1915 Gibson A-1 Carved-Top Mandolin

It's hard to beat an old Gibson A-style mandolin for tone. They're woody, they're open, and they've got guts. A customer bought this from a Guitar Center on his way up to the shop and it arrived here in as perfect a condition as you could ever want for one of these old Gibs. Nothing was wrong with it -- it just needed a restring, minor fret seating, and a setup to get it playing spot-on. I've never had that experience with one of these before.

So, clearly -- it's clean. The original pickguard is still in superb shape, the finish glows, it barely has any scratches or wear, it sounds excellent, and it's pretty and all-original. It even came with its original hard case. Obviously it was babied and kept in good storage over the years -- there's not even a hint of seam-creep like one normally finds on the back of these. It could've been made a couple weeks ago, save for the finish aging and the telltale sign that I had to move the bridge for better compensation.

He bought a winner.