Lyon & Healy's American Conservatory
Bell Shaped Tiple
© Frank Ford, 2002; Photos by FF

When this instrument was made in the first part of the last century, Lyon & Healy was one of the world's biggest musical instrument manufacturers, with a number of subsidiary trademarks such as Washburn, Lakeside and American Conservatory. This bell shaped tiple was one of their most, er, "unique" designs, and was a part of a bell shaped family that included ukuleles and guitars, none of which sold well in spite of the fact that they sounded quite good. I'm particularly drawn to their solution for cramming ten tuners into such a tight space.

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