Washburn Style 388 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar , c. 1900
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Washburn Style 388 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, c. 1900, made in Chicago, serial # 204612, natural varnish finish, rosewood back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with solid pearl fingerboard, period black hard shell case.
This beautiful instrument is a veritable feast of fine materials and artistic design, one of the loveliest and most elegant American guitars ever made and a true product of the original Gilded Age. The Washburn Model 388 was the largest guitar Lyon & Healy offered in this opulent style at the turn of the 20th century, the height of the Chicago company's most flamboyant period in 6-string design.
The Model 388 sat near the apex of Lyon and Healy's premier Washburn line at the turn of the last century. This "1897 Style NEW MODEL" has highly figured Brazilian rosewood back and sides, a very even-grained scallop-X-braced spruce top, and fantastically colorful pearl bordering all along the top edge. The bound soundhole has a multi-ply double-ring rosette with chain wood marquetry surrounding a wide and fantastically colorful abalone ring. This complements the gold-tinted pearl around the top, also set off with multi binding top, back and side and chain pattern marquetry. The back is bound and trimmed in chain wood marquetry with an elaborate backstrip.
The most unusual feature is the patented (in 1887) Durkee bridge which feeds the strings through the front edge and wraps them around the pegs before they run over the saddle. This elaborate creation was named after its designer, Lyon & Healy's shop foreman George Durkee who was responsible for much of the design work on the company's instruments at the time.
The Spanish cedar 12-fret neck has a soft "V" profile and is topped with a stunning genuine pearl fingerboard, something few makers ever attempted and then usually only on small bowl-back mandolins. This is shiny enough to "blind a crow" as one wag once commented, but certainly makes an impression. The position markers are hand-engraved into the pearl in delicate shapes including flowers and pears on the vine (!). The tuners are beautiful engraved plate strips, silver plated with genuine pearl buttons.
This model was first listed 1896 catalog at a price of $90, which even in period money seems like a reasonable price for so much bling. The serial number dates this example to around 1900 as clear as can be reckoned; it is hand-written in ink on the interior label, ink stamped on the heel block and die-stamped into the top of the headstock along with the model number for good measure. While not designed as a steel-string guitar this Model 388 handles silk-and-steel stringing very well, and has a more robust tone than some would expect. While designed for the opulent drawing rooms of the late 19th century this guitar is still a lovely instrument to play and certainly a dazzler whenever the case is opened. This Washburn is an amazing survivor of a long-bygone age, a playable ticket back to pre-WWI America in a sunny parlor in Chicago -- or Willoughby.
Overall length is 38 in. (96.5 cm.), 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/16 in. (10.3 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This 125 year old Washburn is a superb example overall. It shows only very minor wear and minor repair, well cared for with less restoration than many Washburns from this era remaining a fine-playing and sounding instrument. There is some light general finish wear with micro checking to the varnish, dings, dents and scuffs. The top shows virtually no pick wear, just smaller dings and dents with one larger scrape on the lower treble bout just off the waist. There are a few small soft dings in the back of the neck, with one deeper lengthwise ding behind the 4th fret but none of the heavy capo wear often found on older flat tops.
The only crack repairs are to the back, with a couple of grain splits to the rosewood sealed solidly but visibly. Lyon & Healy apparently had so many problems with this that they complained in their own catalogs that rosewood was "untrustworthy" for instrument production; nevertheless they continued to build mostly rosewood guitars, going to laminates in the 1920s as a solution. A section of back binding was replaced running from the curve of the lower bout to the endpin. The original Durkee bridge has been reglued (possibly more than once) with some fairly minor finish disturbance around the perimeter. The scalloped bracing and tiny maple bridgeplate remain original with a few reglued spots visible.
The neck had a slim metal reinforcement rod seamlessly added long ago; this has served to keep the neck straighter than any other of these we have seen. The silver plating on the tuners shows some typical clouding and tarnish, the pearl buttons are solid with no cracks. The original small frets have been crowned lightly and this is a fine player; the genuine pearl fingerboard does not suffer the shrinkage and lifting issues often found with celluloid boards. This is really a playable work of art, one of the most opulent American guitars ever made; these rarely come up for sale at all, let alone in fully playable condition. It resides in a nice old HSC, likely 1920s era but not as old as the guitar. Overall Excellent - Condition.
