# General Mandolin Topics > eBay, Craig's List, etc. >  craigslist: something you don't see everyday

## jim simpson

This showed up in Pittsburgh craigslist. I remember seeing the article on the model that Roger Siminoff made. Wonder who made this one?


https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/ms...245363021.html

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Rush Burkhardt

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## Tobin

"Made by a Luther"... LOL

It looks interesting, but I'll bet it's a beast to play!  Probably too heavy to play for very long standing up, and too oddly shapen to be comfortable playing seated.

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Jess L.

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## brunello97

Wow.

Mick

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## Seter

You could play it on your lap like a dulcimer.

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## MikeZito

I'm still laughing at the case . . . and, can you imagine walking into a jam session with that thing?

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## jaycat

Luther Perkins? Luther Vandross? Luther Burbank?...

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Jess L.

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## Nevin

> I'm still laughing at the case . . . and, can you imagine walking into a jam session with that thing?


I would love to.  An Irish trad session would probably get the best reaction.  

OK I am a little weird.

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Jess L.

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## JeffD

> I'm still laughing at the case . . . and, can you imagine walking into a jam session with that thing?


Well I don't know about the case, but that mandolin could be the bees knees. Very close to the original Orville Gibson lyre mandolin. If it can be played and sounds great I could see that being a wonderful jam instrument. Turn heads as soon as you take it out.

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Jess L.

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## Jess L.

> Luther Perkins? Luther Vandross? Luther Burbank?...


Lex Luthor? ...




> ... can you imagine walking into a jam session with that thing?


Well, one could do some quick re-shaping with a common powertool...  :Disbelief: 


 :Wink: 

Jokes aside, I almost kind of like the instrument. It looks like it belongs in a sci-fi TV show, played by aliens of some sort. 




> ... If it can be played and sounds great I could see that being a wonderful jam instrument. Turn heads as soon as you take it out.


Yeah it could be fun.  :Smile:  At least one wouldn't get the "oh no, not another guitar player"  :Whistling:  thing.

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Timbofood

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## Bertram Henze

> Turn heads as soon as you take it out.


Yes, but woe to you if you don't play like an angel.
On the plus side, it's got many places to clamp your tuner on.

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## Jess L.

> Yes, but woe to you if you don't play like an angel. ...


Good point. 




> ... On the plus side, it's got many places to clamp your tuner on.


 :Laughing:  Lol!  :Grin:

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## catmandu2

> ... It looks like it belongs in a sci-fi TV show, played by aliens of some sort.


Yes, it's what Spock would have played had he been a grasser.  Vulcan banjo killer.

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Jess L.

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## allenhopkins

I'm amazed and impressed by the amount of work involved in re-creating Orville G's "lyre mandolin."  The $1.8K that the seller's asking is an incredibly low price for the instrument, if you look at what went into it.  On the other hand, it ends up more being an art object than a musician's instrument, and the comments above reflect the perspective most mandolinists would have: "for show, not for dough," as they say.

That image shows up on early Gibson labels -- my 3-point F-2 has the "lyre label" -- as the expression of Gibson's finest design and crafts-person-ship.  Going to all the trouble to replicate the design is a real labor of love, since I wonder, overall, what the market would ever be for such an instrument.

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Jess L.

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## MikeEdgerton

Luther. Lex Luther.

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Timbofood

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## Jess L.

> Luther. Lex Luther.


I said it first,  :Smile:  6 posts up in this thread. (Hm, great minds think alike?)  :Grin: 




> Yes, it's what Spock would have played had he been a grasser.  Vulcan banjo killer.


 :Grin:   :Laughing:   :Cool:  Yeah! Photoshop opportunity there, anyone want to give it a whirl?

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MikeEdgerton

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## Timbofood

Being one that has actually laid eyes on the original(one of them) and having some good people around back then, excellent pictures were taken, lots of measurements were taken as well, it was pretty much unplayable at that time. But, to actually see a guy walk in with the thing in a pillow case(I'm NOT kidding) was pretty amazing for me at age 18! 
This "homage" made by Luther Billis or whomever, has taken a lot of time to get things pretty close. And for man hours involved I agree with Allen, it's not a bad deal for someone.

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allenhopkins, 

Jess L.

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## jefflester

> Yes, it's what Spock would have played had he been a grasser.  Vulcan banjo killer.


He's already got his circular stringed instrument killer:

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Jess L.

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## addamr

Talk about scroll envy.

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## Jim Garber

> Very close to the original Orville Gibson lyre mandolin.


Not really that close, that is if you don't ave them next to each other. Originals on left, copy on right.

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## EdHanrahan

> Not really that close ...


Agreed, Jim!  I've been thinking that the copy looses "elegance" points on several counts:

- "snakehead" shape of the headstock that doesn't "organically flow along with" the curved horns, as on the originals; 
- straight lines in the middle of the "horns", where the originals are just slightly curved;
- thick & square-ish end plates where the originals are thin & clearly rectangular; and,
- (especially) lower endplates that don't parallel the adjacent surface of the body, as the originals do.

