c.1910 American Conservatory Bowlback Mandolin

Yes, yes, I know! Another mandolin. This one's also newly finished and what a beaut and what a sound! This has that very old-time American bowlback sound down to a "t" -- precise, sustained, loud, clear, and with a lot of rich overtones. The Brazilian rosewood can't hurt, neither can the ebony fretboard, nor the aged-in spruce top! This mandolin was built by Lyon & Healy and bears an "American Conservatory" brand in the canvas-lined bowl. This was one of their mid-range lines, though compared to what could be considered mid-range today, this thing's tops!

I've done a fair bit of work on this: reglued some back separations, reglued all the top braces and corrected some severe top sink, restored the hardware, replaced a bit of binding, and set it up. The fretboard reconditioned nicely and the frets are low but in good shape. This thing plays beautifully, I might add, with a perfectly straight neck.

Nice light colored mahogany neck, ebony nut, and ebony board. The light mahogany gives some beautiful contrast.

Pearl dots. Frets polished well.

The ornamentation on this mandolin is perfectly subtle: simple mulitcolored, thin rosette, nicely shaped celluloid tortoise pickguard (I love that color of old tortoise), and simple, tasteful binding.

Interesting brass tailpiece.

Binding and join detail.

Ah! And there's the lovely rosewood! The mix of light/dark contrasts is pretty good on this mando. The finish is all original and in pretty good condition.

Nice tight join.

Original tuners: these use friction to mate the gear to the shaft which is interesting, but troublesome for repair work. I had to glue a couple of shafts to their gears (lightly) to prevent them from slipping as the shafts no longer wanted to hold onto the gear.

Another 3/4 shot.

Here's that tailpiece. Very simple and straightforward.

And here's the label!