Somebody pulled a Lester Flatt on this A3 (eBay)

[mrmando]

http://i.ebayimg.com/07/!BvpVI7!EWk~$%28KGrHqF,!hkEv1+0F%28,tBMFYU6%28ol!~ ~_3.JPG
A previous owner carefully enlarged the soundhole on this vintage Gibson A3 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Ca-1920-GIBSON-Model-Mandolin-w-Orig-Case-Beauty-/170499781018?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b294319a). I wonder if it made a noticeable difference?

It seems likely that this originally had the later refrigerator-white finish and was redone in the earlier orange, although I suppose there's a small possibility that it came from the factory this way. I have seen a couple of other white pickguards on non-white instruments, and always wonder how they got that way.

[MikeEdgerton]

Maybe the pickguard wasn't original. I had a friend that did that with a guitar after he wore through the wood at the sound hole but he simply enlarged the hole all the way around. I suspect that is why the Clarence White Martin sound hole was that large. Somebody was trying to make it look better.

[fscotte]

Likely it would open the instrument up a bit, a little more high end. You can see for yourself the effect of enlarging the soundhole by using your mouth to make a small O. Hum a monotonous tone and slowly make the O a little larger.

[woodwizard]

Looks like they did a little fitting work on the pickguard around the end of the fretboard as well. I'd lay odds that it's not original to that mandolin.