A few years ago I had Lyon & Healy Style C No. 935. I sold it to the director of a mandolin orchestra. I've recently acquired No. 940 and it's interesting to compare the two.
No. 935 didn't make any sense. It had a tailpiece stamped PAT. APLD. FOR, meaning said tailpiece was made before the April 1919 patent date. The pickguard had the Nov. 1918 patent date and the instrument had a stairstep headstock, the earliest of 3 Style C headstock types. So you'd think that would pretty much nail the date down — and yet it had the 13" scale length, which we're always told was introduced around 1922. (Furthermore, it had the pull-out rest found on some Style A mandolins but not documented on any other Style C that I know of.)
No. 940 is more straightforward: Same headstock, but both the pickguard and tailpiece base have patent stamps, and it has the earlier 13 7/8" scale, so we know it was built after April 1919, but before the changes to the art deco headstock and shorter scale length. In short, nothing unexpected.
I remain uncertain of the most likely explanation for No. 935. Perhaps it was pulled from the line at some point and not finished until after the switch to the shorter scale? Why did it have a pull-out rest? All I know for sure is that if you thought everything about L&H mandolin production was predictable and made sense, you were wrong.
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