# General Mandolin Topics > Vintage Instruments >  Vintage Gibson oval hole

## mreidsma

Ive been listening to everyone talk about how amazing vintage Gibson mandolins are for years, and sort of believed you. I kind of thought some of it was hype. But today I played a bunch of pre war Gibsons at Elderly, and WOW. I will never hear things the same again. Unbelievable.

My favorite was this A2: https://www.elderly.com/collections/...gibson-a4-1922 It was not only lovely but had a warm, deep tone that is still haunting me, hours later. I just hope I can tolerate my instruments now, at least until I save up a few quid!

They have a remarkable batch of 1920s A styles right now. They were an absolute joy to play, but so nerve wracking to get back on the hangers... If anyone has had doubts about the sound of these classic mandolins, get to a decent music store and play a few. I wish Id done it earlier!

-M

----------

John Lloyd, 

soliver, 

Timbofood, 

William Smith

----------


## pops1

I have a '22 A2 that is, in my mind, the best sounding oval Gibson I have heard. They are really good sounding in that era.

----------


## Sam Schillace

> I have a '22 A2 that is, in my mind, the best sounding oval Gibson I have heard. They are really good sounding in that era.


I have one of these as well - 72767 iirc. I think it might be early '23 depending on which number you like. But, same here - this is one of the nicest instruments I've ever heard, including some of the high end modern ones. It's a different style than some like, much much richer and fuller, but very pleasant. I put Tomasiks on it and it's just out of this world.

----------


## Randi Gormley

Yeah, once I got my snake, i just stopped playing all my other mandolins except in specific cases. lovely instruments!

----------


## William Smith

Gibson had some fantastic oval hole A models from various pre-war years, I've had a few in the past still have one but its on the chopping block as I prefer the F hole models, even some of the F-2's and F-4's can be had at reasonable prices-all depending on the years, There is one individual that has a bunch here in the classified adds NFI-but just look at the goods and the pricing I believe is very fair! You can find many from the teens-30's at real good prices and some not needing anything. I think David Grisman awhile back on the café had an interview about great vintage stuff under 1000 bucks and he mentioned some of these. Elderly usually has great items and they will entertain serious offers, but be wary as nowadays I think all charge sales tax as I found out from a very high end purchase recently from them! But if its something you want you pay!

----------


## Craig D.

My '23 snakehead A-Jr is the best-sounding mandolin I've ever come across. There really is something special about those early '20s instruments. I recently played a 1907 Gibson H-1 mandola, but while it was nice, it just didn't have the same combination of depth and brilliance.

----------


## William Smith

In the early 20's I believe all models we're revamped under the watchful eye of Lloyd! Carvings we're way better, necks thinner, most got the new truss rod etc..I heard he was a tough guy to work with as he had certain expectations from all workers.

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## pops1

My '22, while it does have the truss rod, is a paddle headstock. It also has a 1 1/4" wide nut. When I got it, it was what I wanted. Now I like a narrower neck and ff holes so it doesn't get played much, but for 12-15 years it was all I played. Still have it as it sounds sooo good it's hard to part with.

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## William Smith

Yep those 22's still have the wider neck but has the "new" improvements such as the truss rod, adjustable bridge and better carving. I bet its a nice one. It sure is hard to part with something after you've had it a long time!

----------


## John Rosett

After playing dozens of Gibson oval hole mandolins over many years, my opinion is that the snakeheads, as a group, don't necessarily sound any better than the paddleheads. I have a '19 A2 that sounds as good as any Gibson I've played. Of course, personal preference plays a role, but I really think that each one should be evaluated on it's own.

----------


## Bill Foss

My '24 A2Z has enough volume and cutting power to play in a bluegrass band situation. But it's difficult to make a chop chord up in the B position.

----------


## Barry Canada

What type of strings do most players on your instruments old Gibson’s?

----------


## Eric Platt

My 1927 (or 29) Junior has gotten a lot of compliments over the time I've had it. The 1910 A is good, but doesn't have the bass of the later ones.

Then again, my mentor and bandmate has a 1909 that has the big neck and has a lot of bass. So it's tough to generalize.

The 1910 now has Martin Retro Monels on it and the sound is good. The Junior usually has J74. 

