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1918 Gibson H-1 Mandola:
$1850.00
I bought this about 15 years ago and the top had sunk, especially on the bass side. I made a bridge to fit that got the strings to the right playing height and played it like that for a while. I bought a Lebeda F model mandola and since I had two , I decided to get this one repaired. I took it to a buddy that builds and repairs instruments and asked him about it. He studied about it for a while and said he would take on the job. He took his time and worked the top as much as he could then put a strip of new wood into the top to stabilize it. It worked,
but he could not get the patch to blend with the original top so I asked him to finish it black and spray the back and sides. When strings put tension on the top the patch shows up in the finish. But it plays and sounds great. This was done in May of 2015 and is solid and stabile. The original pick guard was crumbling on the outside edge and what you see is all we could salvage. I haven’t been playing it and it needs a new home. A link to a sound sample.
