Black snakehead moans

[mrmando]

This poor snakehead A1 has seen better days. Seller told me the SN was 74212, so it's a '23, most likely.

It does have a nice set of arrow-end tuners, which could be worth $300-400 if one of the shafts weren't bent. It appears to have been sloppily refinished, right over the soundhole ring. When I see a mandolin with the last fret pulled, I wonder if there's a neck problem ... sometimes people will pull frets to make the instrument playable, rather than repair a hump in the neck.

Has anyone had success straightening a tuner shaft on a vintage set of tuners like this? What do you figure the instrument is worth in this condition?

[mandotool]

somebody's been hittin the cider a might hard..
"This madolin is in great shape. It is all there eight strings as well. This mandolin was owned by a collector who took good care of it"

Now...when someone take a can of housepaint to a mandolin like that..(pure conjecture on my part) Alota times its to cover some dastardly/botched kind of unfortunate situation ..and then that nasty lookin bidness up in the upper nut region world perhaps lead one to further speculate on the evils of man...
Moan'n over here boss..mos def.

[mrmando]

I hope the truss rod is still in there ...

Here's one with identical specs but very clean ... SN just 20 ticks away ... it also doesn't have a headstock inlay, so at least that's OK. This might be worth restoring, but needs a lot of work. With luck, the work it needs would be only cosmetic. Without luck, it may have structural problems as well. Hard to tell, and the seller is essentially clueless. He didn't know anything was wrong with it until I pointed out all the missing parts.

And how the heck does one lose so many darn tuner bushings?

[F-2 Dave]

Wow. Somebody's been doin some bad things to that mando. Looks like it'd be a good candidate for the next Cafe restoration challenge. Wonder if it was even black originally?

[mrmando]

There are a couple of black A1s with serial numbers in that neighborhood. Already posted 74232, but here's 74218. 74175, 74206, and 74184 (FON 11921) might also be part of the same lot. However, 74182 is described as having Sheraton Brown finish.

Anyway, if the previous owner "took good care" of this instrument, I'd hate to see what his beater mandolin looked like!

Update: Ooh, someone's been feeding hardcider some Kool-Aid:

The serial number is 74212 the model is A1. The date on the inside of the guitar says its dated from 1898 to 1906 but i have been told that the serial number puts this guitar into the 20s and that it is a more rare and desired snakehead model.

The engineer at gibson during the time this guitar was made was lloyd loar.

All true, but not very strong selling points for a mandolin in this condition. I guess the fact that it's a snakehead is the only reason this is worth anything at all.

[mandotool]

I also told the seller "Hardcider" the good ,Bad and ugly and recommended a do over on the listing...
but it seems he/she continues to be hell bent for bad feedback..
hold the phone..the 1st offer is in at 5 hunnert...
poor such n' such.

[mrmando]

It's worth $500 if you want a player and you're equipped to fix everything that might be wrong with it ... not worth much more, I should think.

[barney 59]

If there is nothing broken then it's all cosmetic. From a dealer something like that in rough but serviceable shape and all the parts might be in the $1500 range. So if you could get it for well under a grand and had some time and a few bucks you could come out all right.

[Ben Milne]

It has all eight strings, therefore the guitar is in great shape?

the two covers one being the trustrod are not available?

WHAT!?

[j. condino]

I bought a questionable rough looking snakehead on epay a few years ago- always a gamble. Everything seemed reasonable, it just had some wear and finish issues. Once I saw it in person, it was a 1914 that someone had re-necked and sanded pretty thin.....

j.

[mrmando]

Well, this one has arrow-ends and the right soundhole ring ... I'm thinking it's real, but the pulled fret indicates a potential neck problem.

[ollaimh]

i have a black snake head from 1924. a-o. it has the sound hole binding of an a 4, and the top binding of and a 3. i asked george gruhn and he siad that back then they used up what ever they had in the shop at the years end.(george was extremely informative and helpfull--and i told him i had no intention of selling it) mine was made in late december. so they did them with origonal black top. mine was under water once in it's
life and i had to fix a droop on one side of the top. really rode hard and hung up wet. but it's the loudest a i have ever heard. it also has a false back which may be origonal but i am not sure, neither was george. i found that they made 19 "resonator back" snakeheads that year then discontinued them. it really has a top blank turbed around and fitted by three feet on the back. it makes it bark like a grizzly bear. so i would never sell it. i used to do small gigs with it where there was one mike and i could stand back and still be heard over the miked guitar and singer. very usefull for those small gigs.

so i love the snakehead a's. i bought it while busking through spokane washington back in the late eighties. from the sound hole. they under priced it so i snaped it up. i used to find really nice stuff in spokane and nelson british columbia back then--no e bay yet

[Goodin]

i have a black snake head from 1924. a-o. it has the sound hole binding of an a 4, and the top binding of and a 3. i asked george gruhn and he siad that back then they used up what ever they had in the shop at the years end.(george was extremely informative and helpfull--and i told him i had no intention of selling it) mine was made in late december. so they did them with origonal black top. mine was under water once in it's
life and i had to fix a droop on one side of the top. really rode hard and hung up wet. but it's the loudest a i have ever heard. it also has a false back which may be origonal but i am not sure, neither was george. i found that they made 19 "resonator back" snakeheads that year then discontinued them. it really has a top blank turbed around and fitted by three feet on the back. it makes it bark like a grizzly bear. so i would never sell it. i used to do small gigs with it where there was one mike and i could stand back and still be heard over the miked guitar and singer. very usefull for those small gigs.

so i love the snakehead a's. i bought it while busking through spokane washington back in the late eighties. from the sound hole. they under priced it so i snaped it up. i used to find really nice stuff in spokane and nelson british columbia back then--no e bay yet

It sounds very unique. Care to post pics?