Paul Bigsby Mandolin

[davidb1]

A friend of mine knows the owner of this..Originally owned by his Dad.
I thought some might appreciate this ..

[F-2 Dave]

Very cool. Thanks for posting.

[mrmando]

Fantastic.

Reportedly Bigsby made only four of these, and by process of elimination, this must be the one that belonged to Al Giddings. Is that correct?

(If not, then the Bigsby legend needs an update!)

[Spruce]

It's a 10-string!

[John Soper]

Awesome!

[Pete Martin]

WAY cool!!!

[Jim Garber]

is this the only 10-string? Is it in the Bigsby book?

[mrmando]

No, Paul Buskirk's Bigsby was also a 10-string.

I haven't seen the Bigsby book, but I doubt this one is in it. If it is Al Giddings' mandolin, these are the first photographs of it I've ever seen. I have photos of the others. Tiny Moore's, of course, was a 5-string; Eschol Cosby's was an 8-string.

[delsbrother]

Why don't you have the Bigsby book? It is awesome! Though - admittedly - it isn't as mando-heavy as it could have been.

[davidb1]

After further discussion with my friend who sent me the photos, this is some of the history of the owner and mandolin.I will post more as I get it.
As to whether it is in the book I have no knowledge of that and perhaps once more of the story is complete some of these questions will be resolved.
From my friend..the mandolin belonged to a man called Johnny Muessig who was a radio personality in Jefferson City, MO and was responsible for giving Leona Williams her start in country music.

[mrmando]

If Johnny Muessig was the original owner, that means this mandolin is previously undocumented.

davidb1: Keep the info coming. I'm going to forward this thread to Andy Babiuk, author of the Bigsby book, and Deke Dickerson, a collector who helped out with the research on the book. Finding a previously unknown Bigsby is a big deal, and these guys may want to talk to your friend's friend.

If authentic, it is also a very valuable instrument ... your friend's friend might want to have it appraised by someone like George Gruhn. He might be very pleasantly surprised.

Is the mandolin currently in Australia, or elsewhere?

[Charlieshafer]

Very cool information. It's great to hear that an electric mandolin is valuable enough to warrant potentially forging!

[mrmando]

I don't have any doubt of its authenticity from looking at the photo, but judging from the price Gruhn put on a Bigsby tenor guitar not long ago, this mandolin is potentially worth a year's salary for some folks.

[davidb1]

mrmando:the mandolin is in the US.Yes,I have no doubt that the instrument is authentic,and yes , it is a very valuable instrument.My friend has just supplied these details.The mandolin is no.4 that Paul Bigsby made.Serial number 113051.And as fantastic providence..a letter to Paul Bigsby from Mr John J Muessig Jr. confirming order and purchase of the instrument with requests for specifics regarding the tail piece.I have 2 other photos I will post.I believe the case is also original and made by Mr Bigsby.
As an aside I saw a recent sale of a Paul Bigsby guitar at Heritage auctions go for $266,550.00 so that gives an indication of what we are talking about here.

[Spruce]

Yikes...

[EdHanrahan]

... going to forward this thread to ... Deke Dickerson, a collector who helped out with the research on the book.

For those who may not be aware, there was an article on Mr. Dickerson in the Fretboard Journal several years ago.

Edit: As well as another on Paul Buskirk!

[mrmando]

Deke also tracked down Tiny Moore's Bigsby at Skip's Music in Sacramento, and wrote a nice article about it for Vintage Guitar magazine -- which also appeared on Deke's blog.

I've contacted Deke and Andy, so we'll see if they check in here.

I doubt any of Bigsby's mandolins would sell for $266K, but I don't think $50K is out of the question. Maybe more for Tiny's.

[Spruce]

I doubt any of Bigsby's mandolins would sell for $226K...

Uh, that was $266,550.00...
No way, but weirder things have happened...

Sure would be a relatively easy instrument to copy, if you had some pickup winding skills...

[Eddie Sheehy]

...and a smurf hat to use as a template...

[Perry Babasin]

The same guy that invented Bigsby Tailpieces? Had one on my old SG purchased in '72. That thing is crazy, 10 strings?

[davidb1]

I doubt any of Bigsby's mandolins would sell for $266K, but I don't think $50K is out of the question. Maybe more for Tiny's.

Hey, it's got 4 more strings than the guitar that sold for $266..thats got to be worth something..

fantastic providence that letter though I thought

[Django Fret]

A quick calculation on a per string basis says that it should be worth at least $444,250!

Even if it doesn't get anywhere close to that amount, it is a really cool piece of electric mandolin history so thanks for sharing it here!

[Bill Snyder]

Forgive me but I am going to be just a bit pedantic. The word is provenance not providence.

[Tom Wright]

Forgive me but I am going to be just a bit pedantic. The word is provenance not providence.

You could say it's both confirming the provenance of the instrument and providence smiling on the owner by providing the letter proving said provenance. But the original use of providence is correct, I think, since provenance was pretty much settled with serial number, etc.

[mandotool]

Here's a recently found Photo of Paul Buskirk w/ his 10 String..