Gibson Style A Snakehead Carved Top Mandolin (1927), ser. #81326, black tolex hard shell case.

Gibson Style A Snakehead Model Carved Top Mandolin (1927), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 81326, black top, dark stained back and sides finish, birch back and sides, spruce top, mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case. This is a great-playing and sounding original Style A mandolin from mid-1927, just a couple of years after the end of the "Loar era" at Gibson. These "Snakeheads" are generally considered the best-sounding roundhole "A" style mandolins ever made, and this one certainly bears this out. It is a fine example of Gibson's craftsmanship, just before the company's focus shifted to banjos and then guitars. These "Snakehead" instruments are named for their peghead that angles inward towards the tip, a feature inexplicably abandoned by Gibson a few years after Loar left. They are revered for their unmatched tone and projection and have the other newer advanced features of the era including the adjustable truss rod neck, raised adjustable bridge, and very slim neck profile. The Style A was one of the more basic Gibson models but still retailed at $50 in the later 1920s, a fairly hefty price for a mandolin at the time. The top has a striking black lacquer finish, bound in white celluloid with a soundhole rosette made up of thin triple inlaid contrasting rings of wood around a thicker ivoroid center section. The elevated tortoise celluloid pickguard is held with the modern side bracket clamp. The tailpiece has the engraved "The Gibson" cover plate unchanged since the 1910s. The tuners are budget-conscious flat-plate strips, lately discovered to have been made by a company called Dinsmore & Jager (thank you Paul Fox!). The headstock has a silver stenciled "The Gibson" logo on the face. These distinctive "Snakehead" mandolins have become ever more sought-after by discerning players. Lloyd Loar's tenure as acoustic engineer at Gibson has become so mythical that sometimes separating fact from fiction is difficult. Certainly the mandolin family instruments made during his employment and just after are the most perfectly realized in Gibson's history, and have become the template for most similar instruments since. Even this basic "A" model has sonic and playing improvements benefitting from "Master Loar's" input that are still evident today, nearly 100 years on.Overall length is 25 3/4 in. (65.4 cm.), 10 in. (25.4 cm.) wide, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 14 in. (356 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/16 in. (27 mm.). This is a very good playing and sounding "snakehead", with some wear but remaining original except for a later high grade replica adjustable bridge by Siminoff. The top finish has a worn-away spot on the lower rim (probably from a player's arm) and shows some other dings, dents and scrapes, as does the rest of the instrument. The finish on the back has only light wear but a pattern of micro-checking and tiny flaked spots we find typically on Gibsons of this exact period, when they were still learning how to work with lacquer. The back of the neck is surprisingly clean with just some very light rubs.The back edge and seams near the neck joint shows signs of having been reglued, also typical of these mandolins. All is solid but some seams is visible. The hardware (except the repro bridge as noted, and the endpin) is otherwise original including the tuners, tailpiece and cover. The pickguard and clamp are original, the front edge of the guard has been neatly rolled off a bit but is so well done it looks original; we had to look a couple of times to realize it! The frets have had a light G&P but have plenty of meat left, the mandolin plays very well, sounds spectacular, and resides in a modern HSC. Excellent - Condition.