It is 74 inches (190 cm) tall, and weighs about 37 kilograms (82 lb). It has 47 strings, highly decorative floral carving on the top of the column, base, and feet, and a fleur de lis pattern at the bottom of the column. In 1890, Lyon & Healy introduced the Style 23 Harp, still a popular and recognizable design. Previously, most harps in North America were made by small groups of craftsmen in France, England, Ireland, or Italy.
They successfully produced a harp notable for its strength, pitch reliability, and freedom from unwanted vibration. Healy wanted to develop a harp better suited to the rigors of the American climate than available European models. That year, Lyon & Healy built their first harp. Lyon retired in 1889 and Healy became the company's first president. Lyon patented his cottage upright in 1878 and it was sold under the Lyon & Healy name. Lyon & Healy evidently began manufacturing these instruments around 1876 in its factories in Chicago and nearby cities. The company is known to have made other instruments, including reed organs and pianos. In its 1892 catalog, it claimed that it manufactured 100,000 instruments annually. Complicating matters still further, Lyon & Healy engraved instruments that it retailed but did not actually manufacture. Lyon & Healy also repaired instruments, and offered engraving services. Later, Lyon & Healy began manufacturing brass instruments, possibly as early as the 1890s. Lyon & Healy also made various percussion instruments.
By the 1900s, if not earlier, Lyon & Healy might well have been manufacturing bowed string instruments.Īccording to Vintage Guitar magazine, "Circa 1900, the firm was so large it manufactured under a host of sub-brands Washburn is perhaps the most recognized, though Leland, Lakeside, and American Conservatory are still seen." Clearly, Lyon & Healy was making fretted string instruments in the 1880s, with Washburn (guitars, mandolins, banjos, and zithers) as their premier line. An article in the Musical Courier states that Lyon & Healy began manufacturing instruments in 1885. Two smaller fires did little damage to the firm and did not result in data loss.Ĭompany letters and trade catalogs don't provide exact dates that would reveal when Lyon & Healy began manufacturing instruments. Determining Lyon & Healy's history is complicated because its building and company records were destroyed in two fires, including the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Healy, born in Mallow, Ireland, founded the company in 1864, after they moved from Boston to start a sheet music shop for music publisher Oliver Ditson. Lyon, a native of Northborough, Massachusetts and Patrick J. In the 1980s, Lyon & Healy also began to manufacture electroacoustic harps and, later, solid body electric harps. Lyon & Healy also makes smaller folk harps or lever harps (based on traditional Irish and Scottish instruments) that use levers to change string pitch instead of pedals.
Lyon and healy harp used professional#
Today, Lyon & Healy harps are widely played by professional musicians, since they are one of the few makers of harps for orchestral use-which are known as concert harps or pedal harps. By the end of the 19th century, they manufactured a wide range of musical instruments-including not only harps, but guitars, mandolins, banjos, ukuleles and various brass and percussion instruments. Healy began the company in 1864 as a sheet music shop. Today best known for concert harps, the company's Chicago headquarters and manufacturing facility contains a showroom and concert hall. is an American musical instrument manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois and is a subsidiary of Salvi Harps.
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