This beautiful instrument is a veritable feast of fine materials and artistic design, one of the loveliest and most elegant American guitars ever made and a true product of the original Gilded Age. The Washburn Model 388 was the largest guitar Lyon & Healy offered in this opulent style at the turn of the 20th century, the height of the Chicago company's most flamboyant period in 6-string design.
The Model 388 sat near the apex of Lyon and Healy's premier Washburn line at the turn of the last century. This "1897 Style NEW MODEL" has highly figured Brazilian rosewood back and sides, a very even-grained scallop-X-braced spruce top, and fantastically colorful pearl bordering all along the top edge. The bound soundhole has a multi-ply double-ring rosette with chain wood marquetry surrounding a wide and fantastically colorful abalone ring. This complements the gold-tinted pearl around the top, also set off with multi binding top, back and side and chain pattern marquetry. The back is bound and trimmed in chain wood marquetry with an elaborate backstrip.
The most unusual feature is the patented (in 1887) Durkee bridge which feeds the strings through the front edge and wraps them around the pegs before they run over the saddle. This elaborate creation was named after its designer, Lyon & Healy's shop foreman George Durkee who was responsible for much of the design work on the company's instruments at the time.
The Spanish cedar 12-fret neck has a soft "V" profile and is topped with a stunning genuine pearl fingerboard, something few makers ever attempted and then usually only on small bowl-back mandolins. This is shiny enough to "blind a crow" as one wag once commented, but certainly makes an impression. The position markers are hand-engraved into the pearl in delicate shapes including flowers and pears on the vine (!). The tuners are beautiful engraved plate strips, silver plated with genuine pearl buttons.
This model was first listed 1896 catalog at a price of $90, which even in period money seems like a reasonable price for so much bling. The serial number dates this example to around 1900 as clear as can be reckoned; it is hand-written in ink on the interior label, ink stamped on the heel block and die-stamped into the top of the headstock along with the model number for good measure. While not designed as a steel-string guitar this Model 388 handles silk-and-steel stringing very well, and has a more robust tone than some would expect. While designed for the opulent drawing rooms of the late 19th century this guitar is still a lovely instrument to play and certainly a dazzler whenever the case is opened. This Washburn is an amazing survivor of a long-bygone age, a playable ticket back to pre-WWI America in a sunny parlor in Chicago -- or Willoughby.
Overall length is 38 in. (96.5 cm.), 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/16 in. (10.3 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This 125 year old Washburn is a superb example overall. It shows only very minor wear and minor repair, well cared for with less restoration than many Washburns from this era remaining a fine-playing and sounding instrument. There is some light general finish wear with micro checking to the varnish, dings, dents and scuffs. The top shows virtually no pick wear, just smaller dings and dents with one larger scrape on the lower treble bout just off the waist. There are a few small soft dings in the back of the neck, with one deeper lengthwise ding behind the 4th fret but none of the heavy capo wear often found on older flat tops.
The only crack repairs are to the back, with a couple of grain splits to the rosewood sealed solidly but visibly. Lyon & Healy apparently had so many problems with this that they complained in their own catalogs that rosewood was "untrustworthy" for instrument production; nevertheless they continued to build mostly rosewood guitars, going to laminates in the 1920s as a solution. A section of back binding was replaced running from the curve of the lower bout to the endpin. The original Durkee bridge has been reglued (possibly more than once) with some fairly minor finish disturbance around the perimeter. The scalloped bracing and tiny maple bridgeplate remain original with a few reglued spots visible.
The neck had a slim metal reinforcement rod seamlessly added long ago; this has served to keep the neck straighter than any other of these we have seen. The silver plating on the tuners shows some typical clouding and tarnish, the pearl buttons are solid with no cracks. The original small frets have been crowned lightly and this is a fine player; the genuine pearl fingerboard does not suffer the shrinkage and lifting issues often found with celluloid boards. This is really a playable work of art, one of the most opulent American guitars ever made; these rarely come up for sale at all, let alone in fully playable condition. It resides in a nice old HSC, likely 1920s era but not as old as the guitar. Overall Excellent - Condition.