These may seem like minor differences but, given the amount of effort involved _at all_, it could have far more graceful with just a bit of added attention to alignment.

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## Timbofood

But isn't it kind of like comparing Monteleones to Gibsons (broad stroke there) they share some attributes but, not necessarily copies of each other.(Master luthiers both, we don't know much about Luther)
I understand the feeling of "Gee, why didn't he do it right?" But, I still see it as an homage. It took a lot of effort to do it, he didn't really have a lot of plans or much data aside of old labels, it's still a boatload of work for not a ton of money. Just an opinion.

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allenhopkins

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## fatt-dad

Ooh, Ooh, bitter dregs. . . bitter dregs. . .

f-d

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## Jim Garber

> Being one that has actually laid eyes on the original(one of them) and having some good people around back then, excellent pictures were taken, lots of measurements were taken as well, it was pretty much unplayable at that time.


I wonder what it sounded and played like when (and if?) it was made playable.  Not much of a soundbox there and Orville's work never seemed to be as elegant as the later factory-made instruments we know and love. That is great that you got to see and hold of those lyres.

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## JeffD

> it was pretty much unplayable at that time. .


What made it unplayable. Its condition? Or its shape?

I mean I don't see a reason a mandolin looking like that could not be very playable. And I don't know enough about the luthiery arts to rule out it sounding great too!

If the neck is straight and the intonation is good, and there is a decent tone and volume, wow, it would be fun to tear up the pea patch with an instrument like that. Or soloing with that at a gig.

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## Jim Garber

Ah... JeffD: let us know when you that craigslist one arrives at your house.  :Smile: 

Read Roger Siminoff's account of the *Gibson Lyre Mandolins*.

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## JeffD

From the article:



> The severely-arched soundboard offered no flexibility which resulted in the amplitude and tonal qualities being rather poor.


That is the failing. And I wonder if that can be gotten around. I suspect not.

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## T.D.Nydn

Really an amazing instrument to copy,the original ,as far as I know, was carved,front and back.each a,single piece of wood,this copy looks like it might have breaks at the base..also,,I would like to see the back of the copy...

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## Timbofood

Playability was not great due to condition, the thing needed some very patient careful restoration work, I don't remember if we even got it anywhere near pitch, that was forty years ago! I knew it was virtually a mandolinists "unicorn" even though I was green as rookie could have been.
Bill Halsey might have more memories of it, or at least, more accurate ones. Another fellow at the shop took quite a few pictures of it, and one might be the first one(the dark topped one) but, I'm not sure. There was a fair amount of vegetables consumed in my youth, and that might have had an impact on my memory.

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Jim Garber

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## JEStanek

If I had $1800 just sitting around unused, I would own it.  Really.  But, I don't.

Jamie

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## Tobin

> If I had $1800 just sitting around unused, I would own it.  Really.  But, I don't.
> 
> Jamie


I would too.  Not that I'd necessarily want to play it on a regular basis.  But it would look really cool in my parlor next to my baby grand piano.

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JEStanek

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## goaty76

It's not the only Orville Lyre copy around.  This one resides in Canada.  Possibly made by the same builder?

Phil

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## addamr

If Prince would have been a Bluegrasser. I can see that being what he would have played.

Adam

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Jeff Mando

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## JeffD

If Bill Monroe had played one, we would all be playing them now, and whatever sound they made would be the prized sound that all the builders would be trying to emulate.

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## Timbofood

> It's not the only Orville Lyre copy around.  This one resides in Canada.  Possibly made by the same builder?
> 
> Phil


Equally as much an "homage" and maybe a even less close to the original. Strange sentence structure, sorry about that.
The arms are much more "open" far from the "Lyre" design of the original. Possible that it may have been built by "Luther" as well but this has a better case. Well, maybe not.
The asymmetrical character of the peghead in conjunction with the "wide track" lyre arms give a certain "joie de vivre" which "Luther's" does not carry. 
Back to the corner.
Have fun.

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## Jim Garber

From the same era and made in the Calace shop circa 1899:

 

Andrini Brothers:

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Jeff Mando, 

Nevin

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## Bertram Henze

Given the choice between 2 equal-sounding instruments, I'd always take the one with the least complication per elegance ratio, i.e. the less pretentious looking one.

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## Mark Wilson

I do like the looks of the headstock on that thing

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## Jim Garber

> I do like the looks of the headstock on that thing


Which thing, Mark? There are a few "things" on this thread.  :Smile:

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## Mark Wilson

You're right.  The OP 'thing'

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## Jim Garber

Hmmm... who does this mandolin remind me of... ?

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allenhopkins, 

Timbofood

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## OlDanTucker

Makes me think of Dr. Suess...

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