Looking forward to going through the mandolins at Elderly next month.

----------


## NickR

I paid way too much for my 1923 snake head over 20 years ago. I did not know much about these mandolins but I thought I heard great tone and volume. A couple of years ago, the man that repairs my instruments asked to see it as he was postulating making an A style mandolin. When he heard it- and he is a man that does not get excited and wax lyrical, he said it was the best example he had heard in over 20 years and admonished me for not having new strings on it. I went home and changed the strings pronto- I had been told by The Man. I did pay too much but it was a good buy it seems.

----------

Bill Foss, 

Eric Platt

----------


## rcc56

> After playing dozens of Gibson oval hole mandolins over many years, my opinion is that the snakeheads, as a group, don't necessarily sound any better than the paddleheads. I have a '19 A2 that sounds as good as any Gibson I've played. Of course, personal preference plays a role, but I really think that each one should be evaluated on it's own.


My experience has been similar.
I've played many wonderful Gibsons that were made in the 1910's.
I try to judge an instrument by its sound and feel rather than by its look or model.

The snake-head does have an interesting look, and some folks prefer the smaller neck.

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## Bill Foss

> I paid way too much for my 1923 snake head over 20 years ago. I did not know much about these mandolins but I thought I heard great tone and volume. A couple of years ago, the man that repairs my instruments asked to see it as he was postulating making an A style mandolin. When he heard it- and he is a man that does not get excited and wax lyrical, he said it was the best example he had heard in over 20 years and admonished me for not having new strings on it. I went home and changed the strings pronto- I had been told by The Man. I did pay too much but it was a good buy it seems.


I imagine the appreciation of the value has cancelled out the difference between what you bought it for then vs. what it’s worth now 20 years later. If I’m making any sense.

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## MikeZito

Believe it or not, I got turned on to Gibson ovals by watching old videos of Dash Crofts of Seals & Crofts.   It is something that I would like to lay my hands on - someday when I am worthy . . . .

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## Randi Gormley

I use EJ74s on mine. And it sounds OK with elixirs (mediums). fwiw

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## ollaimh

> My '23 snakehead A-Jr is the best-sounding mandolin I've ever come across. There really is something special about those early '20s instruments. I recently played a 1907 Gibson H-1 mandola, but while it was nice, it just didn't have the same combination of depth and brilliance.


the snake heads are the best

----------


## ollaimh

i have two snake heads, a refinished 23, which i call the world's best busking mandolin and a slightly rough but original 24.  i just priced up a 22 junior paddle head. it is also a great tone.

some late teens are also great but it's hard to beat the early twenties.  still way under priced for the quality.

the junior was $700 canadian. thats about $500 usd.  what can you get for that price??? nothing even close to equal. to equal the tone of the best oval hole gibson's you have to pay lutheir prices of many thousands of dollars, and still not get the aged wood tone

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## NickR

> I imagine the appreciation of the value has cancelled out the difference between what you bought it for then vs. what its worth now 20 years later. If Im making any sense.


Yes, it has. I did tell my expert from whom I had purchased it- a well-known rip-off merchant, and I said: "I don't want to speak ill of the dead"- to which he replied: "Now, don't let that stop you!"

I bought a guitar three years ago from someone who had bought it from the same shop as my mandolin thirty years ago. I paid exactly half what he had paid thirty years earlier. In fact, when he said where it was from I nearly lost interest! However, it is a good instrument but I would suggest it was worth a fourth of what he had paid back then in the 1980s. He had just signed a recording contract and had been given a huge advance- some of which was spent on this guitar. I think the guitar is probably worth double what I paid- but it had been on ebay for a while and his BIN price was sinking when I decided to end the agony!

----------


## Darryl Wolfe

We all have our likes and dislikes and founded opinions.  "To me", the slightly later snakeheads (worm over tuners, late '24, 1925, 1926) are consistently excellent.  However, you need to want and expect a loud, bright, cutting and slightly raspy tone that is unlike any teens or early 20's oval hole.

It is for this reason that many folk covet the A2Z.  Most all of them fall in this period.  There is nothing different about them other than this exact build timeframe.

