View Full Version : So this guy walks into a music store . . .
walt33
Apr-21-2011, 8:13pm
to buy a couple of mandolin picks, and guess what was hanging on the wall? The operative word is, "was." It followed me home. :grin:
What a sweetheart; an oval A, s/n 13350, the last one out the door in 1912. I wonder if they finished it on Christmas Eve, or New Years Eve? I was amazed at the condition; just the lightest crazing of the finish, the fretboard and frets are perfect, nice arch to the top with no sinkage, and really fine sound. What nailed it for me, though, was the bearclaw top, which was more difficult than I expected to capture in a photo.
Been a long time since I've fallen in love at first sight.
Ed Goist
Apr-21-2011, 8:17pm
Congratulations Walt!
What a beauty!
Awesome.
Elliot Luber
Apr-21-2011, 8:17pm
Wow. Nice looking piece of wood there. Quite a find. What did it set you back?
walt33
Apr-21-2011, 8:22pm
Wow. Nice looking piece of wood there. Quite a find. What did it set you back?
Thanks! I'll just say it set me back several times more than what I paid for my Kentucky. But my car is probably still worth more than the Gibson. Whew.
JEStanek
Apr-21-2011, 8:34pm
Which store did you find it in? Its a real beauty.
Jamie
dcoventry
Apr-21-2011, 8:45pm
They are still making more money. They are not, however, making more of those mandolins.
Seems like a good decision to me!
dave
walt33
Apr-21-2011, 8:49pm
Jamie, it was at Bucks County Folk Music in New Britain, of all places! I only go out there once a year or so, and I can't recall ever having seen an older instrument there (other than among the fiddles and the occasional guitar). For years I've been poring over the ads here and have been planning a "someday" trip to Mandolin Bros., and I ended up finding this in my own backyard. It was quite a thrill.
JEStanek
Apr-21-2011, 9:00pm
Great catch. They have an occasional Small shop build in there along with the Big Muddy Mid Mos then an assortment of imports. You made a good find!
Jamie
stratman62
Apr-21-2011, 9:02pm
woohoo beautiful
walt33
Apr-21-2011, 9:12pm
GThey have an occasional Small shop build in there . . .
Yes, they had at least one Mike Terris F5, and the Mid Mos you mentioned.
BradKlein
Apr-22-2011, 4:37am
Lovely! Is that the original tailpiece cover? I would expect to see The Gibson, so maybe it's from a later time. But I haven't researched the pumpkin tops for a while, and maybe it's some variation.
mrmando
Apr-22-2011, 4:59am
Good catch, Brad. The TPC doesn't look right.
D C Blood
Apr-22-2011, 6:11am
Good store and great folks. I grew up very close by there. They used to send a big vendor booth to all the major festivals.
Larry S Sherman
Apr-22-2011, 6:59am
Yes, they had at least one Mike Terris F5
Really? They have a Terris?
I love mine...a great and less known builder. Mine is completely open and plays beautifully. Although it's an F-5 it's not really a bluegrass barker. It has a wider nut too.
I exchanged some emails with Micheal a few years ago. I would love to see a picture of the one you saw.
Larry
PS: Congrats on the beautiful Gibson!
Larry S Sherman
Apr-22-2011, 7:11am
Sorry if this is a Terris hijack, but here's a picture of my Terris. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts of the one they were selling at Bucks County, and what they were asking for her?
71169
Back to your Gibson...I used to have a very nice Gibson pumpkin top A, and it was a really versatile axe. I would still have it except I had a few other oval-holes and I wasn't playing it enough.
I'm sure that yours could be a lifetime instrument. Will Patton gets boatloads of tone out of his.
Larry
Congratulations on a very fine looking acquisition. Every June I get up in that neck of the woods and now I have a new store to check out.
walt33
Apr-22-2011, 9:51am
The tailpiece cover just says "Gibson," no "the." At least it doesn't say "Kentucky" like my other one does!
WRT the Terris (-es?), it was way up high on the wall and I didn't pay much attention, because I was a little distracted by Punkin', here. I met Mike years ago when I was a news photographer in NJ and we did a story on his wife Doris, who's a painter. A few years later one of our summer interns did a real nice photo feature on Mike and his instruments. They're a very cool couple.
Willie Poole
Apr-22-2011, 10:51am
Walt, Thats why I quit going to music stores, I went to one with a banjo player that was having his banjo repaired and was looking at the mandolins on the wall and came out with a new Flatiron Festival model that I needed like I need a hole in the head...It1s a fine mandolin but I can`t play all five at one time....Got to sell some of them I guess.....
Willie
RichM
Apr-22-2011, 11:11am
Bucks County Folk Music surprises me sometimes. I bought a wonderful old 1940's archtop guitar there once, and another time they had an H-1 Mandola (which I didn't buy, but boy, was it tempting). Given that we don't have a great selection of acoustic music stores here in southeast PA, Bucks County Folk Music is pretty darn nice to have around (and RIP, Acoustic Roots...).
Interestingly enough, I have a similar story. My 1915 A3 came from Troubador Music in Wayne, PA-- a lovely little neighborhood shop, but not a place I'd expect to find a vintage Gibson. Sounds like yours is a keeper like mine is a keeper! :)
Jamie, it was at Bucks County Folk Music in New Britain, of all places! I only go out there once a year or so, and I can't recall ever having seen an older instrument there (other than among the fiddles and the occasional guitar). For years I've been poring over the ads here and have been planning a "someday" trip to Mandolin Bros., and I ended up finding this in my own backyard. It was quite a thrill.
Gene Korte
Apr-22-2011, 11:41am
Sometimes you just gotta be at the right place at the right time. You lucky dog!
Larry S Sherman
Apr-22-2011, 12:09pm
WRT the Terris (-es?), it was way up high on the wall and I didn't pay much attention, because I was a little distracted by Punkin', here. I met Mike years ago when I was a news photographer in NJ and we did a story on his wife Doris, who's a painter. A few years later one of our summer interns did a real nice photo feature on Mike and his instruments. They're a very cool couple.
Thanks. Maybe someday I can track down the photo feature. End of hijack, and enjoy the Gibson!
Steve Sorensen
Apr-22-2011, 1:17pm
Neat figure in the wood. Lovely. Classic. Special.
Steve
Jim MacDaniel
Apr-22-2011, 1:28pm
Very, very, cool -- love those pumpkin tops!
Walt, Thats why I quit going to music stores, I went to one with a banjo player that was having his banjo repaired and was looking at the mandolins on the wall and came out with a new Flatiron Festival model that I needed like I need a hole in the head...
Could be worse. You could have walked out with a banjo.:(
Absolutely beautiful, congratulations!
Fliss
F-2 Dave
Apr-23-2011, 8:51pm
Great looking pumpkin there. See plenty of bearclaw in the pictures, I can only imagine how good it looks up close. Nice find.
Sweet, congrats man. Enjoy it for years to come.