Gibson Alrite Style D Flat Top Mandolin (1915)
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Gibson Alrite Style D Model Flat Top Mandolin (1915), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 747, natural varnish finish, birch back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard.
The Style D "Alrite" mandolin was a colorful if fairly short-lived Gibson experiment, the company's very first attempt at a flat-topped instrument. Gibson's entire marketing strategy in the 1910s was built around the superiority of their arched-top designs, so the company had to tread carefully when opening up this new area! They differentiated it somewhat from the rest of the arch-topped line by using a new oval, flat-bodied design for the instead of the standard Gibson shape. The company fitted this with their standard neck and hardware with a lower cost tailpiece and tuner strips. The model was introduced in 1911 with a $17.00 list price, which had risen to $20.00 by 1917.
Gibson seemed somewhat ambivalent about the idea from the beginning, but the "Alrite" instruments were built for about 7 years if in fairly small numbers. The flat top is amber spruce, with colored wood marquetry around the edge and soundhole. The unbound back and sides are cherry-stained birch, while the neck is mahogany with an unbound, dot inlaid ebony fingerboard. The "paddle" headstock is plain with no logo; the round oval paper label under the soundhole guarantees "The Alrite" as a product of the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Company. The serial number #747 is in the unique series used only for "Alrites" while the factory order number dates it to early 1915.
The Style D has a distinctive feel and sound, and despite its short shelf life is well-remembered; the Flatiron company was originally founded to produce instruments based on this model in 1977. Gibson kept the plain-Jane low-cost line alive with the "Army-Navy Special", which was built beginning around 1918 to the same general design as the Alrite but dispensed with all decorative trim, sporting only a utilitarian brown finish. These were supposedly intended originally for sale to Doughboys at military PX's (hence the name) but mostly marketed by Gibson as student instruments.
This was followed by the "Junior" models introduced after 1919, but the "A-Jr." mandolin was built with a carved top, and Gibson allowed the flat-top mandolin design to languish until the 1930's. The original Style D Alrite is a pretty unique instrument and has a unique tone, bright and peppy but with a distinctly Gibson flavor. This is a superb, excellent-playing and sounding example of this rare and distinctive mandolin, easily the nicest we have had.
Overall length is 24 1/4 in. (61.6 cm.), 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm.) width, and 1 15/16 in. (4.9 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 14 in. (356 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/8 in. (29 mm.).
Overall this is a lightly played in example of this 110 year old mandolin. There is light general wear varnish micro-checking overall, with shallow pick marks and scratching to the top and small dings, scrapes and dents to the finish on the rest of the instrument. A couple of old seam re-seal repairs to the back edge are visible; the birch back often shrinks off the rims on these but everything is solidly glued up.
All hardware is original including strip tuners, tailpiece and "clamshell" cover, tortoise celluloid pickguard and clamp. The bridge is the original solid carved piece with separate saddle pieces, the one under the A tuner is a repro. The top has a slight sink in the middle, but less than many of these and all the bracing is solid. This is a very good sounding and playing "Alrite", a century+ old survivor with a really cool vibe, housed in a newer foam case. Excellent - Condition.
The Style D "Alrite" mandolin was a colorful if fairly short-lived Gibson experiment, the company's very first attempt at a flat-topped instrument. Gibson's entire marketing strategy in the 1910s was built around the superiority of their arched-top designs, so the company had to tread carefully when opening up this new area! They differentiated it somewhat from the rest of the arch-topped line by using a new oval, flat-bodied design for the instead of the standard Gibson shape. The company fitted this with their standard neck and hardware with a lower cost tailpiece and tuner strips. The model was introduced in 1911 with a $17.00 list price, which had risen to $20.00 by 1917.
Gibson seemed somewhat ambivalent about the idea from the beginning, but the "Alrite" instruments were built for about 7 years if in fairly small numbers. The flat top is amber spruce, with colored wood marquetry around the edge and soundhole. The unbound back and sides are cherry-stained birch, while the neck is mahogany with an unbound, dot inlaid ebony fingerboard. The "paddle" headstock is plain with no logo; the round oval paper label under the soundhole guarantees "The Alrite" as a product of the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Company. The serial number #747 is in the unique series used only for "Alrites" while the factory order number dates it to early 1915.
The Style D has a distinctive feel and sound, and despite its short shelf life is well-remembered; the Flatiron company was originally founded to produce instruments based on this model in 1977. Gibson kept the plain-Jane low-cost line alive with the "Army-Navy Special", which was built beginning around 1918 to the same general design as the Alrite but dispensed with all decorative trim, sporting only a utilitarian brown finish. These were supposedly intended originally for sale to Doughboys at military PX's (hence the name) but mostly marketed by Gibson as student instruments.
This was followed by the "Junior" models introduced after 1919, but the "A-Jr." mandolin was built with a carved top, and Gibson allowed the flat-top mandolin design to languish until the 1930's. The original Style D Alrite is a pretty unique instrument and has a unique tone, bright and peppy but with a distinctly Gibson flavor. This is a superb, excellent-playing and sounding example of this rare and distinctive mandolin, easily the nicest we have had.
Overall length is 24 1/4 in. (61.6 cm.), 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm.) width, and 1 15/16 in. (4.9 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 14 in. (356 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/8 in. (29 mm.).
Overall this is a lightly played in example of this 110 year old mandolin. There is light general wear varnish micro-checking overall, with shallow pick marks and scratching to the top and small dings, scrapes and dents to the finish on the rest of the instrument. A couple of old seam re-seal repairs to the back edge are visible; the birch back often shrinks off the rims on these but everything is solidly glued up.
All hardware is original including strip tuners, tailpiece and "clamshell" cover, tortoise celluloid pickguard and clamp. The bridge is the original solid carved piece with separate saddle pieces, the one under the A tuner is a repro. The top has a slight sink in the middle, but less than many of these and all the bracing is solid. This is a very good sounding and playing "Alrite", a century+ old survivor with a really cool vibe, housed in a newer foam case. Excellent - Condition.