"new" gibson

**Dave Gumbart** · Feb-25-2007, 10:12am

So, having been in this mando game for some 6 years now, I've been able to get my hands on a few different types by now. But, never owned an oval-hole, and certainly not a vintage Gibson, but always thought it would be cool. Lots of mando history there, and, hey, worth broadening my horizons so far as sound goes. I recently offered up a Breedlove for sale or trade on the Cafe, and found someone only one hour away who offered to trade his old Gibson. He'd had it some 7 years or so as a second mando, and wanted another f-hole to cut through better at jams. So, we gladly swapped, and I now own this baby. Not perfect, but then again, neither am I. A good fit, and I look forward to getting to know this a whole lot better...

Dave G

**Dave Gumbart** · Feb-25-2007, 10:18am

Born on date (sort of...) Thanks to Dan B. and the Mando Archive for helping me figure out what I had. 1920.

**Dave Gumbart** · Feb-25-2007, 10:19am

And it came in this. Purple lining. Score!

**Dave Gumbart** · Feb-25-2007, 10:20am

Wide grain on the Sheraton brown spruce top...

**f5loar** · Feb-25-2007, 10:21am

Looks good. I bet it's got that "smell". How about a head shot?

**Dave Gumbart** · Feb-25-2007, 10:23am

The tailpiece.......

**Dave Gumbart** · Feb-25-2007, 10:24am

Sunday morning....

**Dave Gumbart** · Feb-25-2007, 10:36am

Last note for the moment - has replacement/adjustable bridge and new tuners, but came with original bridge, tuners and pickguard. A little bit of top sinkage, but it was played regularly by the previous owner, so let's hope that the sinkage has been stable for a long time now. I do plan to bring it a local luthier I've been to previously, and have it given a once over.

And yes, there is a smell to it for sure. That bit of musty-ness with the old case (original, I presume, but I could be wrong...), and who knows about the top staining, as to whether that's adding to the aroma. I imagine so, somehow. And while no expert on the topic, it just smells nicely like....wood. Magic wood.

Cheers - Dave G

**Ken** · Feb-25-2007, 12:01pm

Very nice, there is just something special about the old Gibson A mojo.
Ken

**Soupy1957** · Feb-25-2007, 12:32pm

Tried to get a camera shot of the label inside "my" instruments, and I just couldn't get it done. Type of camera used? Settings?
-Soupy1957

**Dave Gumbart** · Feb-25-2007, 1:28pm

Soup - it's a Nikon digital D-70 camera with a macro lens on it. My wife has been a camera hound for a long time, and we finally decided to go with a spiffy SLR digital. Allows you to use various lenses like an "old" camera, with excellent results. Using as many megs as the camera allows, we get great shots of subject matter - on a large scale printer, we could print out some of our photos as poster size, without any loss of quality. The images as posted here on the Cafe are only a fraction of the size they could be. Hey, if I can play with mandos, who am I to say no to my wife wanting a good camera?

**Soupy1957** · Feb-25-2007, 3:02pm

I've got a manual SLR 35mm still laying in my closet, but I'd have trouble these days getting the film developed. (I know you said "digital" but I just had to comment on the SLR).

It's possible that my digital camera has a Macro setting, but I've not explored all its capabilities yet.

A while ago I noted a thread in here where a discussion ensued about taking one of those medical type cameras on a flexible wand arm, and shoving it into the mando to see any weird writings or such, on the inside of the instrument, and considering how "internal" your shot seemed to be, I figured perhaps you were using one of those.

-Soupy1957

**Bill Snyder** · Feb-26-2007, 12:25am

Soupy,
Remeber he is shooting the label on an oval hole mandolin. It is a lot easier to get decent lighting on that label than on an F hole mandolin label.