My 1917 gibson a1

[MarkC]

I'm a very long-time reader of the Cafe, but only a recent member. As a way of introduction, I thought I'd post some pictures of my A1. It's my second mandolin purchase, acquired early last summer. My first is a Breedlove Quartz OO, acquired a few years ago. Both purchases were supported by research I was able to do by reading through various discussions here on the Cafe, so a belated thanks to all for making the Cafe such a great place!

While I still quite like the Breedlove, the A1 was a nice step up sonically. It also looks great, being in very clean original condition.

On to the front of the A1...

[MarkC]

Hmmm. I seem to be having trouble with this. I was previously able to successfully upload my avatar image, so that provides a hint of what my A1 looks like!

I'm pretty sure that the image size of the jpg is within Cafe upload limits.

I've messaged Scott to ask about this. If I can get it worked out, I'll post my images.

Edit: Scott replied and pointed me at a nice tutorial for posting images. It turns out that previewing my posts may have prevented my images from appearing. I preview them, as posting to the Cafe is still very new to me!

[MarkC]

Try again. This should be the front of the A1...

[MarkC]

And this should be the back...

[MarkC]

Here's the headstock...

[MarkC]

And the tuners...

[MarkC]

A detail of the front, with the bridge. A cropped version of this is my avatar (at the time of posting, anyway).

[MarkC]

Finally, here's a shot in its case, which I believe is original.

[Avi Ziv]

Wow - this A1 looks great and in almost mint condition!

Welcome to the cafe

Avi

[bradeinhorn]

holy time capsule batman.

that is great. how'd you come by it?

[MarkC]

Thanks guys. I'm lucky to have found it.

One of the ways that I break up my work day is by regularly looking at what appears on the websites for Folkways Music in Guelph, Ontario, and The 12th Fret in Toronto. The A1 turned up at Folkways. As Guelph is a very short drive for me, I went to see it, loved it, and bought it. (I had sought and received pre-approval from my wife!)

It is a beautiful instrument. I do play it regularly, but am quite aware of the pristine condition it was in when I got it. Needless to say, I'm careful with it, but it was made to be played!

[Larry S Sherman]

Beautiful instrument-amazing condition!

Larry

[Fliss]

That looks really nice, congratulations

Fliss

[Fretbear]

Minty.....

[fwoompf]

That looks incredible, wow! I bet it sounds fantastic..

[Eugene]

The condition looks extraordinary. Congrats!

[markishandsome]

MarkC--
You have to let me borrow your time machine sometime!
--MarkS

[RI-Grass]

Mark,

They really must have been making 'em well in during this time. I have a similar 1916 A-1, serial#: 27953, in similar pristine condition that I purchased from Greg Boyd a couple of years ago. When I hold it, I still can't believe that I'm holding a 90 year old instrument. It surely must have been a treasured instrument. I would love to know what kind of tools they had available during that period in time to allow them to show such fine craftsmanship. It rings like a bell.
I owned a 1918 A-1 for a little while that did not hold up as well as my '16.
Good luck with yours.
Sal

[Daniel1975]

Wow, that thing is gorgeous! Thanks for the pics. Enjoy

[jasona]

Minty fresh! Congrats and welcome to the Cafe!

[mandolooter]

very nice and welcome as a regular poster! Play it because thats exactly what it was made for!

[Jim Kasperson]

Do you know anything of its history and how it survived in such good condition? GTW it is beautiful

[MarkC]

Kasper, I don't know anything specific about the history. I did ask about that when I bought it, and was just told that it was an instrument that had not been played much. I didn't press it, as I figured that I didn't want to pry too much into whoever was selling it through Folkways.

If Jesse or Mark from Folkways see this, maybe they can provide a little more detail.

Thanks, all, for the friendly welcome!

[JeffD]

I don't know anything specific about the history. I did ask about that when I bought it, and was just told that it was an instrument that had not been played much.

Probably spent 60 years in its case under the bed or in an attic. Really nice find. Play it well, its been waiting long enough.

[Mark Walker]

Very cool! #Congrats on obtaining that piece of musical history. #

I sent pictures to Dan Beimborn a while back of a 1926 Snakehead my cousin stumbled on. #Turns out this 80-year old woman wanted mandolin lessons from him. #She'd been given a mandolin by her father, who bought it from the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo in 1926. #She played it for about a year as a little girl, then lost interest - until just recently. #It wound up in an attic for all these years and she found it several months back and brought it with her to one of her lessons. #My cousin's jaw about hit the floor when she opened up the case! #I'll have to skinny down the pics of it and post them one of these days.

Anyway, congrats again on that mint mandolin! #