be worthwhile from one of the reputable vintage instrument shops. Retrofret, Carter‘s, Gruhn‘s, and there are others.

[Todd Bowman]

Absolutely beautiful!!!