1906 Gibson A-3 Carved-Top Mandolin

New video above, old video below...

Update 2022: this guy's back here for sale so I've taken new photos, a new video, and updated the description where necessary.

A customer brought this pretty thing by for spiffing-up and I'm certainly glad he did. It's not often that I get to work on Gibson mandolins that are this early in production. 1906 was the last year old Orville was on the label in the soundhole and both the serial number and factory order number confirm the year of build.

Unlike later Gibsons, this one was built with a much shallower break-angle of the neck to the body and thus the bridge is lower and more similar to the height on other makes' flattop and bowlback instruments. It doesn't suffer for sound, though: it's loud and proud of it with a crisp, punchy voice that a lot of teens-era Gibson A-models would love to have. So many of those are mellowed to a velvety sweetness that simply does not cut. It's not a bad sound at all (as evidenced by the legions of Gibson A-model admirers -- myself among them), but not one particularly suited to band use if you want to stand out in a mix.

There was old work done to the instrument in the past, but what it needed from me was relatively simple -- I reset the neck (and at the same time glued-up the heel crack), gave it a fret level/dress, and set it up with 34w-10 strings at the time. It's now playing spot-on with 1/16" action at the 12th fret and comes with its original ebony (taller) bridge and a summer (lower) rosewood bridge, so one can adjust the action height to taste season to season.

I mention the old work because when I was going to reset the neck, I removed the binding on the fretboard and after I did so, the fretboard extension from the joint onward practically fell off. It's comprised (like the rest of the board) of funky old ebonized maple, and apparently had been halfheartedly-reglued at some point in the past. On the underside, a number of small hairline cracks told the story of some heavy-handedness in trying to get the neck off in the past. However, the detached end of the board made my work a little easier, at least.

It was still a tricky job to get it all back together without too much fuss and while I was tempted to knock the neck angle back farther, I decided to play it safe and leave it around the factory angle. That angle works fine in winter (with lower humidity) but in summer I had to make a second bridge that's a hair lower due to top swell with increased humidity. This is par for the course on this era of Gibson mandolins -- I've had to make multiple bridges for the last 3 or 4 I've had in for the same reason.

So: it's ready to go, looks grand, and plays sharp. What more is there to ask?

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, new bridge, tailpiece repairs, and setup.

Top wood: solid spruce (carved)

Back & sides wood: solid birch (carved back)

Bracing type: ladder (one)

Bridge: rosewood and ebony

Fretboard: ebonized maple or similar

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" (fast)
String gauges: 32w-9 currently, can take 10s just fine, but nothing heavier

Neck shape: medium C with a bit of V

Board radius: flat

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: very small/very low (typical for period Gib frets)

Scale length: 13 7/8"

Nut width: 1 1/4"

Body width: 10 3/8"

Body depth: 1 5/8" + arching

Weight: 1 lb 10 oz

Condition notes: as noted above, it has a repaired split in the heel and a shallower neck angle over the body. The instrument is almost entirely original but has a second (new) bridge on it at the moment with the original bridge stowed in the case. The endpin is also a replacement. There's light scratching, usewear, and playwear throughout but overall it's in gorgeous shape and even has a pretty, pearl-inlaid, celluloid pickguard. The frets are teeny-tiny (standard for the time) so if you don't like that, have me refret it. I replaced broken tabs for string-ends at the tailpiece with 8 screws that I set into the tailpiece and soldered firm. They work great (better than original tabs) and are invisible with the cover on.

It comes with: a really nice TKL hard case and the original bridge.