Gibson A Junior frankenstein?

[Vernon Hughes]

Just picked this up cheap. Is this a gibson retop? Had a set of kluson tuners on it with no visible signs or impressions of any other ones being installed..Also a 60's gibson F model tailpiece on it..Looks like a factory top replacement and refinish but the soundhole looks nothing like any of the A juniors i've ever had,quite a nice job on the top though..Finish is a dark sunburst,it shows up lighter in the pics with the sun shining on it..The paddle head has the pearl the gibson inlaid..I can barely make out 92** as the FON #..Any guesses?

[allenhopkins]

Soundhole's not all that different from this later one, (http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/5542108) which has the straight-across logo. Gibson might have put Klusons on a mandolin sent back for refinish in the 1940-60's.

[Vernon Hughes]

The soundhole on this one has a more "squareish" look to it than the other a junior I have here,and the one you linked to. And it's not bound..weird..

[Jim Garber]

Truly strange. I didn't think that any A-Jr would have had any writing on the peghead -- then I saw the one that Allen posted. And that top just looks wrong esp the soundhole shape --I do not agree with Allen-- it looks sort of squarish. The back looks pretty odd as well.

[Darryl Wolfe]

In my opinion, it is not a retop. I think the binding on the sound hole dissolved in the refin and someone simply messed around with the sound hole a bit to round the edges and clean it up. The logo is not right (for the period or the mandolin as a Jr) nor at the right angle, so I suspect it was added during the refin

I would look closely to try to determine if an original body was renecked here. I see some evidence that it is not installed perfectly true to the center seam (could be an illusion if the soundhole is not tru) and the fingerboard appears to be a tad short

Darryl

[Jim Garber]

I doesn't look like a 1930s or 1940s Gibson factory refin to me. That shading on the back and on the sides looks truly odd in the shading and the color. I say amateur hobbyist reptile dentistry. What say you?

On the third(?) hand... that pearl inlay looks pretty good to my eyes... where would that have come from?

[Vernon Hughes]

The top doesn't have the typical well as found on most all the old A's and juniors I have and have had nor does it resemble the back of the mandolin..The neck joint appears original and not messed with-if it was renecked someone did a great job on it as well as whatever they did to the top..What about the partial 92 FON I can barely make out on the headblock? (I checked spanns for relevant numbers) And the fingerboard length is 9 13/16", just the same as my other junior..What a mystery! Not that any of this actually bothers me,i'm gonna repair it,maybe even give it a more tradtional refin and play it or sell it. Just seeing if anybody could come up with more info than I found.