A pleasant surprise

[Unseen122]

So, a guy that lives down the hall in my dorm says he has an old mandolin at his house and asks me to teach him some stuff as he saw me playing OM a couple times. I say, sure bring it up next time you go home. I get back from my fall break and he says he brought the Mando, I ask to take a look. Now, I am expecting some thing that is old, not very nice, and in bad condition, but that was not the case.

I open up the case and find a Gibson A-3 that has been recently restored. One crack in the sound board and one in the headstock and neck, both have been repaired. Looking at serial number specs on the Gibson site, I estimate it was made around 1910. Of course I do a bit of playing on it and there is nothing like that old Gibson sound. A very queit instrument, tonally well suited for Irish music, but it would never cut it volume-wise in a session. I have to say that it has a very strong low end, and not too much bark. Not good for Bluegrass.

[Jim Garber]

I played a 1919 A3 for many years in an old time band and it cut thru four other instruments quite nicely. of course, one from 1910 would be much different. then again the strings and the overall setup can make a big difference. Did you base the date from a serial number?

Jim

[MandoSquirrel]

Was it refinished? That might would explain the lack of volume; I used to have a '15A2 and it was loud, deep, & beautiful sounding.

[Unseen122]

I played a 1919 A3 for many years in an old time band and it cut thru four other instruments quite nicely. of course, one from 1910 would be much different. then again the strings and the overall setup can make a big difference. Did you base the date from a serial number?

Jim

Yep, I looked it up on the Gibson website. #I was definatly going to give it a nice setup and new strings in the near future as the 12th fret harmonics were way off. #The action feels a bit low and that is what the harmonics indicated to me. # #

I asked if it was refinished, the owner did not know. #I would venture to guess that it was judging by how it looked, of course it wasn't played much which could have something to do with it.

Of course, I could be so used to my loud Peterson OM that the A-3 seemed queit. I may borrow it to play with a Fiddler I play with a lot as I do play some tunes on OM when I am not playing Irish Flute or Whistle.