Gibson; Check this one out

[auburnboy]

What do you guys think about this one?

[Jim Garber]

It looked fine until you get to picture #3. Looks like someone started to fix some serious neck break but never finished. Is this for sale and are you considering buying it. It would have to be pretty cheap with that neck work. It looks great from the front, however...

[Timbofood]

Does the fingerboard look weird to anyone else? The neck thing isn’t too pretty either.

[auburnboy]

Not looking to buy it at this point. It's much higher than I am willing to pay at this point. Just happened to think it was odd and hadn't really ever seen one quite like it.

[MikeEdgerton]

It looked fine until you get to picture #3. Looks like someone started to fix some serious neck break but never finished. Is this for sale and are you considering buying it. It would have to be pretty cheap with that neck work. It looks great from the front, however...

Whoa.....

[John Bertotti]

It looked fine until you get to picture #3. Looks like someone started to fix some serious neck break but never finished. Is this for sale and are you considering buying it. It would have to be pretty cheap with that neck work. It looks great from the front, however...

Pretty much the same thing I was thinking. Looks great until you see the back of the neck!

[Jeff Mando]

Looks great until you see the back of the neck!

To quote my late father......."black paint hides a multitude of sins!"

Still, would have to be cheap for me to be interested, provided it was otherwise working OK....

[Jim Garber]

Does the fingerboard look weird to anyone else? The neck thing isn’t too pretty either.

I am not sure what you are seeing. Here is a 1905 A4 from the archives for comparison (I rotated the photo).

[allenhopkins]

Similar A-4 in the Mandolin Archive, with "Artist Model inlay on neck." I think most A-4's had dot inlays...?

So, what price is being asked for the one with the splinted neck?

[auburnboy]

I think it was $1000

[Marty Jacobson]

It's not beautiful, but structurally, that's not a bad way to do that repair.
I'm a little confused, though. I think we may be looking at a first break, with the new mahogany headstock layer, and then a more permanent fix with the splints.

[rcc56]

I think I would prefer to do this sort of repair with a black backstrap rather than the "hot dog" splints. A thick-ish piece of hard maple stained black could be tapered to a Fairbanks style point and made to look like it belonged there. Too late for that now.

Or, if I was younger and didn't care about the labor time, I would be tempted to build a correct reproduction neck using the original fingerboard and peghead overlay.

And yes, the "Artist Model" fingerboard inlay was an option. We see it on F-2's more often than on A-4's.

[Jim Garber]

Similar A-4 in the Mandolin Archive, with "Artist Model inlay on neck." I think most A-4's had dot inlays...?

That is the same one SN#4885 I posted above.

[allenhopkins]

That is the same one SN#4885 I posted above.

We were researching at the same time, posts seven minutes apart.

Great minds think alike, as, apparently, do lesser minds...

[Jim Garber]

We were researching at the same time, posts seven minutes apart.

Great minds think alike, as, apparently, do lesser minds...

Hah! Keep up the good work, Allen!

[Timbofood]

Something just looked unusual, I guess I’m just mistaken.

[allenhopkins]

Something just looked unusual, I guess I’m just mistaken.

Not really. The more intricate inlay of the "Artist Model" fingerboard threw me off as well. I'm used to A-4's with dot inlays, and I wondered if the fingerboard had been replaced. It's an early A-4, and the fingerboard looked "wrong," but apparently it isn't.

[Timbofood]

That was my feeling too Allen, thanks for keeping me from feeling like I was “going ‘round the bend!”