Gibson A40

[Pen]

So I went over to a friends house this weekend to jam (he's mostly a guitar player). I notice a small, worn case of some sort. I open it up to find a Gibson mando he has never played. Seems it was his dad's. LOL - of course - I get a BIG grin on my face and ask if he minds if I clean it up and re-string it (I had some strings with me - and as I only have a Kentucky mando, I couldn't wait to dig into this one).

After cleaning it up - this mando is in great shape. 2 very small dings on the sound board. No cracks at all. It is missing the ebony inlay circle thingy on the 3rd fret. It also needs to have one fret filed down to make it playable (9th or 10th fret if I remember). Also, a few of the tuners still stick even after WD-40'ing them.

He has lent this to me for a few months to fix up and play - CHEER!

These are my questions:

1) Should I get the 3rd fret fixed? If so - how much should it take to fix.

2) Should I replace the tuners?

3) Roughly how much is it worth and what year is it? Gibson A40 with a serial number of T6774 23 (both sorta stamped into the wood).

I don't want to do anything to this that might hurt the value of this, but do want to fix it up.

THANKS!

[mikeyes]

Pen,

Unless the instrument is yours, I'd do nothing to it. As for when you get it, the tuners are probably stiff from gunk dried on it after not being used for years. You might try using a teflon grease sparingly on the gears and also work the gears without the strings on to get the grease on the gears. Those gears wear out, but the original gears enhance the value of the instrument. Check the archives for more information on gears and Frets.com has an article on them too but I am too lazy to look it up.

IF you are referring to replacing a position dot, it is an easy job for a luthier and should not cost much.

As for value, Elderly has a 60s model for $800. You can go to the Gibson site and they have a page on how to tell the age of your instrument.

Mike Keyes

[mikeyes]

Pen,

That is not a serial number, it may be an FON in which case it is dated 1958.

[Lane Pryce]

I had an A40 for a while. It is a very decent little mandolin. I sold mine for easily for $800.00. I have seen them go for as little as $450.00 and as much as $1000.00.