“Hey Maw, I done it!”
I can trace this specifically back to Paul Ruppa’s Mandobass research where he lists out the major players of the time with mechanical specs — highlighting the Leland Mandobass. What does this have to do with a mandola? The Leland Mandobass was the bass advertised in the Lyon & Healy catalog. Remarkably it had a contrabass type scroll on the headstock, much like the L&Hs.
It all changed when I discovered (and bought) the only extant Lyon & Healy Mandobass. A lot of people have the full 3-piece L&H set, but nobody has the full 4-piece one.
Until now.
I’d had my eye on this mandola for some time and it was through some intense frustration that evolved into hope and the incredible largesse of the mandola’s former owner that I was able to get it.
From its original listing:
“This Style A Mandola is a rare and visually stunning instrument in a very pure state of preservation, and with an incredible sound. It has a carved two-piece back of American slab-cut maple of irregular medium curl, a carved spruce top with an oval soundhole, two symmetrical body points, and a two-piece mahogany neck with a carved violin-style scroll. It also has an ebony fingerboard with 11 frets to the body and 24 total frets. The scale length is 15-3/4″, nut width 1-1/4″, the width of the body is 11-3/8″, and the length of the back is 14-7/8″. There are several hairline crack repairs in the top, but it is otherwise in excellent condition and comes in the original hard case (case in fair condition). “
The Mandola’s top has been somehwat inexpertly refinished, however, and it does appear to have been oversprayed. A small concession to make indeed.
SN: 693
