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Thread: Lyon and Healy, Washburn????

  1. #26
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy, Washburn????

    August: I believe that with some judicious restoration it would be a fine-sounding mandolin. I think the best bowlback mandolins I have played are seriously light in construction. My favorite Embergher is feather-weight. Perhaps the key is the inner structures that keep it together. In any case, I would guess that the harpist mandolin is of the same quality as any of the Washburn line from that period. Sometimes finding its voice may be a matter of setup and discovering the strings that fit is personality. And these may not be the strings that we thing might work.
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  2. #27
    mando-evangelist August Watters's Avatar
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    Default Re: Lyon and Healy, Washburn????

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    I think the best bowlback mandolins I have played are seriously light in construction. My favorite Embergher is feather-weight. Perhaps the key is the inner structures that keep it together.
    Agree, and didn't mean to disparage lightly-built instruments in general. As you point out, the design is key. My most recent instrument is a tiny little mandolino Bresciano by Lorenzo Lippi, and it's absolutely feather-weight. And nearly as loud as my Calace concert mandolin. People often expect a lighter instrument to not be as loud, but we've all seen good-quality bowlbacks with low string tension and low mass, as loud as any arched-top design.

    I'll let you know when the Harpist is restored. Meanwhile, I'm hoping somebody will buy that one on eBay for $9k!
    Exploring Classical Mandolin (Berklee Press, 2015)
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  3. #28

    Default Re: Lyon and Healy, Washburn????

    I recently purchased one of these "King David" mandolins for restoration. Quite lovely (your pictures) mine has not arrived yet. To shed some light on what you are seeing in this inlay get your Bible out and read 1 Samuel 16: 14-23- This is the background to the three scenes conveyed on this mandolin when it is all original. The headstock shows a man kneeling, head in hand, suffering (king Saul) The pick guard shows the young David (skillfully playing his lyre) and on the fingerboard we see the relief proceeding up toward king Saul from the sound hole in the form of a healing spirit- reaching out to sooth the pain. Of course- I am a student of theology and my primary instrument is violin- but I believe these scenes are much too specially linked to be simply coincidence.

  4. #29

    Default Re: Lyon and Healy, Washburn????

    I recently purchased one of these "King David" mandolins for restoration. Quite lovely (your pictures) mine has not arrived yet. To shed some light on what you are seeing in this inlay get your Bible out and read 1 Samuel 16: 14-23- This is the background to the three scenes conveyed on this mandolin when it is all original. The headstock shows a man kneeling, head in hand, suffering (king Saul) The pick guard shows the young David (skillfully playing his lyre) and on the fingerboard we see the relief proceeding up toward king Saul from the sound hole in the form of a healing spirit- reaching out to sooth the pain. Of course- I am a student of theology and my primary instrument is violin- but I believe these scenes are much too specially linked to be simply coincidence.

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