Bob Venn Custom "Smoke" Electric 5 String Mandolin 1970

Description from Bernunzio:

"One of a kind, custom built electric five string mandolin built by Bob Venn, founder of the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiere. Venn was associated with Semie Moseley, also in Bakersfield CA, and the Moserite design influence is evident here. Examples of Bob Venn custom signed instruments are extremely rare, an electric guitar made for Don Rich (Buck Owens) and another custom electric mandolin made for Tiny Moore having shown themselves recently. Though it is really impossible to say for sure, it has been speculated that this example was made for Smokey Rogers. This mandolin was beautifully built, with a three piece body (walnut with maple in center), with a two piece maple top with light figure, that was fully bound and trimmed; equipped with custom pickups with hand carved maple covers, adjustable maple bridge, and rosewood tailpiece with brass plate. The five piece maple neck has a 15" scale length bound ebony fingerboard w/ zero fret, 1-3/8" wide fingerboard; Smoke silk screened on peghead's face. Overall in fine shape, there are number finish dings and roughness throughout, notably some cloudiness/flaking near the butt. Includes chipboard case."

When I bought this, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this build, but there were some improvements I was planning on making. It plays fine as-is, but really needs some cleanup, binding work at the nut, a subtle neck reset, and my main focus -- the string spacing. I set out to find a Mr Machinist 5 string bridge, which was a harder task than I thought it was going to be. While a wider spacing will push string-pole alignment to the edge, I think it will really serve the instrument. The outer strings may ride the interior on the outside saddles, but I think the result will be much cleaner than it sits at present. My plan was to refret it with frets crowning the binding. The new bridge should hide the previous stud area without issue, but some filling/ a cover-providing baseplate may be necessary on the tailpiece.

When all is said and done, this is, in my opinion, a piece of history, and this thing kills as-is, but I can't say when I'll have the time to get to it and we're moving next month so I think it's time it found a new home.

Note: Tiny Moores Bob Venn sold for ~9k around 8 years ago. These rarely come up for sale and I'm not very flexible on price.

One of the latches on the case is shot.

As-is no returns. The photos are a little fuzzy, will try and add some more over the next few days.

Would trade for a tweed deluxe.