Mystery old parlour guitar - Lyon & Healy? Washburn?

[alexkirtley]

I just picked this guitar up, it looked so old and so up my street I had to have it, I've no idea who made it though, anybody have an idea?, I've come to the conclusion it's American, going off the headstock shape, body shape, tuners.
The body shape seems to match Washburns and Lyon & Healy guitars, but I can't find a makers name or serial number anywhere on it, this could have been lost when the headstock had some work done, it's clearly been broken off sometime in the past, seems like it's from the 1890's-1910 sort of era, it's had a tailpiece at sometime, I don't know whether this was originally or if it was added at one time as a temporary repair, the bridge does seem very old, with a fretwire saddle and has a crack which needs sorted, but whatever it is, it's very cool, It needs some work, the bridge is lifting and the nut buzzes like a hive but nothing too major, I did a quick video with it as I brought it home, tuned down a step as it was.

[davey]

Hi Alex

I've had a couple of L&H / Washburn Guitars and they both had a Washburn stamp inside on the back strip. Also had a very dense Rosewood back and a cedar neck. Yours is exactly the right shape and the bridge is spot on for a Washburn. I imagine it came out of the Washburn factory but maybe made for another retailer, hence the lack of rosewood. Sounds really good though.

[alexkirtley]

Nov 27, 2021 17:40:23 GMT davey said:

Hi Alex

I've had a couple of L&H / Washburn Guitars and they both had a Washburn stamp inside on the back strip. Also had a very dense Rosewood back and a cedar neck. Yours is exactly the right shape and the bridge is spot on for a Washburn. I imagine it came out of the Washburn factory but maybe made for another retailer, hence the lack of rosewood. Sounds really good though.

Cheers, I think you could be right, the back and sides seem to be something like poplar, the back is single piece and no stamp inside so it could well have been made by Washburn for a budget retailer, it's certainly got a nice sound to it, especially tuned down to D, I may well keep it tuned there

[bod]

Nov 27, 2021 17:40:23 GMT davey said:

Hi Alex

I've had a couple of L&H / Washburn Guitars and they both had a Washburn stamp inside on the back strip. Also had a very dense Rosewood back and a cedar neck. Yours is exactly the right shape and the bridge is spot on for a Washburn. I imagine it came out of the Washburn factory but maybe made for another retailer, hence the lack of rosewood. Sounds really good though.

Arion?

[davey]

This was the label and stamp in my last one, it was about 1918 I think. Great guitar, I sold it when my Gibson L00 turned up. Washburn were a huge Company with a gigantic building in Chicago, I wonder where all the instruments went ? They don't appear very often. Cheers, Davey

[leedscitystompers]

Used to be mine this!!

I bought it circa 2015 off eBay from a guy that used to sell radio parts and cool old acoustics that he’d fix up.

Had Cornwall in the user name but a quick look and he does show up on there anymore.

Had it 2-3 years and sold it to John who books for The Cluny venue in Newcastle. Left it for him to collect at another gig I did there. I used it for slide numbers with The Washboard Resonators about 1-2 years and eventually bought a 1.5 Tricone so let it go. The headstock break happened at a gig sadly.

The guy I bought it off didn’t think it was made by any of the bigger companies. The top is massively thick compared to most. He reckoned it was likely a small time local builder circa 1890s - 1910s.

Very loud and good sounding. The pickup came with a cheap 12 string I bought in Whitby around 2008. I stripped the screw on it trying to tighten it on a gig with a knife because it came loose.

I actually loved the sound of this guitar but bought a nice old Washburn so my Parlor needs were met. It clearly was refinished badly with some kind of fence varnish! I wanted my collection to be made of clean and straight old guitars that sound and play good.

Found a pic on IG from around when I stopped using it.

http://instagram.com/p/BQ2v0SCB6tt