Info help on a Gibson a 50

[Justjonesin]

Hi, I just bought this mandolin and have some questions about it. I'm curious when it was made, there is no warranty sticker inside and after hours with a flashlight I can not find a single scribble on the inside referring to any I.d. Numbers, or on the back of the head. i just want to be sure it really is authentic as I have a month to return it. I was also curious if anyone can tell me whether the bridge, tuners, case, or tailpiece are original. Lastly I'm curious as to what a street value may be? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks folks!

[CWRoyds]

I am pretty sure that headstock logo dates it between 1943-1947.
That thick gold script is the banner logo from that time.
Don’t know the worth of it, but I would guess between $800-1,500 depending on condition and tone.

[MikeEdgerton]

Is there a brace inside across the back of that mandolin?

[MikeEdgerton]

It's real by the way. I don't think that's the case for this mandolin. I think that's a wide body A-50 case. That might make the case more attractive to folks that own that model. Will Smith will jump in on that question. The tuners put it in the war years or soon after. Take a flashlight and look inside towards the neck block. Are there any numbers stamped on it? You're going to have to get it at an angle.

[allenhopkins]

Are those tuners riveted rather than having adjustment screws in the center of the gears? That's a sign of later WWII-period Klusons (?), I believe.

Hard to tell if the bridge is original, but it could be. The thumb wheel nuts look quite large; I've read threads discussing when Gibson used larger and smaller thumb wheels, but didn't find a conclusion.

I see nothing to suggest it's not an authentic '40's A-50. Here's a '47 for sale on Reverb for $1.5K. They call it a "blowout price," I'd tend to disagree, but you can Google for "40's A-50 mandolin for sale" and see what asking prices are.

[William Smith]

That is a war model A-50, 43-47. You need the correct case for your A-50 so it don't flop around. The case shown is for a Wide Sunburst Bodied A-50 from the late 30's to 1940, It would work for the wide body plain jane A-1 but they came in a chipboardish type wide case. The case is desirable for those who have the wide A-50 as the case is rare. Worth a few hundred bucks. Nice Gibson!
The tuners and bridge are original but I can't see the tailpiece cover so?

[MikeEdgerton]

I knew you'd jump in on this

[Justjonesin]

Thanks for all the info, you all know your mandolins! The tuners do not have adjustment screws which I thought odd but I read up on another post it sounds like it wasn’t unusual for the ww2 era. I checked near the neck block and still definitely see no numbers of any kind. As far as I can tell there are two tone bars on the soundboard in a v shape but no others. And as far as the case goes, I had a feeling that was the case- the wide body A50. Any thoughts on where to find a case for this specific mandolin?

[allenhopkins]

The Vintage Guitars page on Gibson numbering states ominously, with regard to WWII factory order numbers:

1944 Range generally 22xx to 29XX, depending on the model, some with no FON.
1945 1xx to 10xx, but many with no FON.

May explain your inability to find one stamped on the neck block, where it should be.

[rcc56]

Just had one from the same period on my workbench. Agreed, it is somewhere between '43 and '47. It would be a good idea to have a luthier check that the tone bars are securely glued-- I had to reglue them in the one I just worked on. If they are loose, they can be glued through the f-holes if your luthier has the right tools.

About the most an older A-50 will bring is perhaps $1500, and that's for one in really nice shape.