----------

Gene Summers, 

ollaimh

----------


## fatt-dad

I've used Thomastik, "Heavy" on my A3 for years!  I think the code is 154st.

I'm now using the EXP-74CM and love them too!

f-d

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## frshwtrbob

Hey Mreidsma (original poster) did you get a chance to play this A4 snakehead at Elderly :  https://www.elderly.com/collections/...ehead-mandolin  - and if so how did it compare with the 22 A4 that your interested in? Did it have a " a loud, bright, cutting and slightly raspy tone that is unlike any teens or early 20's oval hole." as Darryl says compared to the A4 you like ???
I have a 27 Ajr w a 1 1/4 nut and a 20 F2 w a 1 3/16 nut and they sound very close to the average listener. ( I myself prefer the F2 )

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## mreidsma

I'll be honest, frshwtrbob, I kind of lost interest in all the other mandolins after I played that A4! I did play a few A4s, and I did play at least one snakehead, but the tone didn't grab me like the 22 A4. That said! Every one of those mandolins was amazing. I still can't smile when playing my mandolin at home yet. But both my Dad and I fell in love with that 22 A4.

Elderly is a real gem. One of the employees offered to bring out the Loar they have for sale for me to play, but it was nerve wracking enough trying to hand some $4-5000 mandolins back up on the wall. I didn't want to be responsible for a Loar! Plus I pointed out I certainly couldn't afford the Loar, let alone the Gibsons (yet!).

I have a coworker who wants to make a trip over (we're about an hour away), so next time I go I will try the snakehead if it is still there!

-Matthew

----------


## mandroid

> What type of strings do most players on your instruments old Gibson’s?


2 purported '22 A's ,  the A-0 full contact bridge base, aluminum top, pre TR, I string lighter  10 -38,

the later 22 A-4  with TR,   has medium  11-41  strings on it.. I changed the bridge upper  on the 2 foot bridge

to a fossil walrus tusk  , original ebony, had a split  in one end.. 





'/,

----------


## Capt. E

My 1920 A2 has been my favorite for quite a while. There is something about the woods used and the craftsmen who made the A2 beginning about 1919 through the early 20's. My other mandolin is a 2008 Weber Bighorn.

----------


## Capt. E

There is (was?) a wonderful white-face A3 at Fiddlers Green that I have lusted over as well. Big sound on that one.

----------


## frshwtrbob

FWIW, Just read a mistake I made ...my 27/28 A jr has a 1 1/8 nut (not a 1 1/4) - Although this particular A jr has a deeper/thicker body (1 7/8ths) than my 20 F2 , the F2's (1 5/8ths) tone and volume sounds just as big but a little more "refined" (if you could accept that as a sonic description) or less 'tubby'.

----------

Eric Platt

----------


## Darryl Wolfe

> FWIW, Just read a mistake I made ...my 27/28 A jr has a 1 1/8 nut (not a 1 1/4) - Although this particular A jr has a deeper/thicker body (1 7/8ths) than my 20 F2 , the F2's (1 5/8ths) tone and volume sounds just as big but a little more "refined" (if you could accept that as a sonic description) or less 'tubby'.


You bring up an oft overlooked fact regarding the sound of certain models.  I speak in terms of side height without the top and back.  Oval hole A-models are 1-1/2" tall, whereas the F-models including F5, F4 and F2's are a shallower 1-3/8".

So the oval hole A-models inherently sound different than the oval hole F2 and F4.  On top of that, there is more airspace in the A-model than the F even if they were the same height.  The lone Loar A-5 is 1-3/8 like the F-models.  With that said, the Loar A-5 is completely unique with regard to air volume.

----------

Craig D., 

Eric Platt, 

William Smith

----------


## William Smith

> We all have our likes and dislikes and founded opinions.  "To me", the slightly later snakeheads (worm over tuners, late '24, 1925, 1926) are consistently excellent.  However, you need to want and expect a loud, bright, cutting and slightly raspy tone that is unlike any teens or early 20's oval hole.
> 
> It is for this reason that many folk covet the A2Z.  Most all of them fall in this period.  There is nothing different about them other than this exact build timeframe.


