John Rosett
Mar-01-2006, 5:23pm
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.
#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.