1920 Gibson A-2 Carved-Top Mandolin

Oh, but this one is a sweetheart. It's got heaps of the woody, punchy, husky thing that a lot of old-time players want out of a Gibson A. It's also relatively clean and pretty, too, with its deep-brown finish and bits of extra binding.

This had a bit of a challenging neck joint repair that turned-out perfect but after that it was just "the normal stuff" to get it playing spot-on -- a level/dress of the frets and fitting of a new, ebony, adjustable bridge. While this has two non-adjustable bridges in the case (one is the original), I find them to mostly be a waste of time for the "playing" musician as it's nice to not have to fuss to be able to adjust your action season to season and gig to gig.

It's crack-free, all-original save the bridge (and missing pickguard), and ready to go.

Repairs included: a repair to the dovetail joint, neck reset/reglue, fret level/dress, cleaning, new bridge fitting, and setup.

Top wood: solid spruce (carved)

Back & sides wood: solid birch (carved back)

Bracing type: ladder

Bridge: ebony adjustable, compensated

Fretboard: ebony

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: hair-under 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 36w-10 lights

Neck shape: medium-bigger V

Board radius: flat

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: low/small

Scale length: 13 7/8"

Nut width: 1 1/4"

Body width: 10 1/8"

Body depth: 1 3/4" + arching

Weight: 1 lb 15 oz

Condition notes: it's got some wear and tear to the finish throughout via small nicks, dings, and scratches, but overall it looks really good. There's the usual fine-grain weather-check to the finish throughout, though, as you'd expect. Someone in the past shimmed the nut up with a small spacer that's still there. It's a non-issue. I've swapped-out the bridge for a new adjustable one (and fit it nicely). When doing the tricky neck joint repair, I had to both clamp the neck up/down and suck the damaged wings of the dovetail joint towards the neckblock at the same time. To facilitate this (acting like a "third clamp direction"), I predrilled for a screw/bolt that runs into the dovetail from the inside of the neckblock. It doesn't hold the neck in place (it's all glued pat) but I left it in place after the repair -- there's a photo in there of it. I can leave this in or remove it as desired.

It comes with: an older hard case and two non-adjustable bridges (one original).