okay you vintage

**John Rosett** · Mar-01-2006, 4:23pm

well, my search for a beater gibson A that i could mount pickups in without guilt yielded just what i was looking for. what a heap! from what i can figure out from the story that came with it, it was stripped and refinished(laquer) many years ago. i guess at the same time, all the original hardware was discarded. sometime after that, it was in a house fire where it got quite hot on the back and sides, and peeled up alot of the laquer. it's been oversprayed since then, so it's got a pretty thick coating on it. the plastic button tuners are the kind that you see on some of the old stradolins and harmonys, with really fine toothed gears. unfortunately, the buttons are all bubbled and melted from the fire, but are still functional. it has a pearl "gibson in the peghead, but not like any i've ever, so i think somebody added it later. it looks nice, though.
#so here's the model and date clues-it has an adjustable truss rod, and the peghead has the "open book" and two more points on the top edge, much like my 1913 A, but a little more pronounced. the neck is mahogany, and i'm pretty sure that the back and sides are maple, as they have alot of birdseye and flame figure to them. there's no binding on the body or neck, except the soundhole is bound in white. all of the post-loar Ajrs and AO mandolins with truss rods that i've seen have a black bound soundhole, except a few that have a white bound soundhole AND top.
the good news is that it sounds great, and it's just about the loudest gibson A that i've ever heard. it's structurally sound, with a good top arch and a nice straight neck with a good angle.
so, what do you gibson scholars think? late 20's Ajr, or what? i'm sorry, i can't provide any pictures. the digital camera has not been found yet since the move.

**John Rosett** · Mar-01-2006, 4:30pm

i almost forgot! it has a more modern reproduction of the classic gibson two piece tailpiece, but you can tell that in used to have the clamshell style, because there's no end pin hole.

**Jim Garber** · Mar-01-2006, 7:30pm

Could also be an A-0, sim to this one.

Jim

**John Rosett** · Mar-01-2006, 8:05pm

it's alot like that one, but i don't think it has an adjustable truss rod like mine. also, the soundhole binding on mine is white.

**John Rosett** · Mar-03-2006, 2:57pm

anybody else?

**mandroid** · Mar-03-2006, 11:52pm

First Gibby was an a40, it had a clamshell TP, was late 50s, to 60s owned it from the mid 70s
now have had an A, brown one purfling ring 1921, no t rod, aluminum bridge top piece,
2 at a time overlap with the A40, which was sold eventually.
more recently bought an A4 also 1921, Truss rod highlighted by nickle truss rod cover.
Thought perhaps truss rod was introduced into the top of the range then
and shiney cover was a look! ,new feature !... detail.

could be wrong, known to happen ...

**John Rosett** · Mar-11-2006, 11:01am

so, one more time. has anybody seen a gibson oval hole mandolin with a truss rod, but no body binding, like an Ajr or AO?

**Loren Bailey** · Mar-11-2006, 4:17pm

You mean like this one?

Loren

**John Rosett** · Mar-13-2006, 11:53am

cool! thanks for that, loren. mine looks just like that, except it was refinished, burned, then refinished again. i guess you could call it "distressed".