My early 25 Snake A-4 with Virzi falls into this-I'm on the fence about keeping it as its great but once you get used to the old F-5 power and cut its apples and oranges? Many dislike the Virzi's but I personally think they add much to the overall tone?

----------

Eric Platt

----------


## Darryl Wolfe

I am pretty cut and dry about Virzi's.  I dislike them in F5's and like them in oval hole mandolins.  However, there is a real conundrum here.  The only reason I like them in an oval hole is because it stiffens them up in the direction of an F5.  The only reason I hate them in an F5 is because it stiffens them up past what I think an F5 should sound like .

Now, I hate to sound quite so negative about them in F5's.  But for every person that tells me about a great sounding F5 with a Virzi, I can only shake my head and ask under my breath, have you heard that mandolin without the Virzi.  I have removed two Virzi's from Loars.  I do know what the results are.

----------

Eric Platt, 

Mike Black, 

pheffernan, 

V70416, 

William Smith

----------


## William Smith

I've thought about ripping my Virzi out of my 5 but its in there and I personally like the tone and volume, and thinking of originality it should stay. I get why people take them out but I'm in the camp if its in there leave it be. Buy a Loar that doesn't have one, there are many to be had for a price? I also used to love converting F-7's to 5's but wouldn't do it anymore as original they are another interesting and rare piece of Gibson history and if all are converted they be gone? Maybe if one was about beat to death I'd convert like I did with a very beat 24 TLute to a Dola?

----------

Eric Platt

----------


## Br1ck

Old vintage Gibsons are the best bargain in the mandolin world PROVIDED what they do is what you want. I would not want one as my only mandolin unless I was focusing on a particular style. They are very engaging and will pull into new musical directions if that's what you want.

----------

Eric Platt, 

William Smith

----------


## Eric Platt

Want to point out that a deeper body in and of itself doesn't necessarily mean more bass response. My '41 Strad-O-Lin (1 15/16") is deeper than either the '10 A 1 3/4") or '29 A-Jr (1 13/16"). However, the SOL has the least amount of bass output of all three instruments. The Jr has the most with the '10 somewhere in the middle. 

Of course the SOL is also an F hole instrument, with laminate back and sides. So in many ways it's apples and oranges. Just pointing out that one specific measurement doesn't over-ride all others.

----------


## William Smith

Eric-some of those Stradolin mandolins I've played have such a great tone/volume to them, I've only played a handful of laminate ones from the 30's, I've never played any of the fancy solid wood models! I remember seeing a fancy all solid wood Strad-O for sale in the classifieds from a member awhile back that looked fantastic with very nice wood on the back! I've really never paid much attention to the deeper bodies of the Gibson A's as Darryl pointed out compared to the F models-Darryl is great as he has a wealth of knowledge to share and point out as he's been studying the old Gibson's since he was a kid! Darryl knows his stuff and one can always learn something from his posts! I find any and all pre-war and wartime mandolins interesting, even the "budget" brands by Harmony and the like are great!

I gave my Dad an old Harmony from late 30's-40's and it was all solid wood I believe, he had to take the back off as when I got it at like 100 bucks one of the 2x4 tone bars was off and flopping around in the body, so he put in some very light tone bars and the result was surprisingly very good! The neck was fine and had an elevated board, also had the original pick guard, missing the tailpiece cover but I had a Waverly or Kluson clam/scalloped one and it needed tuning machines and bridge, when done the tone and volume was really sweet! I think but don't know for sure but it had a deeper body-not as deep as those Strad-o's.

----------

Eric Platt

----------


## Br1ck

You guys with A 2Zs are very lucky fellows. I've had the pleasure of playing two. Both were outstanding. When I first pick up my 1913 A1, it sounds tubby, especially right after my other mandolins, but the ears settle in and the tubbiness goes away. I know it's all aural illusion, but that is what I experience. Probably me using a different attack, holding the pick differently, or who knows what else. After a while I start thinking bluegrass, LOL.

----------


## V70416

I need to get off my Duff and get my teens A4 blackie,and pumpkin top A1 in playing condition.
But have a hard time with the big V necks.

Not sure of exact year of my A4,will look it up. The pick guard is not oxidizing,looks good. It has
a nice tone for a lot of tunes. Fretboard needs planed maybe and basic TLC.

