Old Gibson , newbie enthusiist

**PT9Baja** · Nov-13-2011, 2:53pm

I have been doing some research but I am totally new and this is another first post question thing. Veterans be kind. The subjects are 2 Gibsons, 1918 A and a 1908 A3. They belonged to my great uncle and were passed to me. The A to me is pretty nice,and will stay as is. The A3 seems very sound but has fret wear,depressions on the fret board from 1 to 4 and finish issues with the worst being 6 really bad scratches on the back but Only 1 of them seems to be in the wood. The pick guard is broken and the tuners seem OK but are very dirty. From what I can tell its all original but did have a clamp on pick guard at one time. The broken one was screwed. Here's the plan, I have to pick left hand, thats how it is, so conversion to left hand,new frets, bridge, nut, finish touch up, Jm 11 strings , clean it up and start trying to learn. The labels are very clear and the A3 has scroll work in head and The Gibson inlaid. Its wood finish. The only thing that I can see not symetrical is the hooks on the tailpiece. Is that a problem for conversion? I welcome any comments ,advice ect , but what I really need is is the name of who should do the work. I live in the NW . I need experienced, reliable ,trustworthy. If there is somebody up here great or I will ship it. Thanks

**sunburst** · Nov-13-2011, 3:31pm

The tailpiece is no problem strung "lefty".
Go to the builders section here (click just to the left and below the E in Cafe at the top of the page) and do a search for your state. That should bring up some builders near you, and some of them will either be repair people too or will be able to direct you to someone local and trustworthy.

**PT9Baja** · Nov-13-2011, 6:17pm

Thank you I did a search and Cat Fix sounds good anyone with imput on her and her work
/ Lov the name

**sunburst** · Nov-13-2011, 7:25pm

Good choice!
(It's Cat Fox, though.)

**PT9Baja** · Nov-14-2011, 3:23am

I can"t spell or type.

**mrmando** · Nov-14-2011, 4:36am

Minor quibble: 1908 is a little early for an A3 to have a clamp-on pickguard. It's probably at least a couple years later than that. But I can second the endorsement of Cat's work.

**PT9Baja** · Nov-14-2011, 3:30pm

Originally Posted by mrmando

Minor quibble: 1908 is a little early for an A3 to have a clamp-on pickguard. It's probably at least a couple years later than that. But I can second the endorsement of Cat's work.

Thanks for comments. There was a broken , screw-on pick guard on the A3, but under it the finish had marring where a clamp on would go. I only know this by looking at the clamp on on the A model as these are the only Gibson mandolins I have ever been around. I did forget to post Numbers. The A3 has an 8 that looks like 2 circles on top of each other then 8843 . The first 8 is different than the next 2 so I thought it was for the year. The stamped # on the inside neck base is 11009 . It has a natural wood finished top and not white. The A model is A41890 and stamped 11057. These labels are very clear and look right and original to this untrained eye. I welcome any info comments ,quibbles,advice etc. thanks

**jaycat** · Nov-14-2011, 3:40pm

Originally Posted by PT9Baja

I can"t spell or type.

Ah, you came to the right place.

**mrmando** · Nov-14-2011, 8:56pm

Do the labels look identical, apart from what's written on them?

The A3 is from 1917 according to a matching FON in the Mandolin Archive, and the serial number is likely 38843.

As for the A model, Gibson did use serial numbers starting with A, but not till after WWII, and the highest A serial number is A36147 (Feb. 1961). So if there's an A on your label next to the serial number, it was added later. The number 41890 would indicate 1918. You could look up the 11057 FON in Spann's Guide to Gibson.

**PT9Baja** · Nov-15-2011, 4:25am

Originally Posted by mrmando

Do the labels look identical, apart from what's written on them?

The A3 is from 1917 according to a matching FON in the Mandolin Archive, and the serial number is likely 38843.

As for the A model, Gibson did use serial numbers starting with A, but not till after WWII, and the highest A serial number is A36147 (Feb. 1961). So if there's an A on your label next to the serial number, it was added later. The number 41890 would indicate 1918. You could look up the 11057 FON in Spann's Guide to Gibson.

I made a mistake typing. There is no letter A on the serial number line and it is 41890. I wrote on a piece of paper , A 41809 , because it was the A model and copied from that. The stamp is 11057. Sorry for screw up. The A3 is as described above and that funny looking 8 at the beginning looks like the same writing tool but not the same hand. The lablels are the same but the one in the A3 looks older as does the whole instrument. Looking at the A3 label again and that odd first digit is not a 3. The top circle is compleat and the bottom one looks compleat. It looks like another hand . Its spaced different from the other numbers and has no similarities to the other 8s or 3. I think the number is 8843 with a stamp # of 11009. I am meeting Gail on wednesday and she may shed a brighter light I am totally new to this spell bad and type poorly. thanks agin

**mrmando** · Nov-15-2011, 4:44am

No worries. Gail should be able to clear up any questions with an in-hand inspection.

A serial number of 8843 (1908 or 1909) wouldn't match a FON from 1917. Also, 8843 would have had an "Orville" label with Orville Gibson's picture on it, like this:

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We can rule out 88843 because that would put us in 1929 or thereabouts, and the A3 was discontinued in 1923.

It's possible that the original 3 on the label faded, and someone wrote a new 3 over it that ended up looking more like an 8. It's hard to achieve fine motor control when you are writing through a soundhole onto a label that's already glued into the back of an instrument.

I was mistaken about pickguards ... the transition from inlaid to clamp-on pickguards happens around SN 8000. So the fact that this A3 had a clamp-on pickguard wouldn't, by itself, rule out its being from 1908. The FON and the Guaranteed label, however, do rule it out.

The A3 looking older than the A is most likely a consequence of its having been used & played a lot more.

**PT9Baja** · Nov-15-2011, 9:09am

I forgot to mention my slowly fading near vision. I was able to look into the Spann Guide on Amozon and I agree it has to be a 3. Is it possible some one started the label and someone else finished it ? Thanks for your interest and help.

**PT9Baja** · Nov-17-2011, 11:02am

Gail agreed the first digit on the A3 looked different and like an 8 but has to be a 3. She is going to do some work on it and get it back in playable shape. Frets and fret board and lefty set up. She said the A was a beauty but with a major flaw , a sunken top under the bridge. Easy to see when she pointed it out. It will get backed off and stored. She was most helpful and I feel confident the A3 is in good hands. Thanks again

**mrmando** · Nov-17-2011, 12:51pm

Too bad about the top sink. There's no one better than Gail at retopping an old Gibson, but that might be more than you want to spend right now. She's built lefty instruments before, so I'm sure she'll have that A3 playing like new.

**Gail Hester** · Nov-17-2011, 3:43pm

It was a pleasure meeting Don and looking over his mandolins. The first number on the A3 appears to have been marked over but it was originally a 3 (38843) which puts it in the middle of this group of similar 1917 A3's. I'm re-fretting it now and repairing a back crack then setting it up lefty.

http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/list_mandolins.pl

The other plain-A is in remarkably fine condition other than the top sink. That one could be repaired without replacing the top but will take more time and effort.

Here's a picture of the A3 label. I'll post a picture of the mandolin when it's finished.