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Thread: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

  1. #1

    Default Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    I am looking for a original pick guard with bracket for my grandfathers mandolin. Any help in finding one would be appreciated!

  2. #2

    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    You're probably best putting this in the Classifieds.

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  4. #3
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    Replica pick guards can be found. The brackets are the hard part. Pick guards from that era were not real stable and tended to disintegrate with time and heat. If you find just the bracket you're more than 90% there. As Ron has mentioned you should place an ad in the wanted section of the classifieds.
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  5. #4
    Registered User houseworker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    Ebay

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Gibs...-/131877771408

    NFI

    Here's a modern replacement:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gibson-A-or-...-/222173308261

    Note that it doesn't have the original Gibson clamp. Those are like gold dust, and you'll need to budget serious $$$ for an original.

  6. #5
    Registered User houseworker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    Why not just leave it as it is? Your grandfather wasn't alone in preferring to play without the finger rest.

  7. #6
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    Cumberland Acoustics makes Pick-guards . Steve made one for Me.. the bracket is the Modern Type though.
    My want was; Unbound F5 A match for a tortoise-oid bound Mandolin

    Steve Gilchrist has Replica Gibson Clamp brackets But I Expect You have to get his Mandolin to have one.

    Yea there are Used Pickguards on the Classifieds, Here, Occasionally (strip & Flip?)
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  8. #7
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    Quote Originally Posted by houseworker View Post

    Here's a modern replacement:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gibson-A-or-...-/222173308261

    Note that it doesn't have the original Gibson clamp. Those are like gold dust, and you'll need to budget serious $$$ for an original.
    That one is made and sold by our own Paul Fox.
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  9. #8
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    There is one currently being auctioned off on Ebay .......
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

  10. #9

    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    I don't like the pickguards, and didn't want the possibility of it disintegrating on my 1920 A2, so I swapped it for an original tailpiece cover via the Cafe. The chap who got the pickguard and bracket undoubtedly got the better part of the deal, but I got what I wanted and got rid of something I didn't want. My A2 is very much a 'player', not a collector's item.

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  11. #10
    Registered User houseworker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    I've now remembered that the exquisite cam clamp that Gibson used with the patent date 1911 didn't actually come into use until circa 1913. Therefore the replica, with the Hill pattern violin chin rest clamp, is likely correct for the OP's 1912 mandolin, since that is what Gibson were still using at the time.

    Here's Paul Fox's mandolin pickguard page: http://www.fox-guitars.com/Mandolin_...1910-17_mandos

    That should save the OP a lot of money!
    Last edited by houseworker; Jul-18-2016 at 4:31am.

  12. #11
    Registered User jim simpson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    I realize this is an old thread but might be useful for some of you in need. I don't believe the link for Paul Fox's mandolin pickguard is active, I do see his listings active on Ebay. My F-4 was missing it's original cam hardware when I got it. It had a home made clamp on it made out of tortoise binding material. It was not at all secure. I used a viola chin-rest clamp like Paul Fox uses. I made an ebony half circle piece for the top surface with glued on cork. The threaded end of the clamp went into the celluloid piece that is glued to the pick guard.
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  13. #12
    Teacher, repair person
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    These guards can be made fairly easily by those who are adept with tools.

    Good quality celluloid of sufficient thickness is available from Axiom, Inc. It is unfortunately rather expensive because there is a hazardous materials surcharge on the shipping [that's the government's doing, not the supplier's]. There are other more modern plastics available [without the hazmat fee] from several sources.

    The guard can be cut to rough shape with a fine bladed coping saw and finished off with files and sandpaper blocks. The block that hold the pickguard support arm and the semi-circular mounting block for the clamp can be made from 3 or 4 blocks of plastic laminated together. The support arm can be made out of threaded rod rather than plastic, similar to the rod Gibson used starting in the later 'teens. And a clamp made from a Hill style viola chinrest clamp will work well.

    Anyone needing a pattern can post a forum topic, and one of us will be glad to send them a tracing.

    I've made a few of these over the years. If you get a good piece of celluloid and you have the original mounting hardware, the new guards can be hard to distinguish from the old except for the lack of a patent stamp and the shine, which will fade over time.

  14. #13
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pick guard for 1912 A4 Gibson

    Here is Paul Fox’s site. He just re-did it: http://www.fox-guitars.com
    Jim

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