The latest Healy Healer is for friend and neighbor Lloyd Cole.
Lloyd was fond of the second Healer I made, which lived here at the shop when I first moved to Easthampton, so we took some cues from that guitar when deciding on details for his own. He’s mainly been playing acoustic guitar over the last 10 years so it’s pretty rad to see him getting back into electric guitar.
The body is Catalpa, a light weight wood spread through the the eastern US and named by the Catawba tribe of South Carolina. The neck is lightly figured Birdseye Maple and fretboard is Pau Ferro. We moved the branch from its traditional spot on the headstock per Lloyd’s request and cut and inlay for the 12th fret. Nut width is 1.625” and .084-.094 In thickness.
This is the second Healer using the Descendant Vibrato bridge and vibrato set made and designed by my pal Chris Swope. It’s a tremendous upgrade from the Fender JM vibrato and has slots that allow the string path to sit lower to maintain a good break angle over the bridge. The bridge is has a wide range of movement in the saddles to really nail intonation on a range of string gauges. And the strings sit firm in the slots.
The pickups are Dualbuckers made by Rob Banta at Gemini Pickups and are a humcanceling Guyatone goldfoil style winding. They have a great clarity that is a lot like the vintage originals. I love the look in the raw humbucker covers with foil showing through the top.
Wired up with our new favorite Vintage Inspired Pickups 280k pots, a NOS Russian caps and mounted to a cream acrylic guard. The staggered post tuners are Kluson Tuners, easily my new favorite set of Safe T Posts.
Thrilled to have this one with Lloyd, and looking forward to hearing new music from him with it. Please check our Lloyd’s Patreon page for special livestream home concerts and look up his music, from the three Lloyd Cole and the Commotions albums to his solo work throughout the 90’s and today. Thanks Lloyd!
