New (antique) mandolin day!

[Oldblues]

Have you located the factory order number? If visible, it would be stamped in black ink on the neck block inside.
According to Joe Spann that will pinpoint the production year.

Mark

Nope, nothing there.

[MarkELynch]

Hmmm, check again. Sometimes it is faded and very hard to see, you may need a light or to hold the instrument at just the right angle.
Here is an example of what to look for.

Mark

[MandoMan1]

Good looking black top Gibson you have Mark!

[Oldblues]

Update on the tailpiece. The dealer was out of nickel plated Prucha Gibson tailpieces so the offered me a bare brass cover version. I had my old plating equipment stored away for about 12 years. I had purchased some nickel plating solution last year anticipating plating some guitar hardware. Anyway I plated the cover and did a little aging work on it so it wouldn’t be too bright. I was tempted to remove the pickguard but it was hammered in by John Henry in 1916 so I gave up on the idea. The felt that was supposed to be in the hole in the bridge was missing so the rattling was maddening. I cut a small piece of the fuzzy part of some Velcro, rolled it up and pushed into the hole, problem solved. The intonation was way off with the bridge in its original position I fixed that which also lowered the action slightly so that was a win win.

[Oldblues]

[fatt-dad]

check the action at the nut, lower the one-piece, put on some J74s (or equal) and drive on. . .

Seems great to me!

f-d

[Claj123]

Nice mandolin