Re: Identifying bowlback mandolin and question about black inside
Originally Posted by
StephanieC510
I ordered a set of Dogal Calace mandolin strings for it. It made it 100+ years in good shape and I don’t want to ruin that. I’m going to give it about 2 weeks in my humidity controlled music room and then I’ll restring it. I don’t want to put fresh tension on dry wood.
I actually think that it has the original strings on it. Or at the very least the strings are at least 50 years old. They are rusty and unwinding themselves. They certainly aren’t modern strings.
Fair play to you, Stephanie, on the aquistion and for the choice of Dogal strings. They will sound great on this. Hopefully, the lighter weight Dolce set.
Not to be too picky, but this is not an American Conservatory mandolin. The label is not missing, it likely never had one.
Lyon and Healy made a lot of mandolins to a lot of different specifications.
They branded some with their house names: Washburn, American Conservatory, Lakeline, College Line etc. in rough order of quality.
These were duly labeled.
They built others to be sold and labeled by others to be sold in their shops or perhaps with their name as a teacher.
They also labeled some as their 'own brand' as Lyon and Healy. They even sold some under a label in Mexico City.
Our friend, Mike, is of the opinion that L+H built batches of mandolins to certain (evolving) specs and labeled them afterwards. I think his theory has some validity.
Sometimes the specifications from one line overlapped with another. There are some American Conservatory mandolins of higher quality build than the flagship Washburn mandolins. Some AC mandolins are of lower grade than the Lakeline models, most of which L+H inheirited when they bought out Regal mandolins from Indianapolis.
Some of their unlabeled instruments have a close resemblance to the labeled models shown in the catalog pages that Nick references.
It doesn't do anyone any good to call yours an American Conservatory mandolin because it looks like a branded one in a catalog.
Some folks here have gotten into what I consider the bad habit of doing that and it just adds to confusion. The label didn't fall out.
It's a Lyon and Healy mandolin that perhaps has specifications very similar to some mandolins in their American Conservatory line.
I don't mean to come across as cranky. Just the opposite.
I'm thrilled that you've acquired a very nice mandolin in what appears to be great condition, hopefully at a great price, and are invested in playing it.
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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