This teardrop shaped oval-hole mandolin with the ivoroid bound top, back and fingerboard was made just before Gibson debuted the adjustable truss rod feature. It glows with the script “The Gibson” headstock logo in the ebony headplate, followed by an original bone nut and an ebony fingerboard with 6 mother of pearl dotmarker inlays. The elevated pickguard was, in the past, replaced with an imposter but most of the sheared-off original patented pickguard clamp resides in the case.
Its tuners with ivoroid buttons remain original and are quite clean (some of the buttons show a small discoloration). When it came in the neck binding was broken in a small area where the original pickguard post had been removed like an abscessed tooth. The knucklehead who did that damage also drove a screw into the top when he installed that smaller, cheaper pickguard. Its slide-on “The Gibson” tailpiece cover and tailpiece base are happily present and accounted for. This mandolin shows normal signs of wear, some pick marks sneaking out from under the abbreviated pickguard. The top is bestowed with a well-repaired top crack on the treble side, but despite all of these relatively minor issues, it remains a one-above-the-middle model mandolin in Gibson’s pre-war oval soundhole roster of the rare and respectable.
NOW ON SALE! WAS $2263 BUT NOW ON SALE FOR: