# General Mandolin Topics > eBay, Craig's List, etc. >  A lovely old 1907ish A4 .. but wait ...

## mrmando

https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/120077914

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## NickR

Yes, a real beauty, for sure. I have seen cracks described as "age lines" but such an euphemism would not do this justice. That's an el mondo grosso crack but it can be fixed.

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## rcc56

Yes, it can be fixed, but I believe that the cost of the repairs will exceed the value of the repaired instrument, if done competently.
Good project for someone learning the craft, though, as long as the price doesn't go up too much more.

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## mrmando

Prices tend to get stupid on Shopgoodwill for stuff like this. If nothing else, that's probably a $150 tailpiece and a $250 set of tuners.

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## Eric Platt

Wow. That main crack is huge. Am also worried that the neck heel is cracked through, too. That's going to take a lot of work to restore.

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## journeybear

Yes, this showed up here as well. It gives new meaning to the phrase, "As Is." "As Was" seems more appropriate.  :Frown:

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Reywas

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## jim simpson

That should buff out, lol!

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Eric Platt

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## NickR

I'm going to send my luthier a photo but I will phone him later to tell him I am not going to buy it! He's repaired far worse but he's had a few health issues and does need to be overburdened!

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## Northwest Steve

> Prices tend to get stupid on Shopgoodwill for stuff like this. If nothing else, that's probably a $150 tailpiece and a $250 set of tuners.


I was thinking the same thing. Either some one needs the harware of they are going to be parting it out and selling the hardware.

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## MandoMan1

Those Handel tuners would be great to have.

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## MandoMan1

The top looks salvageable, maybe. Probably best to replace the back and sides. Those are some horrible cracks. Talk about a basket case.

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## NickR

I see it has Gibson Phillips screws holding in the tuners, so it may have been sent to Kalamazoo for repair and Gibson just replaced the slot head screws in the tuners and sent it back with a message: "You have got to be joking!" Mind you, whoever it was at Gibson who rebuilt Bill Monroe's F5 would consider this just an hors d'oeuvre.

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## MandoMan1

> I see it has Gibson Phillips screws holding in the tuners, so it may have been sent to Kalamazoo for repair and Gibson just replaced the slot head screws in the tuners and sent it back with a message: "You have got to be joking!" Mind you, whoever it was at Gibson who rebuilt Bill Monroe's F5 would consider this just an hors d'oeuvre.


Charlie Derrington brought Monroe's Loar back to life.  What an incredible job he did!

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## MandoMan1

> I see it has Gibson Phillips screws holding in the tuners, so it may have been sent to Kalamazoo for repair and Gibson just replaced the slot head screws in the tuners and sent it back with a message: "You have got to be joking!" Mind you, whoever it was at Gibson who rebuilt Bill Monroe's F5 would consider this just an hors d'oeuvre.


Tragically Mr. Derrington is no longer with us. He is probably picking some tunes with Bill Monroe in heaven.

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## Jim Garber

What, none of you folks want to post the pics for eternity. At least the "smiling crack." I guess I have to do all the work around here while you have all the fun.

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Alfons, 

allenhopkins, 

EdHanrahan, 

Jess L., 

Northwest Steve, 

Reywas

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## MandoMan1

Makes me cringe to see a vintage Gibson mandolin in that condition. Hopefully someone can bring it back to life.

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## journeybear

> I guess I have to do all the work around here while you have all the fun.


Thank you for taking care of that thankless task. The best part of this listing is the sequencing of photos. Looking good ... nice ... sweet ... yikes!!!  :Disbelief:   :Confused:   :Crying:

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## Dusepo

Ouch, that rib crack. Love the fancy machine heads though.

