Snakehead in need of restoration on Ebay

**Capt. E** · Jul-27-2012, 9:43am

Here's an interesting Snakehead, a project for sure.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190707516023...84.m1423.l2649

Wonder what it will go for? I don't think the seller knows what he has.

**JeffD** · Jul-27-2012, 10:20am

"It's missing the endpin, tailpiece cover, one fret, some of the fretboard binding, the mother-of-pearl inlaid logo, and the pickguard, and a tuner button"

Oh, and the neck is separated, the fretboard is broken, and the inlay on the headstock is not just missing, its gouged out.

**sunburst** · Jul-27-2012, 10:26am

It needs:

case
pick guard
tailpiece cover
tuner button
fingerboard
inlay replacement
end pin
crack repair
neck rebuild or replacement
head block rebuild or replacement
side fracture repair
maybe other, we can't see inside

Check with a luthier about estimates for all that before bidding!

(Jeff, it might have been gouged out with Bill's pocket knife. That would probably increase the value!)

**f5loar** · Jul-27-2012, 11:07am

I wonder if this is the same snakehead A Bill Monroe started out on with the Monroe Bros. before he got his F7? The removal of the logo sure looks like the handy work of Big Mon.

**mrmando** · Jul-27-2012, 11:41am

Well, when this was first listed, the seller described it as "complete," so I wrote in and gave him the litany of missing pieces. But of course the destroyed neck joint is of even greater concern. Bidding is already over what I'd be willing to pay for this basket case.

**JeffD** · Jul-27-2012, 11:51am

I was thinking the instrument looks vandalized. Like out of anger. Not just the headstock either, but that of course seems to verify it.

**mrmando** · Jul-27-2012, 12:53pm

The day Benny turned 18, his Pa gave him a Gibson mandolin, which he'd bought new just a few months before Benny was born. Benny was sweet on Betty from the high school softball team ... so sweet that he took his pocketknife and cut the logo out of the mandolin's headstock, intending to replace the inlay with "Benny & Betty." They made plans to elope; Benny even stashed some stuff, including the mandolin, in Betty's old man's toolshed in preparation for their getaway. But then the Pearl Harbor invasion happened, causing a radical shift in Benny's priorities. He hiked right down to the Bremerton Navy base, signed up and shipped out ... he didn't even write Betty a note until he was already in basic training. Despite this, Betty remained true, waiting for him throughout the war. I wish I could say the same for Benny, but he jumped into sailoring with both feet, as it were, and made other acquaintances during his shore leave: Belinda, Beryl, Brigitta, Beatrice.... Well, even in the 1940s, gossip had a way of traveling, and one way or another Betty found out. A lot of girls would just send a Dear John letter and be done with it, but Betty wasn't a lot of girls. So on the day when Benny finally made it back to Bremerton and came ambling up the sidewalk toward her house like nothing had happened, Betty was already in the toolshed with the mandolin, ready for him. And she wasn't on the softball team for nothing.

**Capt. E** · Jul-27-2012, 2:08pm

Originally Posted by mrmando

The day Benny turned 18, his Pa gave him a Gibson mandolin, which he'd bought new just a few months before Benny was born. Benny was sweet on Betty from the high school softball team ... so sweet that he took his pocketknife and cut the logo out of the mandolin's headstock, intending to replace the inlay with "Benny & Betty." They made plans to elope; Benny even stashed some stuff, including the mandolin, in Betty's old man's toolshed in preparation for their getaway...

Great start to explaining this mandolin...I believe it. Just as good as the Bill Monroe connection postulated above.

I agree the bidding is already higher than it should be.

**sunburst** · Jul-27-2012, 2:20pm

I just looked at the pics again and came up with some things to add to the replace/repair list above:

tuner bushing
bindings
possible split tail block

All in all, though, it could be a player without really fixing everything, but still, right much work in just the neck.

**Texas** · Jul-27-2012, 2:31pm

Originally Posted by sunburst

It needs:

case
pick guard
tailpiece cover
tuner button
fingerboard
inlay replacement
end pin
crack repair
neck rebuild or replacement
head block rebuild or replacement
side fracture repair
maybe other, we can't see inside

Check with a luthier about estimates for all that before bidding!

(Jeff, it might have been gouged out with Bill's pocket knife. That would probably increase the value!)

Now the question becomes: Where did all the removed items go? Wonder if there is a fake instrument drifting around with these missing parts. I see this all the time in the vintage watch business.

**mrmando** · Jul-27-2012, 3:07pm

Not all Gibsons were shipped with the hardshell cases ... there were end-loading canvas cases as well, which don't hold up over time. Pickguards are often removed by players who don't like them, and they also fall apart over time. Tailpiece covers come loose and fall off, or they get misplaced when changing strings; same for tuner bushings and endpins. Not sure what happened to the tuner button. Anyhow, other than the inlay, nothing here screams "deliberate removal." Whoever fixes this up will also have to undo some atrocious previous attempts at repair, which seem to consist of banging a few nails through it.

**sunburst** · Jul-27-2012, 5:14pm

Originally Posted by mrmando

Whoever fixes this up will also have to undo some atrocious previous attempts at repair, which seem to consist of banging a few nails through it.

You noticed the nails too huh? That comes under "neck rebuild or replacement" and "head block rebuild or replacement". I'd be surprised if the head block isn't split into pieces by those nails, as well as the dovetail on the neck. Perhaps they pre-drilled...

**vhughes2000** · Jul-27-2012, 10:16pm

Maybe if they had of pre-drilled for the nails the splits wouldn't have been so bad!..Or use a smaller hammer,or an air gun..I'd like to have it for practice restoration if it doesn't end with people who get auction fever.

**delsbrother** · Jul-27-2012, 11:06pm

Originally Posted by mrmando

The day Benny turned 18, his Pa gave him a Gibson mandolin, which he'd bought new just a few months before Benny was born. Benny was sweet on Betty from the high school softball team ... so sweet that he took his pocketknife and cut the logo out of the mandolin's headstock, intending to replace the inlay with "Benny & Betty." They made plans to elope; Benny even stashed some stuff, including the mandolin, in Betty's old man's toolshed in preparation for their getaway. But then the Pearl Harbor invasion happened

Pearl Harbor was invaded?

**mrmando** · Jul-28-2012, 1:48am

President Roosevelt used the word "invasion" to describe the Pearl Harbor attack in his speech to Congress on Dec. 8:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/spee...earlharbor.htm

I always assumed it was pretty much OK to use the same word he did, even if other words might be considered more accurate.