# General Mandolin Topics > eBay, Craig's List, etc. >  Restored Gibson A jr on FB marketplace

## jim simpson

This poor A jr suffered the humility of a rattle can, lol!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...8745240927678/

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## mrmando

$2200? You can frequently get an unmolested one for less than that.

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## Bill McCall

Can’t unsee that :Frown:

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## Eric Platt

Ow! Do you have any idea how much brain bleach I will need to unsee that? Ugh. At that price the seller will have it for a long time.

FWIW, I once did that to a late '60's/early '70's Fender Jazz bass. Stripped the original Lake Placid Blue and sprayed white Krylon on it.

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## Jeff Mando

ugly and overpriced!

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## HonketyHank

Sad. Is it OK if I pretend I don't see it?

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## Russ Donahue

Wow. Matches the baseboard in my house perfectly! And our refrigerator, stove and dishwasher. Maybe I should buy it as a wallhanger...

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## Jill McAuley

That right there is the stuff of nightmares..

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## Bob Clark

> That right there is the stuff of nightmares..


Thanks for the warning.  I won't look!

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## Mike Buesseler

Some very odd string spacing at the bridge, if you ask me. Like a nice blue zither.

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## Mark Gunter

_"Had to paint it due to wear"_

OMG  :Disbelief:

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## Timbofood

“Take that dog out and shoot it!” Michael Cooney 

To me (I was being a terrible heckler) I should have been removed

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## ollaimh

it's so ugly it's beautiful. like a pugdog.  for one hundred dollars i'd buy it just to gross out my friends.

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## Denis Kearns

Seeing the funky "restoration" of this mandolin reminds me of my first guitar, a gift from my brother. Someone had abandoned it at his house and he gave it to me with the admonition that I had to learn how to play it.  It was a cheap and ugly plywood guitar, so I proceeded to laboriously scape off all the finish with a razor blade, then applied a "finish" of linseed oil (it was still ugly).  The action was such that I probably could have inserted my fist under the stings at the 12th fret and had appalling tone, but I did start to learn how to play.  I now play a better class of instrument.  The moral is that even a butt-ugly and funky instrument can be a start.  That being said, it was a crime what they did to this old Gibson!

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## Mark Gunter

Here's a nice Gibby on Facebook with original finish and _very moderately priced_: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...0416940772503/

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brunello97

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## Timbofood

I think that one has been referenced earlier. People will claim anything, I think the seller wants to keep it but is (as others have said before) might be offering it to placate a spouse who has requested a thinning of the herd.

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brunello97, 

Mark Gunter

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## CarlM

The Ol' Earl of Scheib has gone into a new line of work.

" Any mando any color, just $29.95...Riiiight!!"

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Timbofood

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## mrmando

> Here's a nice Gibby on Facebook with original finish and _very moderately priced_:


For that amount you'd think you could get a full set of strings.

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## Dave Hanson

I fail to see the significence of the Bob Dylan song.

Dave H

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## jim simpson

> I fail to see the significence of the Bob Dylan song.
> 
> Dave H


the Dylan song: It's all over now baby blue
The seller said he painted the mandolin a light baby blue (I know, it looks more white)

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## jaybp30

could the paint be stripped off without totally ruining the instrument?  I'm just asking out of curiosity, no interest in it myself.

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## Jeff Mando

> could the paint be stripped off without totally ruining the instrument?  I'm just asking out of curiosity, no interest in it myself.


Well, yes and no.  Seller was asking $2000 which was many times what it is worth.  He lowered it to $900 which is still too much.  Original finish is generally an important feature regarding vintage instruments, so this one will never be original.  Most people would prefer a really worn original finish to a poor amateur "refinish" like this.

No way to tell what is under the finish or if it was repaired or heavily sanded, but I have removed spray can "over-finishes" by using extremely fine wet sandpaper and taking my time.  Time -- measured in weeks, not hours.  You have to know when to stop and move to the next section.  You can imagine the results vary greatly.  It is common to see electric guitars "refinished" with spray cans.  Sometimes you can get lucky when they just sprayed over without sanding or a bunch of filler -- it kind of goes together that someone who would use Krylon would also use Plastic Wood to "repair" an instrument, along with Gorilla glue, etc. -- I'm not sure, but if the phrase has not been coined already, I will call this "Walmart Lutherie!"

I would avoid harsh chemicals, even though it probably wouldn't matter on this instrument.  Years ago I wet-sanded a pre-CBS stratocaster that was originally surf green and someone painted it black, poorly.  It took three weeks and came out very nice, with probably 95 percent original finish revealed.  Not sure why they painted it unless they just didn't like the color anymore.  Super rare and desirable color in this case and improved the guitar from being poorly refinished to an original finish guitar, showing minor wear -- similar to mild relic condition.  It was a very rewarding experience, but in terms of man hours it would only be worth it on a super rare instrument like the stratocaster.

In the case of this mandolin, you could do better buying a worn original, IMHO.

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## NickR

My A2 has been over-lacquered on its top. I have used a cutting compound to gradually remove this layer. You can still see wear etc in the original finish but it does look rather shiny as a consequence of removing the extra layer. My luthier expert said he would not be worried about it- I could tone it down by using steel wool on it if I wanted but it looks okay, in my humble opinion. The rest of the mandolin is all original in terms of finish.

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## jaybp30

Thanks.  Just curious really, not in market for a new mando but just was wondering what would happen if you tried to remove the spray paint.  It's too bad this guy didn't do 15 minutes of research, which is all it likely would have taken to figure out NOT to do that.

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