I don't really have a Duff.

----------


## William Smith

You guys that love the round hole sound would love my late 24-early 25 A-4 snake with Virzi, I like her but once you get the power of an F-5 or a great F-hole elevated board A-50 one don't turn back, I know your not supposed to advertise here but its a really sweet mandolin but the F-hole sound IMHO is better, I just got rid of a 35 elevated board F-hole A-50 "export model with the stamp and inside label" to a member above that IMHO was a killer and I've owned 100's of mandolins but the Virzi in a snake is something way different! I'd love to experiment with a Virzi in a 35 Elevated board A-50 with F-holes, I would love to hear that tone!

And thanks to Eric Platt, above who pointed out a 34 A-50 with F-holes and elevated board with an FON# that matches an A-50 he picked up but had to send back as it needed serious work and didn't cut the sound he was after!, As he also shown me an old catalog description of a 34 A-50 with elevated board in the catalog it showed a round hole A-50 with elevated board so with the one he shown me with F-holes from 34 I suspect it was a very late 34 F-hole elevated board A-50 based on the FON#, a very early elevated board F-hole A-50, I always figured they only did this in 35 "as I've had a load and always been 1935!" but I stand corrected! Now if anyone can show me an elevated board A-50 from 1936 I'd be surprised as well but I bet if they do exist it would have to be very early 36-a transitional model/left over stock from 1935 just like the change in late 34 from round hole to F-hole-elevated board!

I find this all fascinating as a mandolin GEEK-for sure with old Gibson stuff, sorta like all the ole Wide bodied A-50's with different peg head inlays "I had one, 1937 with a flowerpot-like a 5" also the late 30's-early 40's F-4's I've seen with elevated boards, Ferns, fluer-di-lis, flowerpots, and some with F-7 fret board inlays- I wonder if they were ordered like that or Gibson was using leftover stock?

We know Gibson was using during the Great Depression old neck blank left over stock from F-2's/4's for their budget brands-but still expensive for the timeframe but cheaper than the 5 series, F-7's-10's and F-12's! To come up with a serious budget brand MM! Again fascinating tome anyway!

----------

Eric Platt

----------


## Sir Guy of Gibson

In term of strings for a vintage Gibson oval, I can thoroughly recommend d'Addario monels which are designed to sound more like the strings available at the time. They have some extra 'thump' in the bass that transformed my 1920 F4!

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/strings-c1/string-sets-c865/mandolin-c41/daddario-ejm75c-mandolin-strings-monel-medium-plus-11-41-p14159

----------


## Jim Garber

> My favorite was this A2: https://www.elderly.com/collections/...gibson-a4-1922 It was not only lovely but had a warm, deep tone that is still haunting me, hours later. I just hope I can tolerate my instruments now, at least until I save up a few quid!


That is a '22 A-4, not an A-2. Lovely looking. In the photographs, it almost looks less red than most A-4s. I wonder if it were one of the very rare Cremona brown finishes or else was Gibson experimenting. Or it could jut be the lighting that the photographer used.

For historical purposes:

----------

Eric Platt

----------


## ollaimh

> There is (was?) a wonderful white-face A3 at Fiddlers Green that I have lusted over as well. Big sound on that one.


those white faced As are so cool. never owned on and i may be mandolined up, but they are so cool

----------


## ollaimh

> those white faced As are so cool. never owned on and i may be mandolined up, but they are so cool


i have played A 2s and 1s that sounded as good as A 4s but those A 4s just look so beautiful.  if only they had made a two point version and i'd be in heaven

----------


## Wolfboy

They vary, but the good ones really are amazing sounding. I own five (yeah, I know), and my favorites are a 1921 A and a 1920 A, followed closely by a 1909 A. The 1909 has a narrower fingerboard than I'd like, otherwise itd be right up there with the other two. Being that I have pretty big hands and am as much a guitar player as a mandolin player, I prefer the bigger, meatier necks of the pre-truss rod era, but of course thats a matter of personal preference. And since the music Im involved with these days is mostly a mix of Celtic, old-time Appalachian and Baroque, often playing solo, I find the warmth and depth and sustain of the old Gibson As works better for me than the crispness and bark of F5s  although my main As hold their own just fine in bluegrass jams too. 

