Mandolin

Gibson A-4 model mandolin with light to dark red sunburst finish, serial number 39051. The A model Gibson mandolins have a teardrop shaped body with no points. The mandolin has a carved, arched top and back, a design patented by Orville Gibson in 1898. Five businessmen bought the name and patent from Orville Gibson in 1902 and started The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The A-4 was a less expensive model mandolin than the F models (with scrolls). The oval soundhole has decorative binding of a ring of inlaid wood and a second ring of ivoroid. The binding around the top of the instrument and the fingerboard is also ivoroid. Mahogany is used for the neck, and the fingerboard is of ebony and extends over the soundhole. There are twenty-four nickel-silver frets with mother-of-pearl position dots on the fingerboard and upper edge of the neck. The floating bridge is a modern replacement (the original bridge survives in the case). The mandolin has the standard string disposition of eight steel strings in four courses, tuned in unison pairs to the pitches of a violin: E, A, D, G. The nickel-silver tailpiece is engraved "The Gibson." Paddle-shaped headstock is inlaid with the fleur-de-lis and the words "The Gibson." The Handel machine four-on-a-plate tuners are inlaid with a flower motif. The instrument has a raised pickguard mounted on metal brackets.