Gibson Alrite Style D Model Flat Top Mandolin (1917), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, natural varnish finish, birch back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, brown soft shell case.
The style D "Alrite" mandolin was a very short-lived Gibson experiment, the company's first attempt at a flat-topped instrument. Gibson's entire marketing campaign was built around the superiority of their carved-top design, so the company had to tread carefully when opening up this new area! Using an oval, flat-bodied design for the new "Alrite" model, Gibson fitted their standard neck and hardware with a lower cost tailpiece and tuner strips.
Gibson seemed ambivalent about the idea from the beginning, and the instruments were built for only a year or so in fairly small numbers. The top is amber spruce, with colored wood marquetry around the edge and soundhole. The back and sides are cherry-stained birch, while the neck is mahogany with an ebony fingerboard.
The Style D has a distinctive sound, and despite its short shelf life is well-remembered; the Flatiron company was 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 to the same general design as the Alrite but dispensed with all decorative trim, sporting only a utilitarian brown finish.
These were intended originally for sale to Doughboys at military PX's. This was followed by the "Junior" models introduced after 1919, but the "A-Jr." mandolin was built with a carved top, leaving the flat-top mandolin design to languish until the 1930's. The Style D Alrite has a unique tone, bright and peppy but with a distinctly Gibson flavor. This is a good-playing and sounding example of a rare mandolin.
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 a nice example; tailpiece cover is missing and a larger ebony bridge replaces the original. Some general wear and old repairs to the back edge (the birch back often shrinks on these) and play wear to the top. A good-sounding and playing "Alrite".