(Shameless plug, I guess: if youd like to hear them, I used all three on my solo Bach CD, https://robinbullock.com/product/rob...olin-volume-o/   Suite 1 is the 1920, Suite 2 is the 1921 and Suite 3 is the 1909.)

----------


## Jim Garber

Shameless compliment, Wolfboy: your playing is very nice on the sampled cuts. I, too, lean to that warm and depth of tone and sustain of the old Gibsons and modern instruments built and voiced in that same way.

BTW is your CD available as a download?

----------


## Rdeane

I listened to the three tracks, and I much preferred the sound of the 1909. It seemed much more resonant and deeper in tone. All three tracks and instruments are lovely.  Thanks for including the link.

----------


## Jim Garber

> I listened to the three tracks, and I much preferred the sound of the 1909. It seemed much more resonant and deeper in tone. All three tracks and instruments are lovely.  Thanks for including the link.


Whoops, I missed the notation about the different instruments. Now I want to listen again.

----------


## mreidsma

> That is a '22 A-4, not an A-2.


Yes! I put the wrong link in, actually. Looking back on my notes (yes, I took notes while I was playing!) I much preferred the A2 to the A4. I played them both. It looks like the A2 is gone, now. I only see one on the website and it's not the one I played. Someone got an incredible instrument.

Shortly after playing the Gibson, I stumbled into a Mid-Missouri M2 for about $50, which has kept me busy, but I still think about that Gibson A2 every day.

----------


## fatt-dad

I've owned my 1920 A3 for 35 years.  Bought it from the original owner when I was living in Blacksburg, Virginia.  During the time I've owned my A3, I've also owned a black snake and an a2z - both worm under.  They were great mandolins! Sold them though!  Just can't see that either trumped my A3. Plus, I like the wider neck.

f-d

----------


## Wolfboy

> I listened to the three tracks, and I much preferred the sound of the 1909. It seemed much more resonant and deeper in tone. All three tracks and instruments are lovely.


Thanks! The 1909 seemed best suited to Suite No. 3, since it's got the strongest bass of the three mandos - I think the other two might be sweeter overall but the low G string on that '09 just roars, and Suite No. 3 is in G major when it's transposed to mandolin, so plenty of opportunity to swat that open low string and set it roaring.  :Smile: 




> Shameless compliment, Wolfboy: your playing is very nice on the sampled cuts. I, too, lean to that warm and depth of tone and sustain of the old Gibsons and modern instruments built and voiced in that same way.
> 
> BTW is your CD available as a download?


Thank you too, Jim! Yep, it's available as a download from CDBaby (https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/robinbullock7) and it should be on iTunes as well.

----------


## JeffD

I lucked out very early in my mandolinning. My first mandolin a Terada, was destroyed in a locked car in the summer heat. I played a Flatiron Mandola for a while, but then purchased a Gibson 1923 A2 snakehead SN# 73934 FON# 11865. From the Music Emporium in Boston. 

This was in the way back, over 35 years ago, and I seem to remember it cost $1000, which was a lot. I walked around the block four times before I purchased that beauty. I didn't know what I was buying except I knew it better be good for what I was paying. 

I have come to cherish it. Before I could even play it well there were many folks who tried it and liked it. I have gotten more than a few offers to purchase it, not for exceptional money, and then one great offer from a professional I met in a work shop at a festival, in whose judgement the instrument was exceptional.

Once a few years ago I was traveling through Nashville for work, and stopped at Gibson, across from the Grand Ole Opry. I played a bunch of mandolins ranging in cost up to five figures. I was good and didn't buy anything. When I got home, however, I took out my A2 and the sound was as good or better, and definitely of the same family. (I agree that comparing a sound you hear with a sound you remember is dicey, but that is how I remember it.) 

I play it with a ToneGard, and I upgraded the case from the original, to better protect it. I changed the tuning machines a couple of years ago, but that is the only repair or modification. It holds it tuning real well, and if you change strings one at a time the set up stays the way it was. 

I love the instrument and play the potatoes out of it. I am not anywhere near getting as much out of the instrument as there is. This is more instrument than I "deserve" now and certainly insanely more than I deserved umpty ump years ago when I first took it home.

