Gibson Style A Carved Top Mandolin (1918)

Gibson  Style A Carved Top Mandolin  (1918)
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Item # 10346
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Gibson Style A Model Carved Top Mandolin (1918), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 45126, Sheraton brown top, dark stained back and sides finish, birch body, spruce top, mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, original black hard shell case.

This is a lovely 100+ year old example of the "just pre-Loar" Gibson Style A Mandolin, still in very nice original condition with a lot of life left in it over a century on. This one was made early in 1918, a banner year for Gibson who were apparently not much affected by the World War then raging to its conclusion. The typical period features include the dark but very thin "Sheraton Brown" varnish finish top, a raised celluloid pickguard and the standard Gibson-engraved tailpiece and solid carved ebony compensated bridge without individual saddle inserts. The top is spruce with a pronounced grain, the back and sides birch and the neck Honduras mahogany with a heavy ebony fingerboard.

The Style A is the most basic carved-top mandolin, still with all the sound quality of "the Gibson" (as it was advertised at the time) without much in the way of decoration beyond a bound top and half-herringbone soundhole ring. The "browntop" mandolins of the late 'teens and early 1920's may not be the prettiest of the old "paddlehead" Gibsons but they are often the best sounding. This one is an excellent centennial survivor, a very playable mandolin with a very low, comfortable action and bright, ringing tone. It remains 100 years on an enduring testament to the exceptional work of the original Kalamazoo, Michigan Gibson factory.
 
Overall length is 26 1/2 in. (67.3 cm.), 10 1/16 in. (25.6 cm.) wide, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 14 in. (356 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/16 in. (30 mm.).

This mandolin shows some general wear and finish checking (it is 100 years old, after all!) but remains all original and an excellent instrument. The finish has a number of dents, dings and scratches mostly to the top, but no large areas of loss except it is worn down to the wood on the back of the neck. All the seams are solid and there are no cracks visible on the instrument. The original very thin varnish has not been overfinished and all hardware remain original and complete including the tuners, tailpiece with engraved cover and even the oft-missing elevated pickguard which is in excellent shape. The original frets have some minor wear but are still quite playable and this is a very nice playing and sounding mandolin, complete in the original shaped HSC. Excellent - Condition.