View Full Version : 1921 Gibson A-Jr with alu bridge
Hello all.
I'm newly registered here, but have been lurking for a while. Not sure why I didn't register earlier, but thought I would now in readiness for a significant centenary on Monday...
Meanwhile, (maybe if attaching works) some pics of my mandolin and it's curious, although I believe correct for a brief period in 1921, aluminium saddle adjustable bridge. It's mainly employed in converting fiddle tunes, as I expand the available right hand weaponry from bow to pick.
Enjoy!
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DerTiefster
Jul-01-2011, 9:03am
I saw the word "aluminum" and immediately thought of this post: (#99 in the Spann thread)
http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?72023-Spann-s-Guide-To-Gibson-1902-1941&p=942695&viewfull=1#post942695
concerning Dave Apollon. Might be relevant, might not.
Ah, nice thought (and thanks for thinking it), but both serial and batch numbers support 1921, and I believe that if not common, the aluminium bridge is still not unexpected on an instrument of that year.
DerTiefster
Jul-01-2011, 12:36pm
Just saying... "uncle ken" mentioned Apollon being associated with "an aluminum saddle," if only by virtue of having one in the case. I personally know nothing about aluminum bridges and Gibsons, so that they were used by anyone was news to me. Apollon's set of venues could reasonably be taken to be international, and he -could- have been associated with something made before his time (not after), so it was something that popped up in the memory bank and I mentioned it.
And I'll take this belated opportunity to say, "Welcome to participation in he cafe."
Darryl Wolfe
Jul-01-2011, 12:50pm
That bridge is certainly of the 1921 era and so is the mandolin. However, I have not seen an adjustable bridge on an A-Jr before. So, It may or may not be original to the instrument.
Chip Booth
Jul-01-2011, 12:52pm
Interesting. Also interesting to me is that I realize I only think of the A Jr model in association with the Loar period and shortly thereafter (I play a '24 snakehead Jr), but being a '21 paddlehead this likely predates Loar. Does anyone know what years the A Jr models were made?
Clement Barrera-Ng
Jul-01-2011, 1:37pm
That bridge is certainly of the 1921 era and so is the mandolin. However, I have not seen an adjustable bridge on an A-Jr before. So, It may or may not be original to the instrument.
Same thought here as well. If I'm not mistaken, A-Jr continued to be sold with one-piece ebony bridge even after the new adjustable bridge had been introduced on the higher end A as well as F models during the Loar period. So it would definitely seem that the aluminum bridge was put on after the fact, like many of the A-Jrs that are fitted with an adjustable Loar style bridge.
Chip - the Vintage Gibson site lists the A-Jr as being available between 1919=1927
Chip Booth
Jul-01-2011, 3:51pm
Thanks for the info barrangatan. As for the bridge, I also believe that they were always sold with the non adjustable version.
Nonprophet
Jul-01-2011, 4:00pm
I'm curious about the cloud tailpiece, I didn't think they were still using those in the 20's?
NP
Chip Booth
Jul-01-2011, 11:44pm
My '24 has the cloud tailpiece, I assume it is original, but don't know that for sure.
Michael Eck
Jul-01-2011, 11:57pm
My '21 A has the aluminum saddle and I love the pinginess and definition it gives the mandolin.
Clement Barrera-Ng
Jul-02-2011, 2:07am
My '26 A-Jr has the clam tailpiece also, and as far as I can remember most if not all of the A-Jr I've seen has one too, regardless of the year. I also had a '51/'52 A-50 that has one, as do many of the A-40 and A-50 from the 50's that I've seen. I wonder if the use of the clam tailpiece is more prevalent among certain models, and continued for a longer time among those.
The OP really got me intrigued about aluminum saddle which I know nothing about. Am reading through some of the cafe old posts to get an idea of what the pros and cons of them are. Does anyone of a maker producing aluminum saddles? Or should one search on eBay and/or the cafe classifieds for one?
Bill Snyder
Jul-02-2011, 9:01am
My '26 A-Jr has the clam tailpiece also, and as far as I can remember most if not all of the A-Jr I've seen has one too, regardless of the year.
Clam or cloud? The one the OP shows is a cloud tailpiece.
Clement Barrera-Ng
Jul-02-2011, 12:55pm
Clam or cloud? The one the OP shows is a cloud tailpiece.
Bill - pardon my ignorance - I've always been under the impression that the terms are interchangeable, no? Mine is the same as the OP - which I have seen referred to as 'clam-shape' as well as 'cloud-shape'. I'd appreciate some feedback on that. THx
Bill Snyder
Jul-02-2011, 4:11pm
I apologize. It was not my intent to suggest that you are or make you feel ignorant as I imagine many people would call what is shown a clam shell as well. There is another tailpiece that I believe is more accurately called a clam shell and I was curious if it might have been used on A-Jr's as well.
Here are a couple of photos to show the difference.
Clam Shell.
http://www.tonydixonmusic.co.uk/catalogue/shoppix/gr1060.jpg
Cloud
http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=36086&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1226104403
Martin Jonas
Jul-02-2011, 5:37pm
Nice Ajr, Yandi. What's the serial number? My Ajr is 1921 as well, at least if one takes the usual year/serial number lists -- it's #68884, right at the very end of the 1921. I have the paddlehead and cloud tailpiece, but the non-adjustable one-piece bridge which I'm pretty sure was the standard original equipment for the Ajr.
Martin
Edit: I've just checked Mandolin Archive and see that Dan has changed the date on mine. It now says: "1921 production year, by conventional charts, 1922 shipping date, according to Spann's Guide to Gibson". With "Loar Era" usually taken to mean 1922-24, that has just made my Ajr quite a bit more collectible...
Thanks Martin, and thanks all for input - turned my back for a weekend and all this happened.
It's #66380, confirmed by the new data mine as 1921 and shipped in '21.
I think the non-adjustable bridge was standard on the A-Jr, but have read somewhere that the new aluminium (Pat. Pending) adjustable bridge was available as an option, so any such bridge fitted could have been at point of first sale. It seems it wasn't available much after then anyway, perhaps not popular, or serving only as a prototype for the final adjustable bridge design with the wooden saddle that would have been significantly cheaper to produce. Or perhaps Mr Loar rocked up with a headache one morning and said 'Yeuch - altogether too pingy' and that was the end of aluminium bridge saddles' Who knows?
It does have a nice 'pinginess', but I can't really make any very meaningful comparisons until I bump into another with a wooden bridge. I love the sound of it, and I've never heard so much sympathetic resonance in anything. It happily accompanies me from the other side of the room when I'm playing the fiddle.
Clement Barrera-Ng
Jul-05-2011, 8:31pm
Bill - I was also out for the holiday weekend and just spotted all the new updates. Thanks for the clarification on the clam vs. cloud tailpiece. I've definitely seen the clam-shaped one before (though I don't believe I ever seen one on a Gibson), and it didn't occur to me that i was mixing the terminology. Good one to know.