Thought I'd revive this thread with another specimen from my vault of weird, but cool old stuff. This little guitar has been on loan to a co-worker to record with... he's been working on a finger-style guitar project featuring his own compositions using a variety of guitars. I have volunteered several of mine to the effort, but I am particularly glad to have this little fella back!
So, it's a George Washburn Model 1897, made almost certainly at the Lyons & Healy factory in Chicago around the turn of the century. (the *last* century that is...) From what I understand, the Model 1897 was replaced by Model 1905. The serial numbering system was particularly jacked-up on L & H or Washburn instruments, it?s like they just made up a numbering system that didn?t correspond to anything production-wise, and ran with it. Consequently, it?s near impossible to tell exactly when this guitar was made, but for what it's worth this one has the Model and Serial numbers stamped into the end of the headstock (familiar, huh?) and also penned onto a paper label inside.
As you can see, Lyon & Healy made fairly high quality instruments, not quite on par with say, C.F. Martin & Co., but you can clearly see this guitar was meant to be direct competition to Martin?s popular Style 1-21. Brazilian rosewood sides and back, with a spruce top, cedar neck, ebony appointments? even the purfling and trim are very similar. The biggest structural difference is inside ? this guitar is braced laterally rather than X-braced, but even so, the work is meticulous and neat. Also note the carved bridge, with bone or ivory pins, and the higher quality tuning machines.
Maybe my favorite detail, check out this engraved inlay:
This little guitar?s story? I got it at the Old Fiddler?s Convention in Galax, Virginia probably 15 years ago? just a lucky find. It needed only some minor work to get it back to playing condition. No, it?s not extremely valuable, because the reality is that not many people play parlor guitars anymore, but what a totally cool little guitar in a well-preserved state. Don?t see many like it anymore.
