The Gibson Mandolin A-3; Serial #23099

[GotMojo]

Hello John,

I have the mandolin at a luthier being set up, he mentioned that the FON number indicates it as manufactured in 1913.

The serial number indicates 1915.
What about it needs to be restored? It does have replacement tuners, but other than that, it looks pretty nice. Vintage musical instruments lose considerable value when they're refinished, and yours doesn't look like it needs any cosmetic work. If you want to put original looking tuners on it, these will work well: http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_...SABEgIFg_D_BwE
Since there's a certain amount of variation in the tuner holes on these old mandolins, I would recommend having a qualified luthier install them.

[GotMojo]

Hello,

I picked up the mandolin from Livingtree Music yesterday and I couldn't be happier. The results far exceeded my expectations. The peghead was in pretty bad shape.
Nowell and Annette were a pleasure to work with.