If one can visualize a mando-bass, the image that comes to mind is most likely that of a Gibson Style-J. Gibson mando-basses are indisputably the most commonly found of a comparatively rare instrument.
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Announced in April, 1911 and premiered in June of that same year, the Gibson mando-bass was the first American made instrument to hit the market.
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It was described in the 1914 Gibson Catalog
“Small, yet the colossus of tonal power of any of the Mandolin or Guitar family. Compact, yet securing the gigantic compass of six octaves to the Mandolin family alone. Simple execution, yet making possible an immensity of contrasting effects and versatility of tone coloring through widely diffused voicings that invest the Mandolin Orchestra with breadth of scope, depth, of extent of classic undertaking and profoundness of possibilities heretofore impossible.”
The first Gibson Style-J had a scale length of 36 inches, but however determined, Gibson concluded that the scale was too short to support the appropriate tone, and in 1914 made a considerable change and lengthened the scale to 42 inches, which according to Gibson necessitated a different playing style – one that distanced itself from their original “it is just like playing a guitar” to adopting, at least for the fretting-hand the method of the double-bass.
Gibson mando-basses came with the following features
- straight grain, graduated spruce top (sounding board)
- thoroughly air seasoned maple rim and back
- dark mahogany finish
- highly polished throughout
- Mexican mahogany, reinforced, non-warpable neck
- veneered head-piece with “The Gibson” in pearl
- solid ebony fingerboard with seventeen ovaled, narrow frets
- pearl position dots
- round sound-hole
- ivoroid binding invalid on outer upper edge of rim
- elevated arm rest
- good quality machine-head
- ebony nut
- “Gibson” extension string-holder’ maple bridge with adjustable ebony string saddles
- steel rod, adjustable extension floor rest
- weight sixteen pounds
Early Gibson mando-basses were shipped with a golden orange or “pumpkin” stain on the top, but in later years the options were expanded to an ebonized black, a sheraton brown, and the rarest of all a red-burst (common on their higher end mandolins).
To what degree the claims of wood are true is somewhat debatable as Gibson was well known for using various woods in their instruments, and they frequently used the process of ebonization to make normal hardwoods seem like ebony (cite Paul Fox). (the tone of the several Gibson mando-basses I have played varies so significantly, that I do think the Gibson claims are false)
Not all Gibson mando-basses came with the arm rest, and in the mid twenties, the Gibson logo on the headstock transitioned from the angled, pearl style to a horizontal, silk-screened one. Gibson was the only maker to feature a paddle-shaped headstock exclusively.
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Gibson produced mando-basses under the Gibson brand until approximately 1930, although they continued to list them (and harp-guitars) in their catalogs well into the mid-1930s, possibly owing to unsold stock. In much of their advertising, they used pictures of clubs and ensembles to show how all of the Gibson instruments fit together.
There are only 3 identified FONs for Gibson mando-basses ranging from 1912 to 1927.