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Bmaverick
Sep-04-2018, 11:43am
[SIZE=2]It has been awhile since I have posted but good things sometimes slowly.
I thought I would share some pics of my "Oldest factory built Gibson Mandolin that still exists" #6 (2506).
Attached video is at Ry Charters Kal-Tone repair shop here in Kalamazoo. Perhaps you might recognise some of the players of this instrument soon after it was repaired.
They mention that this old design of a bowl shaped back gives not only a loud sound but great low tones too. Note, Orville did not put a strap peg hole in the end, but rather played it on his lap. Who knows, this might even be the one on his lap in the picture.
Video can be seen at:
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPnw499yOJc

Bmaverick
Sep-04-2018, 11:46am
Orville Gibson holding A Style Mandolin

Timbofood
Sep-04-2018, 11:56am
I would not be surprised that your Mandolin is indeed the one in Orville’s lap in the picture!
Nice link.
Sending a PM shortly

MikeZito
Sep-04-2018, 6:32pm
Amazing!

Enjoy!

mrmando
Sep-04-2018, 7:35pm
Hm. Well, that's a pretty young Orv in that photo (pre-mustache), and since he had little or nothing to do with the Gibson Company after it was incorporated, I'm guessing the mandolin in the photo is a pre-company instrument he built himself.

It is cool to see this instrument back in one piece, whatever its provenance. It's also a reminder that when the company went to Sheraton brown for most of its A-style mandolins in 1918, that wasn't a new color, strictly speaking ... more like a reissue of one of its earliest finishes.

mrmando
Sep-04-2018, 7:38pm
Hm. This photo also purports to be of a young Orv. Was he left-handed?
170812

slimt
Sep-04-2018, 8:55pm
Thats Pretty Cool looking...

goaty76
Sep-04-2018, 10:32pm
Great mandolin! I remember when you found it. Yes, Orville was left handed. I’m not so sure that is Orville in the photo with the mandolin in his lap though.

Phil

mrmando
Sep-04-2018, 11:42pm
Yeah, Google Image Search doesn't find any other instances of that photo, which is odd if it's really Orv. Bmaverick, where did the photo come from?
https://www.google.com/search?tbs=sbi:AMhZZitlg-CThvhJHmQEnnwtMpm0KIDuv3KsbH2sa4L7adAfrq8WZ2CzqLFp CDn0wsUhWUmglMKGAhF3XT76QqZ1-VIHpCGOI6_1PWlGqSy-eNY61XfyVq4NAEtchs9bZhSfwRRs-yzTu4yQ9LDysoooc7wdTM9llyDQwRKsQLFOho7mzqd4AaMsTrO bMC-wHLxrOjxIye3eEo80GIVbU0Dsb_1R_1SNjTzOg9q6mUyhJKXQ4 5Xt71-8JiNLjmGClT-Cxg7lqOBEP9Vs0gNu_1mqiJS609KFbl4E7jclTuIvYXGq1vGI8 NfkRwCJkrA5lg8PsC4pL3ESj28gXPM2A29xNeNYC_1r1h_1CHe MgNs3HdWQ5g5QkHUsTJzBY

Ivan Kelsall
Sep-05-2018, 3:34am
The pic. in post # 2 doesn't appear to be of Orville Gibson. The pic. in post # 6 appears on Roger Siminoff's website as a pic. of Orville Gibson.http://siminoff.net/gibson-background/ It's a pic. of a pre-moustachio'd OG,but the similarilty in pre & post moustache is pretty obvious - the eyes have it !.

Bmaverick - That's an incredible treasure piece that you have there,& it's wonderful to see it in such excellent condition,looking & sounding pretty darned awesome !,:disbelief:
Ivan;)
170816

goaty76
Sep-05-2018, 6:13am
Here is it’s slightly older very similar brother. Ca. 1897 Orville Gibson made and labeled.

Phil

170817 170818 170819 170820

Steve Ostrander
Sep-05-2018, 8:42am
I too doubt that the photo in the second post is Orville. The eyes appear to be different. Also. he is holding the mandolin the way a right hander would.

EdHanrahan
Sep-19-2018, 12:19am
Also. he is holding the mandolin the way a right hander would.
Yeah but... he's fretting the guitar (righty-strung w/ right-hand D-chord formation on bass strings; maybe call it CM7addb5??) the way someone would who's thinking, "Hey, this'll confuse the heck outta them in a century of so!"

Russ Donahue
Sep-19-2018, 6:29am
Thanks for posting the video. I missed this the first time around. What a treasure!

Dave Fultz
Sep-19-2018, 8:19am
Very informative, very enjoyable.

Thank you.