Mandolin
Maker
Orville Gibson
Maker
Gibson
Date1896, December 10
Place MadeKalamazoo, Michigan, United States, North America
ModelStyle A
SignedBranded on inside of top, treble side below soundhole, the date written in pencil: [flouron] THE GIBSON MANDOLINE [flouron] / MADE BY / O. H. GIBSON, KALAMAZOO, MICH. / Dec 10 / 1896Printed in black ink on paper label with rounded corners, Orville Gibson photo on lyre mandolin trademark at center of label, with text TRADE MARK: [the following on left side of lyre trademark] The Gibson / Mandolins and Guitars [two fleurons] / Are acknowl- / edged by lead- / ing Artists as / World Beaters. / [four fleurons] / EVERY INSTRUMENT / WARRANTED. [sic] / [the following on right side of lyre trademark] Correct Scale. / Easy to Play. / Beautiful Model. / Powerful Tone. / [four fleurons] / Originated and / Patented Febru- / ary 1, 1898, by / O. H. GIBSON / ...Kalamazoo, Mich.
Stamped in cursive lettering on tailpiece cover: The / Gibson
DescriptionOrville Gibson’s arch-top mandolins revolutionized the design of the instrument in the 20th century. Before the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co. was founded by investors in 1902, Gibson produced relatively few instruments on his own and attained a patent for his design. This recently-discovered instrument is the earliest dated mandolin by Gibson.
Stringing: eight steel strings
Soundboard: arched, two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: medium grain
Back: one-piece, slab-cut walnut carved with rounded edges
Ribs: walnut, carved from four pieces with separate neck/block piece and end block piece
Head: walnut; upper half of head a separate piece; graft extends into neck; black lacquer on face and back; festooned upper edge; mother-of-pearl block inlays on sides of head above tuners, missing and filled on one side; lozenge-shaped inlay on head between tuners, now missing and filled in
Neck: walnut; hollowed with round hole in base; integral with upper rib/block; separate piece at neck heel near joint with fingerboard; rectangular rod through neck cavity, ends visible on face of head and on inside
Heel cap: none; back comes to rounded end at neck heel
Binding: ivory celluloid on top only
Fingerboard: ebony bound in ivory celluloid; 19 nickel-silver frets; single mother-of-pearl dots behind 5th, 7th, 10th, and 15th frets; double mother-of-pearl dots behind 12th fret; imitation tortoise-shell celluloid side dots behind 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th, and 15th frets
Nut: bone
Bridge: ebony; compensated
Tuners: two pairs of enclosed worm-gear tuners with engraved nickel-silver front-mounted cover plates and ivory heads
Endpin: ebony with mother-of-pearl eye
Tailpiece: nickel-plated steel; later
Rosette: oval soundhole with rosette set in 1/4” from edge; rosette comprised of blue abalone strips surrounded on each side by three-ply dark brown and light hardwood strips
Pick guard: none
Lacquer: black on top and on headstock; clear on back, ribs, and neck; craquelure on all surfaces
Linings: inside of sides veneered in dark hardwood in lower bouts up to middle bouts
Neck block: none
End block: none
Top bracing: transverse brace below soundhole with tapered ends
Grafts: none
DimensionsTotal mandolin length: 624 mm (24-9/16″)
Back length (including neck heel): 371 mm (14-5/8″)
Upper bout width: 63 mm (2-15/32″)
Lower bout width: 276 mm (10-7/8″)
Rib height (including edging but not arching) at heel: 45 mm (1-25/32″)
Rib height, at waist: 45 mm (1-25/32″)
Rib height, at endpin: 45 mm (1-25/32″)
Head length: 157 mm (6-3/16″)
Head width, top: 76 mm (3″)
Head width, bottom: 53 mm (2-3/32″)
Neck length (nut to ribs): 127 mm (5″)
Neck width, nut: 28 mm (1-3/32″)
Neck width, heel: 36 mm (1-13/32″)
Soundhole height: 42 mm (1-21/32″)
Soundhole width: 77 mm (3-1/32″)
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 348 mm (13-11/16″)
ProvenancePurchased from Gruhn Guitars, Nashville, Tennessee, 2014.
Credit LineJohn Fowler Fund, 2014
Object number14944
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