1918 Gibson H-4 Mandola

Overview: When a customer of mine told me he was sending-in an H-4 mandola, my ears perked right up. These critters are rare. The best bit of that, though, is that I was able to make Tim's day as he got to do most of the repairs on this one and he is smitten with cool old Gibsons. We see a lot of A-style mandolins (and a few F-style ones) every year for various repairs but it's only once in a while that we get Gibson mandolas through. This one was relatively clean when it arrived but it had some repairs needing to be taken care-of before it was a real instrument. Now that it's fixed-up, it plays like a dream and sounds like one, too, and is healthy again.

Repairs included: The whole back was misaligned with the sides (as is typical for older Gibsons) and Tim had a bit of a struggle to get it all fit back nicely. The scroll area had enough shrinkage that we left the seam mismatch there alone but the rest all tucked-in well and reglued well. The next bit was fitting the new bridge, which went well. The (ironically) hardest part was the board plane and refret job, as the ebony on this particular instrument was so dense and hard -- but the job was necessary as there was a bit of an S-curve to the neck just before and after the joint. After that, all it needed was a quick setup. It's now playing spot-on and is ready to serve.

• Weight: info coming soon
• Scale length: info coming soon
• Nut width: info coming soon
• Neck shape: info coming soon
• Board radius: flat
• Depth at first fret: info coming soon
• Depth at seventh fret: info coming soon
• Body width: info coming soon
• Body depth: info coming soon
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid flamed maple
• Bracing type: single ladder
• Bridge: ebony adjustable (original in case)
• Fretboard: ebony
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (spot-on)
• String gauges: 49w-14 D'Addario lights
• Truss rod: non-adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: narrow/lower-medium height -- brand new!

Condition notes: It's completely original except for the new adjustable bridge and the original bridge is included in the hard case. The frets are also new but in keeping with the narrowness of the originals. There is a little mismatch with the back seam at the scroll area. There are small nicks and dings and scratches here and there throughout and the finish has the usual light weather-checking. There are some bigger nicks and dings at the back of the neck that we've ameliorated a bit and cleaned-up. The back of the neck has lost a lot of its clearcoat but we wiped a thin coat of sealer into it and it feels great.

It comes with: It has its original hard case.

Consignor tag: DAGR