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## journeybear

Yeah, hard to believe Handel tuners were standard equipment in the early days, except for the less expensive models. I think I've got that right. I'll bet there are threads devoted to them. Can you imagine having that job, making them? There's a day's work! OK, my curiosity is piqued. Off to find some threads about them ...  :Whistling: 

PS: This recent reclamation project of similar vintage and somewhat less cringe-worthy condition went for $665. Someone is going to grab this and do something with it - and the price may even exceed this.  :Disbelief:

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## journeybear

> PS: This recent reclamation project of similar vintage and somewhat less cringe-worthy condition went for $665. Someone is going to grab this and do something with it - and the price may even exceed this.


I was half-joking, and yet ... One day to go on this auction and the current bid is about to surpass that. It got to be too rich for my blood a couple C-notes ago. I wouldn't be surprised now if a last-minute flurry of activity were to push it over a grand.  :Disbelief:

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## NickR

I sent the photos to my luthier and he says he loves that sort of project- he did one Gretsch electric that had been attacked by a wife with some heavy implement and smashed to pieces. This was a band on an ocean liner- husband and wife and band and another girl singer and things happened- or as people say when bad things happen "worse things happen at sea" and they did- but he put it all back together and no signs of this act of vengeance are to be seen now. I saw another old Gretsch on the internet that he had repaired- it was run over by a car! Anyway, he was not trying to get me to buy it and I'm safe- no overseas sales! However, it could go higher, for sure.

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## JEStanek

I would call that an alternative soundport.

Jamie

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## journeybear

And it's omnidirectional - radiates sound all around.

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## slimt

See anything unusual with this? That mandolin would be a quick fix to this.    :Grin:

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## mrmando

Eh? The only problem I see with the harp guitar is that the stringing is screwed up.

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## journeybear

> See anything unusual with this?


Other than there's no back on it?  :Disbelief:  And the stringing ... But I don't see how the mandolin would help with that.  :Confused:

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## slimt

> Eh? The only problem I see with the harp guitar is that the stringing is screwed up.


Heres another picture.

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## slimt

> Other than there's no back on it?  And the stringing ... But I don't see how the mandolin would help with that.


I was getting at at least most of the Mandolin is all there.  The old owner of the harp guitar sawed the back off to hang the guitar on a wall.

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## journeybear

Ouch!  :Disbelief:  Why?  :Crying:  Wouldn't make it any thinner. Yeesh! Ah, people!

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## journeybear

So, anyway ... The poor thing went for $627, where the bidding had stalled for a couple of days. I'm surprised there was no advancement. I'd lost interest about halfway there. I'll admit, I was more interested in acquiring its accoutrements than restoring it to playing capability, so it's probably in better hands. Hope to see it again after it's all fixed up. Bound to be a while before then.  :Wink:

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## NickR

She's back and repaired!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/15452390509...MAAOSwP25g1Lk0

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## journeybear

So, is *that* what "refurbished" means?  :Disbelief:  I'll be looking askance at items so described from now on.  :Whistling:

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## NickR

I imagine that "seller refurbished" may be an eBay category. Clearly, he has mended the mandolin and has pointed out that he has not disguised the fact that it is mended. In all other respects, the mandolin appears to be original, so the headline is possibly misleading. I think most people know that "refurbished" means something has been massively altered from its original and used condition- removing the patina of wear over time.

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## journeybear

When I've seen the term "refurbished" during the last few years it's been in reference to computers, laptops mostly, and I've assumed it referred to things like swapped-out hard drives or upgraded memory cards - spiffied-up somehow but nothing too invasive. This was a restoration, perhaps even a reclamation. Saying it was refurbished is to engage in euphemism. He got pretty deep into repairs in order to get it back into playing condition. I'll concede it's an eBay category, and true, just not adequately descriptive. The seller's description paints a much clearer picture.

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## jim simpson

> See anything unusual with this? That mandolin would be a quick fix to this.


It could benefit from a new back or a back, period, lol!

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## journeybear

Ah, but the lack of a back ain't no slack, Jack! It allows for the maximum sound distribution to the player.  :Cool:

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