Criagslist 1923 Gibson A4 (wrong neck ?)

[mandodan1960]

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/3657252102.html

[Annette Siegel]

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/3657252102.html

Not sure what you mean...looks pretty good from pic...worthy of a personal appearance I would think.

Best, Annette
www.livingtreemusic.com

[Bernie Daniel]

Hi good find! I think the neck is fine --might be a replaced fretboard and I'm pretty sure it has been refinished. So I don't think $1500 is atop price for the condition. Others might differ. But a mint A-4 could get $2400 or more. It's a player not a collector I'd say. :)

[mandodan1960]

I'm not going to bother chasing this down. I was looking at some other 1923 A4's and the all had the thinner snakehead neck so I thought this maybe a replacement neck. Just don't know enough about the vintage market to get involved. Hope it's a good one for a cafe'r . How about it Old Sausage?

[mrmando]

I don't see any reason to suppose that the neck and fretboard are not original, although the bridge is obviously a replacement.

However, because it has a paddlehead with no truss rod, it may not be a '23.

[Gail Hester]

The butterscotch tuner buttons say 1919-1921, and a refinish.

[f5loar]

Yeah it's something else not a '23. No truss rod? Got to be earlier. Should have a serial no. and if no label should have the FON to date it.

[Annette Siegel]

The butterscotch tuner buttons say 1919-1921, and a refinish.

Keen eye!

Annette

www.livingtreemusic.com

[mandodan1960]

I sent and email and he replied that the serial number was 72332. Said not sure if neck is orig but he had a luthier shave the neck down and refret. "He took the neck off and straightened it out"

[f5loar]

If that's the number then you need the FON stamped onto the neck block.

[mrmando]

Neck reset? Refinish? $1500 is starting to sound awfully high.

[mandodan1960]

If that's the number then you need the FON stamped onto the neck block.

The gentleman has replied that there is no number stamped on the headstock.

[mrmando]

The gentleman has replied that there is no number stamped on the headstock.
Nor should there be, unless it had a Gibson factory repair in the 1960s. The factory order number is ink-stamped on the neck block, inside the mandolin.

[mandroid]

The Reddish sunburst is certainly not there on the refinish.

Pictures too small to see TRC fixing screws. my paddlehead '22 A4,
they made the TRC of nickel plated metal,
so as to visually proclaim the addition of the Truss-rod, (I assume).
next year they changed to black?

[barney 59]

With no truss rod it is an earlier version or wrong neck on newer body. For $1500 your unlikely to find a "Loar Era" completely all original A4. One with a snakehead -nearly a miracle! This is one that you have to deal for face to face. A neck reset,fret work and some finish work shouldn't be a deal killer if it plays well and sounds good. Are you a collector or a player? This is not one to put in a vault for your retirement this is one that you take out and play. That is a decent price for an A4 that has issues, not astounding terrific but fair. It could be a good player and a pretty good deal after all.

[f5loar]

The FON is not something that jumps out at you on these models. You really need to know where to look and this guy must not know. Likely need a flashlight to read it shinning up at the neck block as viewed looking up inside the round hole.

[woodwizard]

To me... looks like a refinished A4 made in the earlier years before a truss rod and has a replaced bridge. Nice looking curly maple back on it which is a little unusual. Mine is a 1918 and has a one piece Birch back. Not a 1923 IMHO for sure. I would bethinking because of the refin etc. maybe $1000.00 tops

[mrmando]

That is a decent price for an A4 that has issues, not astounding terrific but fair. It could be a good player and a pretty good deal after all.
An all-original paddlehead A4 with no issues shouldn't set you back more than $1800 on CL or eBay. This one: pickguard missing, bridge replaced, neck reset/shaved down, refretted, unattractive refinish... methinks you must subtract more than $300 for all of that.

I would bethinking because of the refin etc. maybe $1000.00 tops That's more like it.

[barney 59]

I think what I was trying to say is that I wouldn't touch this as an internet sale at that price. If I had it in my hands and the work was pretty well done and it was a good player then $1500 wouldn't be out of line. When you buy on ebay sometimes what looked like a good deal "no issue" purchase turns out to not be exactly what you thought. There is always a risk,believe me! I have bought some of my best stuff via ebay but I had some really disappointing purchases as well. One shouldn't assume that the person selling an item on ebay etc. has the slightest clue about the thing that they are selling, even when they sound like they do.This was a Craig's List item which if you read their directives they recommend only buying locally. That would make it feasibly possible for someone using their local CL to see this mandolin before they purchased it. You can luck out on ebay and find a really good A4 possibly at an under $2000 price, A4's sell on ebay all the time like that but the really good all original pristine ones are more and from a dealer maybe more than 2 times that.