Re: My Pa’s Washburn Lyon and Healy mandolin
Originally Posted by
NickR
Yes, it is featured in Paul Fox's book The Other Brands of Gibson. This model was only made for a short time so not that many were sold- unlike the Kalamazoo and Cromwell models. Nearly all the Wards Gibson made guitars and some mandolins were sold under the Recording King brand but some guitars and this and other Gibson mandolins were sold as Wards branded instruments. I am not sure why this was done but Wards also sold Kay made instruments at this time and I believe Richter and possibly Regal as well. You can see a tiny segment of the circular gold Wards label through the left f hole. That's when I said "Eureka!"
Recording Kings were indeed made by most of the Chicago builders as well as Gibson. I would assume that Gibson made the least of them.
One of the more famous instruments was John Fahey's Recording King. It was destroyed and brought back to life. Make sure you click on the picture in the following article.
https://www.johnfahey.com/RecordingKing.htm
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
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