This is what I play. She doesn't look like much maybe, but she has all kinds of beautiful tone and sustain for days. It's a good thing. I don't like playing tremolo much.
This is what I play. She doesn't look like much maybe, but she has all kinds of beautiful tone and sustain for days. It's a good thing. I don't like playing tremolo much.
And the original case:
So, later 1920s (1926?) A with Thomastiks? Is that a pearl or metal truss rod cover? Interesting that your bridge is slightly slanted. is that to improve the intonation? In any case, enjoy it... I say, for the most part eye candy is not always indication of the tone and soul of an instrument. Some of my best mandolins and guitars have been ugly ducklings.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
"She doesn't look like much maybe,,, "
We all should look that good at that age!!!
To me she is beautiful... Besides... Unless you are planningn to sell her,,, Who cares?
Bart McNeil
Looks good to me.
"Mongo only pawn in game of life." --- Mongo
Ah, what stories all those nicks and worn places could tell!
--------------------------------
1920 Lyon & Healy bowlback
1923 Gibson A-1 snakehead
1952 Strad-o-lin
1983 Giannini ABSM1 bandolim
2009 Giannini GBSM3 bandolim
2011 Eastman MD305
"To me she is beautiful... "
Me too. That's the way I like 'em.
David A. Gordon
Looks fine to me. I am quite happy with my old pumpkin, but I like the brown, too. All the nicks, dings, scratches, gouges, cracks - they are signs of a life well-lived, full of fun, good times, and plenty of music! Given a choice between that or a pristine condition derived from a life spent sheltered away in the case, it's pretty obvious which I believe is better.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
Thanks, y'all. She's a good 'un. I always seem to regret it whenever I let a musical instrument go (the latest is that I'm still kicking myself for passing on my old saxophone--another one with lovely tone and a few dings--because now my kid's taken it up and I would've loved to pass it to her), so I'll certainly be hanging on to this one.
I confess that I don't know the date or even what Thomastiks are (but I'd love to know both). Here's the serial number if it helps to date: 68943.So, later 1920s (1926?) A with Thomastiks? Is that a pearl or metal truss rod cover? Interesting that your bridge is slightly slanted. is that to improve the intonation? In any case, enjoy it... I say, for the most part eye candy is not always indication of the tone and soul of an instrument. Some of my best mandolins and guitars have been ugly ducklings.
The truss rod cover is metal. It looks like it was meant to be engraved but no one's ever gotten around to that, so it's just flat metal.
She's just back from the Luthier's where she had a complete re-fretting and fretboard sanding. They just put the bridge back in the same place it was. Probably trying to hide the nicks, as if I care. Anyway, that's just not the right spot so I'm still working on getting everything in tune on up the neck. I'm still not there with it, though. It takes a couple of weeks for everything to stabilize again after I move it around so the process is pretty involved. Besides, once you get used to the blue notes, you can use 'em.
Ask your luthier what strings are on it. They loo0ked like flatwounds so I assumed Thomastiks. By the SN looks like '21 or '22 which makes it an early truss rodded one. I thought paddle-head and truss rod and then post-Loar, but it is barely pre-Loar or on the cusp.
I have lots of mandolins of all sorts and get warm and cozy with one for a time. Then I go back to my Gibson and realize how very nice it is.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Oh, sorry. You were talking about the strings. Duh. The caffeine is clearly not catching up to me yet this morning. No, they are the LaBella JM11s, but still flat wound jazz strings. Absolutely wonderful sound, but certainly much quieter than bluegrass strings. They seem to even out the tone across all the strings to me, as opposed to the bluegrass strings I've used where the A and E were really harsh. But I mostly just play for me so I'm not trying to be heard in a crowd.
And we posted at the same time. Thanks for the info. That's good to know!
Yes it IS beautiful, in the same vein that some (most?) steam locomotives are beautiful. Ya gotta work a bit to make either of 'em ugly... mando or steam engine. But that's just me. And my MAS was just getting under control!
- Ed
"Then one day we weren't as young as before
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
- Ian Tyson
A real beauty. Shame about the tremolo though, because the old Gibson oval holes sound so good with that high lonesome tremolo.
You're right, Jim - by my reckoning it's late 1921.
BTW, Mr. Fish, if you miss your sax, I have a line on one. One of my street musician cohorts, who usually just plays out-of-tune guitar through a battery amp to accompany his out-of-tune singing and also taps a pretty dead-sounding high hat out-of-rhythm - but manages to get by somehow by putting in lots of hours, playing right outside the Wendy's, and having his dog with him (he's the real talent of the outfit) - has found a sax somewhere and is playing (stretching the definition) Christmas songs on this, without having taken the time to learn and/or practice them. I would be doing everyone within earshot a favor - and the poor horn, too, I expect - by liberating it from his clutches. And i would be happy to send it to you, where it surely will find better treatment and a happier life.
Just sayin' ...
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
Well, thanks Jeff. I still play tremolo when I have to (I'm working up a blues right now that calls for it), but I'm just not a fan. I'm much happier letting the silences happen and using them than filling up all the space with sound. But that's just me. I can appreciate it when other people do it.
And thanks for the offer, journey, but I doubt they'd let you send many packages out from the county lockup. It's hard to play through cookie crumbs. Maybe some well-timed gifts of holiday cookies to keep him busy?
I had to be in Denver all day today because my kid was taking several different classes. So, while I was waiting I made a tour of several acoustic music shops to try out any mando I can find. I'm happy to say that I wouldn't trade my old Gibson for a single one of them (including the old Gibson's I tried), even though I tried many that were priced several times what I paid for mine. There were a lot of nice mandos, don't get me wrong, but the sounds from this one are just amazing to my ears.
I thought I'd end the day hot after a new one, but I can say that I'm still a satisfied guy. A good problem to have!
--------------------------------------------------------
Andy
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886
Love those old Gibsons.
You can see all the finger divots on the fingerboard of mine- still plays great, and sounds magnificent.
enjoy yours - they are real keepers.
Be yourself, everyone else is taken.
Favorite Mandolin of the week: 2013 Collings MF Gloss top.
That's a nice-looking mandolin. I like the reddish tint. Nice. Thanks for the picture!
--------------------------------------------------------
Andy
"Not to know the mandolin is to argue oneself unknown...." --Clara Lanza, 1886
I really luv my oval hole too. It's very simular to JGWoods A4
I Pick, Therefore I Grin! ... "Good Music Any OLD-TIME"
1922 Gibson F2
2006 Gibson F5 Goldrush
2015 Martin HD28-V
2017 Gibson J45
Yeah, the old Gibson ovals are great. Here's yet another take:
Bob DeVellis
It is a pumpkin top A3... teens?
I'm jealous. I was THIS close to acquiring a nice '21 A4 from a co-workers father. While he was deciding how much he wanted for it, the mandolin was taken from his home by a relative. Unfortunately, the man died before he got the mandolin back, and the relative got away with it, along with a fiddle. I'm still not over it, and that was two years ago.
Anyway, nice mando you have there. Hang on to her.
Living’ in the Mitten
You guys are killin' me. I want an oval so bad that I'm about to sell my shotguns. That's serious bad for a Kansas country boy bird hunter.
Those are ALL beauties. You have a right to be proud of those instruments.
Mike Snyder
Bookmarks