Vintage Gibson As

[Verne Andru]

Not sure what's the deal but there appear to be a bunch of Gibson A style mandolins on Guitar Centers used site at prices that aren't horrible for anyone that's interested.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/?Ntt=mandolin&Ns=r

[MoreThanQuinn]

Man, if I was in the market for a Gibson A right now I'd snag one of those.

Some day...

[Mando Mort]

Because of Bill Monroe's affiliation with the F5, the A style prices are very reasonable even for vintage instruments.

[allenhopkins]

Good: Guitar Center will apparently ship an instrument to the store nearest you so you can "try before you buy"

Take care: Cafe purchasers have found that what Guitar Center calls "good condition" may be, well, not as good as one might like –– which makes the service above not only good, but perhaps necessary

Perhaps not all that good? Prices over $1K for 1940-60's A-40, A-50, A-00 instruments are at market, not super bargains, from what I've seen. The older oval-holes may be, but, condition is everything, IMHO.

Remember that mandolin expertise is hardly widespread at Guitar Center. As Pres. Ronnie said, "Trust, but verify."

[pops1]

Also their 1918 is more like a 1908, in my estimation not as good of sound in that vintage. Inlayed guard tho and that looks nice.

[Eric Platt]

Not sure why, but some of those have been sitting for a while. Part of me wonders if the market is soft right now.

[mrmando]

Bought a vintage snakehead from GC at below market price. Took it out of the box, inspected it, found a crack in the neck. Suddenly I understood why it was below market price.

[HonketyHank]

Not sure why, but some of those have been sitting for a while. Part of me wonders if the market is soft right now.

The market IS soft right now. And not just for Gibsons. I've been seeing nice looking Webers and Collingses go for prices lower than I have seen in the couple of years I have been watching.