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woodi
Jul-19-2007, 4:53pm
Hello,
I am house sitting for a friend and was sitting in his living room one day looking up at the exposed beams and there were a couple mandolin cases sitting up on top of one of them. #So I decided to pull them down and see what was in them. #One of the mandolins is just a cheap begginer model I believe but the other is an old gibson a-series. #I don't play mandolin and don't know much about them but from the research I've done thus far I think it was built somewhere between 1908 and 1910. #I tuned it up and looked up a few chords and tabs on here and played around a little and it sounds great to me. I was wondering if anyone could help me confirm those idea's and give me a little better idea of what exact model it is etc. #The instrument is no 8952 from the label inside. #Here are a few pictures.
http://arcticbanana.net/Pics/stuff/mandolin/IMGP0283.JPG
http://arcticbanana.net/Pics/stuff/mandolin/IMGP0285.JPG

Loren Bailey
Jul-19-2007, 5:02pm
Woodi,

Yikes! You're looking at a 1908 Gibson A. #And it looks to be in good shape. #You can check the Mandolin Archive (mandolinarchive.com) to see others of the same time-period. #DanB will probably want to add this one to the archive

Does your friend play it at all?

Loren

woodi
Jul-19-2007, 5:53pm
Not that I know of. His wife plays harp and has played some other musical instruments as far as I know. I have never heard anyone in the family mention anything about mandolin.

woodi
Jul-19-2007, 6:39pm
I just took a few more pictures of it to post. #It really is a beautiful instrument. #I'm anxious to see what he has to say about it when he gets back in a week. #Out of curiosity what is an instrument like this worth? #
http://arcticbanana.net/Pics/stuff/mandolin/IMGP0514.JPG
http://arcticbanana.net/Pics/stuff/mandolin/IMGP0515.JPG
http://arcticbanana.net/Pics/stuff/mandolin/IMGP0516.JPG

woodi
Jul-19-2007, 6:40pm
http://arcticbanana.net/Pics/stuff/mandolin/IMGP0519.JPG

Loren Bailey
Jul-19-2007, 6:55pm
There are much more knowledgable on here than me concerning price. And I am sure they'll quickly correct me if I am out of line. I believe this era was called the "transitional" period, I don't know how that affects the price. It looks fairly clean, probably in the $1-1.5k as it doesn't have the original case.

Loren

Michael Gowell
Jul-20-2007, 2:36pm
It certainly seems to be an early transitional mando - it has the early (before about 1911) Orville label and a#beautifully engraved pineapple tailpiece cover, but also shows a later syle (but still an early) raised pickguard. #Nice. #As I recall, the unmarked peghead indicates a model A rather than the progressively fancier A-1, A-2, A-3 and A-4. #The tone quality of the early Gibson mandos can be wonderful - try a set of silk & bronze strings on this baby.

Tighthead
Jul-20-2007, 2:51pm
If it was me, I would probably ASK the owner before tuning up and playing a ~99 year old instrument.

But that's just me.

woodi
Jul-23-2007, 9:30pm
Yeah you're probably right about that one...but as they say curiosity killed the cat. I also had no idea it was quite that old when I started messing around with it. I'm pretty sure my friend won't mind but I guess we'll find out wednesday when he gets home.

Tighthead
Jul-24-2007, 3:20pm
I only say that because if it was me, the moment I tried to tune it the top would implode, the bridge would break into pieces, the neck would fall off, the tuning knobs would turn to dust, the tail piece would rust off and in a matter of seconds I would be left holding a twisted mass of strings and wood.

danb
Jul-24-2007, 4:10pm
1909. The raised guard with chin rest style clamp nails it to a pretty tight window of time.

atetone
Jul-25-2007, 10:41pm
My flair for the obvious tells me that this model is the predessesor to the "teens" A models. I think they are referred to as "transition" models? Am I correct?
So how do they compare to the "teens" models in design, build and sound?
I am asking this because I bought one sight unseen with serial #9767 which is an A4 blacktop and I am wondering what if any, changes were made between the transition models and the teens models?
It is in the mando-hospital right now getting some TLC and it will be a while before I receive it.