This K4 came from a private collector who happened to stumble across this little corner of the internet and saw my want list. A few months of conversation and I drove down to PA and met him in a hotel lobby. Played it for an hour. And could NOT leave it behind.
This mandocello is stunning, even with its flaws. At one point, I presume in WW2, Baker, US Navy owned this instrument and carved his name and number on the headstock. Whether it was he or someone else who used it as a guitar I cannot say, but you can see the indentations the pegs on the floating bridge made to the top. The nut had additional slots carved into it to accomodate guitar stringing.
There are no cracks. At All. The tailpiece has been replaced (likely upon reversion back to a mandocello), and the bridge has been replaced with an ornate bone one. Still has the original Handel tuners. Has the original case though it’s pretty well beat up.
In Jan 2021, it had some neck-work done to straighten a bow that was affecting playability along with a refret. I have the original frets.
The sound is incredible. You can feel the vibration all the way through your rib cage when you strum it. Lordy, it is sweet.
SN: 17964
FON: 2085
Because the FON did not appear in Spann’s guide, Mr. Spann himself was contacted and had this to report:
“Over the past decade, additional data has caused me to slightly revise my chronological ideas about the earliest Gibson instruments. So, the information I relate to you here will differ from what you will find in my book. The FON 2085 indicates that this mandocello was produced in the first week of February 1912. I can state this with absolute certainty because FON 2084 was issued by Production Accounting on 2 February 1912 for the purchase of some tools. The serial number 17964 indicates that it was originally shipped towards the end of February 1912. I find no record of this instrument being returned to Gibson for repairs during the period March 1935 through January 1953.”
A communique to the previous owner regarding the name on the headstock.
“I retired from the Navy with 27 years back in 1993 – early in my career I was curious about the fact that some of the guys I enlisted with got a B number while I got all digits. One day early in my career when I was at the personnel office, I asked an old master chief personnelman who had served during WWII what he knew, and best as I recall, I’ll pass it to you. It may not be dead-on, but its what I rememeber… Turns out that just before I enlisted in the reserves in 1966, the Navy was running out of seven digit serial numbers and added a B and later a D (the navy had a habit of skipping letters and numbers)…. Then sometime in the early 70s we were told to forget our service numbers altogether (mine was 415 38 92 based on having enlisted at Lakehurst NJ) and use our social security numbers forevermore which also gave a rough approximation of where in the country we originated. Anyway, the first series of 7 digit service numbers were issued around WW1 . I assume that before then, with the Navy being very, very small, a ship’s muster roll and the telegraph in port and newfangled radios could verify a member pretty quickly – thus individual enlisted service numbers weren’t needed) , The original intent during WW1 was to issue them with the first 3 digits to represent a time period – (eg 100 being reserved for retirees and the initial bunch of active sailors serving until 1919) then 200 for the 20s and 300 for the 30s etc) During WW1 the navy was a shell of its 1865 (700 ship) self with less than 50,000 sailors, but when the next war was on the horizon in 1939, and the ranks swelled from from a handful of ships and 30,000 officers and sailors to more than three million by 1945, those seven digit 400 series numbers ran out early in 1942. During the war and thru to its demise, the modified service number with the first digit indicating the Naval District of induction was issued. Thus, if the owner enlisted in 1940 or 41, he would have for certain been issued a 4xx xx xx serial; if he enlisted between ’42 (when there were more than a million sailors on active duty – too many for the 7 digit service number beginning with a 4) and 1966 (when they went to the B number) and lived in Southern NJ or Eastern PA (4th Naval District) he would have received the later 4xx-xx-xx serial number. And I would guess that there were many duplicate serial numbers resulting from “retreads” who had seen service in WWI being recalled to active duty in WWII. As a mandolin “player” (some might argue that “foolerounder” is more appropriate) I know the Mandocello was built to fill a niche mandolin bands that were very popular until the early 1900s when the PanAm Expo introduced the US to the next musical craze – the Uke.”
Will consider offers to trade for a Lyon & Healy Mandocello only
