StreetLegal
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Yes, please. Especially the label that should be visible thru the soundhole, headstock (front and rear) and back. The label (color, shape, etc.) would be especially useful to someone who knows what they're looking for.Can you share some more photographs?
What I am sure of is that you've got a nice old uke with some great family history attached. Make sure it is properly humidified! It's survived this long, but your dry New Mexico air and drier air conditioning will kill it.
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delete..........Hi StreetLegal,
Gibson started out producing ukuleles in 1925 with a tenor size - rather unusual. They weren't mentioned in their 1926 catalog, though. All Gibson tenor ukes had pin bridges, the early ones even had five pins in them (the fifth being a kind of spare wheel, without any string attached).
Yours is a bit later. The black headplate and curly script on your instrument suggest it's built late 1930s.
The stamped number on the inside isn't a serial number, but a 'FON', a Factory Order Number. It was used to trace all parts and material costs during production, was attributed to an instrument rather at random. The number was therefore sometimes reused, on different or very similar instruments. One thing is quite sure: DG stands for a Gibson made in 1938. Or rather, 'started' in 1938, so It could have been finished in early 1939 as well.
Gibson experimented with its tenors more than with any other model: spruce instead of mahogany tops, X-bracing, electrical pickup systems, cutaways, ... The unusual thing about yours is the 'open book' headstock instead of the usual 'pointed' one.
Simple binding on the top of the body and white bone nut and saddle suggest a style 2, but Gibson never was very precise and originally stamped all these 'TU', for Tenor Ukulele.. In fact, the diversification only came about in the 1940s with a simplified TU-1 and in 1950 with a fancier TU-3 - only from then on did the standard TU change into a TU-2. TU-1 production halted in 1955, TU-3 in 1965, the TU-2 probably in 1967 when the last sopranos and baritones were made as well in the Kalamazoo factory.
Gibson ukuleles and especially Gibson tenor ukuleles are really underrated.
I love instruments with stories and history.
If you're planning to keep the uke, you owe it to yourself and your grandfather to at least try to learn to play it.I 've not seen any pricing on ukes that would entice me to want to sell it.
If you're planning to keep the uke, you owe it to yourself and your grandfather to at least try to learn to play it.
If you decide it's not for you, then perhaps there's someone else in the family who might appreciate it more? If nothing else, sell it to someone who will enjoy and play it.
First step, if you want to try going it alone, is to put on a new set of strings.I agree 100% - I need to learn to play it. In fact, I agree with everything you said.
I had a 1941 Gibson J55 that belonged to my father. It was rare and valuable. I sold that due to 1) deterioration from lack of use, 2) I needed the money, and 3) my father and I didn't have a good relationship for the last 9 years of his life. Someone bought it who will take care of it and appreciate it and that's good.
I believe it is a War-time gold script (1943-1945) Style 2 Tenor.