Bob Shue A-5 search :

[300win]

I know this is a long shot but thought I would give it a try. If any of ya'll out there has or knows of a Bob Shue A-5 snakehead mandolin, with a inlaid snake on the headstock, dark sunburst finish, and a possible repair to a small crack on the top plate, could you let me know either on this post or by pm. I had Bob build this mandolin for me a long time ago, around '73-;74 timeframe. After getting married and becoming a father of two fine sons, I had to sell it in '83 to help pay some bills. The guys I sold it to, there were three of them together that put up the money for it, all old friends of mine, they took it the folowing week to the Mecklinburg county fiddler's convention put on by the Shriners back in those day, and there it was stolen. I surely would love to be able to get that mandolin back. It was the first really good mandolin I ever owned, and I hated to get rid of it, but little boys well being are far more important than that was at the time. If any of you have ever seen this mandolin or know where it is, I would appreciate hearing of it. Best I remember it was either the 4th or 5th A that Bob ever built. Those not familar with Bob Shue, he has been building fine mandolins since back in the '60's. The one he built me had 150 year old birdseye maple in the back, neck and rims. He salvaged the wood from old pwes from a Church in South Carolina. It was a fine mandolin , among the top 5 I ever had in my hands, and one of the 3 really good mandolins I ever owned. As good as it sounded back then, if it is still around, it would be AWESOME by now ! Keeping my fingers crossed, as I said it's a long shot, but maybe, just maybe, the spirit of the mandolin will smile upon me.

[300win]

Another fact about this mandolin. As I said it had birdseye maple in it. Let me say this, it had extreme birdseye in it. More than I ever seen before or since. My wife just told me I did not need to tell everything about it, because there would be some that might try to fool me with a fake. But, she ain't a musician, and I told her that every detail needs to be known in order to be able to locate it. Believe me, I would know it when/if I ever seen it again. Just thinking if I ever got it back in my hands again, how many wonderful memories that are tied together between that instrument and myself that would be rekindled again. Before I got that mandolin, I basically had things that only looked like a mandolin, very hard to play, low volume, no tone, but when I got the Shue in my hands, the ease of playing, massive volume, pure sweet beel like tone, needless to say, it opened up my musical abilities to a place I never thought they could reach. All of a sudden I was playing stuff that I never thought I would be able to. Well, I know this is probably a fool's errand, but we can only hope.

[Bernie Daniel]

Good luck on your search. I just sold a Shue A-5 snakehead and it was good little mandolin. I could not believe all the interest there was in that advert.

[f5loar]

Those Shue snakes were hot back in the 70's. I played one exclusive for about 8 years. Mine was from '72 and had "The Gibson" logo with a Loar flowerpot. The finish was a funky dark brown/purpleish hue. After Bush, Osborne, Lawson and Duffey got their A5s I just had to have one. I guess Monroe never saw the light although he started out with a real snakehead in the early 30's.

[Potosimando]

I'd say run an ad here on the MC, if you haven't already done so.

[Willie Poole]

Tom, I didn`t know Duffey had an A-5, can you tell me more about it? I did see the one that Lawson had when he first joined the C.Gents....he told me it was a converted A-50 and at that time I owned an A-50 that he wanted to look at so i took it to the Sharmrock one night for him to see and he said he liked it but wasn`t what he though it might be...I don`t know what he thought it might have been except maybe he was looking for another long neck A model to purchase...

Willie