Restoring a 1924 Gibson Snakehead

[Gail Hester]

I’m in the process of restoring a 1924 Gibson Snakehead to as close to its former glory as possible. The original hardware was on it but it has some previous repairs that need to be fixed. I’ve stripped a poorly done polyurethane refinish and will stain with a period appropriate color and shellac and French polish once I’ve repaired the structural problems.

My question is with the top bracing configuration. After removing the back I discovered that whoever did the previous repair work installed new tone bar braces. Is this correct for a 1924? I would greatly appreciate any input; a picture of one with the back off would be fantastic. Thanks in advance, I love this place!

[danb]

Hmm, interesting idea, but not period correct. You can see the scar for the original transverse brace right under the soundhole. The tone bars aren't correct for that mandolin. I bet someone here has pictures of one with the back off that could be posted..

[Gail Hester]

Thanks Dan, I was hoping you would take a look at this. Here’s a picture of the rest of the mandolin.

[danb]

Well I know a bit about the old ones and what was/wasn't original, but Darryl and others will be much better at advising you on the restoration!

[Darryl Wolfe]

It's a straight "A". #It is early enough to have worm under gears. #Peghead with no inlay. #If you have the serial number we can say what color for sure, but most likely it was a black face with fairly dark brown sides and back. #The underside of the top appears to have black stain "run-in" to it. #Make the transverse brace about 3/4-7/8 tall...1/4" thick #v profile and taper the ends off at a 45 degree

[Tom C]

My friend has a straight "A" snakehead in the sheritan brown in great condition.
I was suprised. Is this brown rarer than black? It seems almost all snakehead "A"s
are black.

[sunburst]

Gail, If a pic doesn't show up soon, I'll try to get one for you.
I have an old A4 apart right now but I don't have a digital camera yet. I might be able to borrow one.

Wish this one was as easy to fix as that one!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[Darryl Wolfe]

generally speaking, loosely put...the '23's are brown face and the 24's are black. My '23, 73922 is brown

[oldwave maker]

Gail- a pic of a slightly earlier paddlehead A4- the original brace is the transverse one closest to the soundhole. This one wasnt in New Mexico very long, I can usually date them by this rule of thumb- 1 popsicle stick repair for each decade in this dry state!

[Darryl Wolfe]

Bill, tell us more about the angled brace. #Will that get trimmed down?...is that to support sag, or just to "cleat" the crack? #Where will the one go after 10 more years??

[oldwave maker]

Daryl- howdy, this is what I found when I cracked it open, I retopped it with x braced engelmann, kept this top for a wineburst colormatching reference, graduations in mms.

[sunburst]

The brace in the one I have here is 4 7/16" long, 3/8" thick, and 1/2" tall and shaped like the one in the pic.

Notice the square dent where they clamped the fingerboard on.
Every one I've seen had that same dent.

[sunburst]

That's hard to see. Here it is with some more contrast.

[Darryl Wolfe]

Thanks Bill/Sunburst...my dimensions were off the top of my head..not too correct it seems.

Bill, so now I understand the popsicle stick comment..not related to the pic

[Gail Hester]

Thanks everyone, this is exactly the information I needed. I’ll be removing the bars and installing a transverse brace to Sunburst’s dimensions located according to Bill’s picture, no Popsicle sticks yet.

To answer a few questions/observations, unfortunately there is no label and no pencil S/N or production number. I’ve established it as a 1924 due to the somewhat rare tuners pictured below. According to the archive, these only appear in 1924 such as on 77785 which is dark brown. If anyone has a better guess please let me know. The "run-in" appears black in the photo but is actually dark brown and appears to be original. I’ll be documenting and mapping the top, back and side thicknesses and comparing to the one Bill provided and I’d be happy to share this.

Darryl, the headstock has side dowels which appear to be original. Is that what you refer to as “worm under gears?” Thanks again.

[Darryl Wolfe]

Those are "worm over" tuners which are late 24 and on. #The other picture had some foreshortening which thru me off. #The color would have been brown like 77785..they went to black soon after that. #I noticed a 771xx in there with those tuners too. #Yours is probably in the 771xx or 77785 batch...which is around Oct 24

[Darryl Wolfe]

In this photo, is is quite evident why the snake a-models changed to worm over tuners well before the rest of the Gibson line. The '25 A-2 on the left has worm over tuners and the shafts are drilled much lower. The '23 A-2 on the right has the worm under Loar style arrow end tuners.

[Gail Hester]

Thanks so much Darryl. This is the one I just ordered one of your bridges for.

[Darryl Wolfe]

This A4 has the smaller open style "The Gibson" with worm over tuners. #The shafts still encroach on the inlay