Help figuring out a date on a Gibson A-Jr. 1920 vs 1921

[jljohn]

I just purchased a Gibson A-Jr. that the seller listed as a 1920. For fun I picked up Spann's Guide, and, based on the serial number, he puts into 1921. My serial number is 626XX. Spann, page 191, list the first serial number of 1921 as 62340, which puts my mandolin solidly in 1921 BUT, The Mandolin Archive places my serial number in 1920 ( http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/...ins.pl?all:44: ) AND the Vintage Guitar Info Page lists serial number 63650 as the final number in 1920, putting mine in 1920 ( http://www.guitarhq.com/gibson.html#serial ). (Furthermore, the consensus on the other recent post here about an A-Jr with the serial number 62907--built after my 626XX--concluded that it is a 1920.)

So, who's right?

Also, were all AJr.'s of the period made with birch back and sides?

Thanks!

[Jim Garber]

This is part of the fun of figuring out the labyrinth that is the Gibson Company. You may not be able to determine with any more certainty what "year" yours is. That is because the "year" can refer to the year it was made or the year it was shipped. It sounds like you did the work already. I understand wanting to find out as much as you can but basically you have a nice instrument, no matter what year it is, so enjoy playing it.

FWIW here is a later Gibson Junior catalog (circa 1923, I believe) but you can see the mandolin is pictured as a snakehead in it.

[mrmando]

Did you look up the FON?

Both the Archive and the Vintage Guitar page were compiled before Spann's book came out. Spann's research is newer. While most people agree that Spann deepened our understanding of how to date old Gibson instruments, there are still quibbles about this or that group of serial numbers.

[jljohn]

Did you look up the FON?

Both the Archive and the Vintage Guitar page were compiled before Spann's book came out. Spann's research is newer. While most people agree that Spann deepened our understanding of how to date old Gibson instruments, there are still quibbles about this or that group of serial numbers.

The A-Jr. is having a little bit of work done on it at the moment, so it is with a luthier. I do recall that the FON is faintly visible, although it has a pencil line drawn through it (strikeout.) Once I get it back, hopefully, I'll be able to read it!

Is the FON more accurate for dating than the serial number? SN's were assigned at completion right? Were FON's were assigned at the beginning of the build process?

[mrmando]

Something like that. FON indicates build year, SN indicates the shipping year, and of course sometimes those are different years.

[rcc56]

Spann's book is based on the most recent research, including some company records that were found after Gruhn's list from the '80's was compiled. Most of the info in the archives is based upon the older information from Gruhn's list and should be updated, especially since Gruhn is now using Spann's list as his shop reference.

I think that it is safe to say that any A model from that period would have been made out of birch, although a very few anomalies in maple have surfaced over the years. The maple instruments were generally A-4's.

[Martin Jonas]

For what it's worth, my A-Jr. paddlehead is #68884, which I've always described as a 1921 instrument. Spann's dates would make that 1922. Not sure it makes much difference, except by reflected glory from the Loar F5 models that were introduced that year. No FON number visible on mine , so no second corroboration on build date.

Martin

[jljohn]

Got the mandolin back, and the FON looks like 11389 (but the first three numbers are struck out with a pencil, so it is a bit hard to tell), so it appears to be an early 1921 all around.