My only complaint is a goofy one. There are times when I really don't want a Gibson sound. It is so much the iconic Gibson sound, all warm and creamy with every note a bing (not a ding, all bings), so because of how Gibson's are so closely associated with very specific kinds of music, this mandolin is not a first choice when I am not playing that kind of music. 

Something to think about, and another justification for MAS.

----------

Eric Platt

----------


## Bob Clark

Hi Jeff,

A good story, well told.  I like the way we can develop history with our instruments just as we do with friends.  I wish you many more years of joy from it.  Oh, and with instruments of other voices for other genres.

Best wishes,

Bob

----------


## JeffD

> Oh, and with instruments of other voices for other genres.


A while back, at a mixed jam, mixed in that we allowed a banjo or two, but did not cater to them by staying one key. With every key change they had to change tuning. 

I poked fun at them, saying "what?, you gotta different tuning for each tune?"

One fellow poked back, saying "Jeff, you gotta different mandolin for each tune."

----------

Bob Clark, 

Eric Platt, 

John Soper, 

ollaimh

----------


## mreidsma

Just a quick update on this, a little over 8 months later: A month ago I bought a mid-1930s Kalamazoo KM-11 flat top, which I thought would be the closest I got for a while to a teens or twenties oval hole. I love that mandolin, it sounds incredible for a flat top. 

BUT, last week I bought a Gibson oval hole, 1915 Pumpkin top. Just got it today. It's an A model with Handel tuners, and I have some information on its provenance, which is fun. I'll have a separate post once I get some time with the instrument and get some photos taken. So far it sounds close enough to my memory of that A2 to satisfy me.

----------

Craig D., 

Eric Platt, 

sgarrity

----------


## mrmando

Unusual for a 1915 pumpkin top to have Handel tuners. Care to post a photo?

----------


## mreidsma

Yes - I thought it was pretty unusual for an A, too. Not sure if they are original, but the price hanger from when it was purchased 2 owners ago lists it as an A model with Handel tuners. They work very well and are in great shape. I included a photo of the back of the headstock - I can't see any evidence of tuner swap, but then again, I think these would have had the same footprint as the stock A tuners, so who knows?





I'll take some nicer photos for the Mandolin Archive and do a little writeup on this mandolin and the history of one if its owners soon. The G and D strings are dead as a doornail, so I'll need to restring it to really hear its voice, but it's nice even now!

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## tree

Unusual, somewhat - but consider that it's Gibson.  Who was it that said the one thing they consistently are is inconsistent (or something to that effect)?

That is one more sweet looking mandolin with those Handels and the wide grained top!

----------


## rcc56

The only A models that were factory equipped with Handel tuners were A-4's, and perhaps a very few early A-3's.  The plates were the same, so they are drop-in replacements.

I remember a time when Handel tuners were much easier to find, and didn't cost $400.

----------


## allenhopkins

Could have been sent back to Gibson for an upgrade, when the Handels were still available -- or they could have been cannibalized from a trashed, higher-model instrument.

----------


## rcc56

Well, let's put it this way-- a friend of mine had a spare set of Handels, and would put them on one mandolin for a while, then take them off and move them to another, etc. . .

At one time or another, those tuners spent time on a Sheraton Brown A-2, an ivory A-3, and even on a May Bell.

----------


## mandroid

Have a '22 A4 just like that on Pg 2,  
 the nickel plated TRC   Highlights the new inclusion of a truss rod..
It has been refretted since.. included a fingerboard leveling.. 

In the 80's I got a Plain Brown A   also from '22 no TR, no peg head logo,  had no side dots..,
 Aluminum bridge top  full contact base ..

----------

Gene Summers

----------


## David w m

I have a 1926 gibson mandolin  whats it worth

----------


## David w m

A3 white face

----------


## William Smith

> A3 white face


Hi, if yours is a white faced A-3 it would be 1919-1922 I do believe not a 1926. Can you post some photos and serial # and FON# and we can help nail a date down?

----------


## Jim Garber

> Who was it that said the one thing they consistently are is inconsistent (or something to that effect)?


Hmmmm... possibly Thomas Edison or Emily Dickinson?

----------

