Official Luthiers Forum!
http://w-ww.luthiersforum.com/forum/

Any F5 lovers out there?
http://w-ww.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=11791		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:59 pm ]
Post subject: 


This was a table at the Dallas International Guitar Show. It caught my eye.





Author:  Arnt Rian [ Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:16 am ]
Post subject: 
Any F5 lovers, are you kidding; does the pope wear a funny hat?! So who's table was it, I can't make out the name. They sure look nice tho.
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:12 am ]
Post subject: 
Arnt, I might be wrong, but I believe it says, "The Gibson."   

It was near the Gibson booth, but honestly, there didn't seem to be anyone around.
Author:  Arnt Rian [ Thu Apr 26, 2007 10:39 am ]
Post subject: 
You could be right, I think I heard about them...



Actually, now that I take a closer look I recognize at least the Sam Bush model and what is probably the Doyle Lawson model so they are Gibsons all right.

Were other mandolin makers present or was this it?
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:12 pm ]
Post subject: 
Since I was invited by others, and they had agendas, I stopped at a total of two booths of my own choosing.

You sure seem to know your mandos. I took few pictures of guitars for some reason. Next year I go alone....
Author:  curtis [ Thu May 03, 2007 7:03 pm ]
Post subject: 

drooooooooll.....


 mandolin is pretty scarce over here in the uk the f's are all gorgeous.


whats the difference between f5 and f4?


i started to learn mandolin a few months ago - jeez have i got a long road ahead..but a good one


 
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Fri May 04, 2007 8:49 am ]
Post subject: 
Gibson no longer offers the F-4, but I bet you can find one on
Ebay to look at.
Author:  curtis [ Sat May 05, 2007 7:44 pm ]
Post subject: 

thanks - everydays a school day!


whats the tonal difference?
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Mon May 07, 2007 4:53 am ]
Post subject: 
Where's Frank Ford?
Author:  Arnt Rian [ Mon May 07, 2007 10:32 am ]
Post subject: 
I'm not Frank Ford, but...

The F4 was Gibson’s top of the line mando until the F-5 came along in 1922. I am not sure when they started making the F4, but I have seen pictures of examples from early 1900’s, and it was discontinued in 1943. The early F4’s had the 3 point body style of that period, with very ornate fingerboards and head stocks. When the F5 was introduced, it got the same body shape as the F4 at the time, which is the familiar scroll and 2 points.

Here are some important differences between the models (there are probably plenty more, you should ask over on Mandolin Cafe, they really know this stuff over there):

The F4 has an oval soundhole, the F5 has f-holes.
The F4’s neck joins the body at the 12th fret, the F5 at the 15th (this changes the bridge’s position on the body).
Elevated fingerboard extension; the F5 fingerboard extension is ends in a “Florida” shape; these days it usually is lowered of omitted because it can interfere with picking in this area, but along with the longer necks this should give access to more notes.
The F4 has a mahogany neck (usually), the F5 has maple.
F4 neck pitch is 4°, F5 is 6° to achieve 16° string break angle (over bridge)
The Loar (see below) period F5 has a “Cremona Brown” sunburst, the F4’s of this period had a reddish sunburst finish.

A good F5 should have that nice “chop” that bluegrass musicians love for chording, and a more direct and cutting lead sound that can be heard above the banjo in a jam. The F4’s sound is usually described as rounder, warmer and so on.

The F5 was the brainchild of “acoustical engineer” and mandolinist Lloyd Loar who was employed at Gibson at this time, and was introduced along with the rest of the “Master Model” instruments in about 1922: the H-5 "Master Model" mandola, K-5 "Master Model" mando-cello, L-5 "Master Model" guitar (the first “modern” archtop guitar), and style 5 "Master Tone" (later to become "Mastertone") banjos. He was very important in the design and development of these instruments, but his role in the production of these instruments and to what degree he participated in the building of them is unclear to me. It did include the "resonance tuning" of air chambers; the hand tuning of soundboards, backs, tone bars (which the F4 did not have BTW), and f-holes. He was motivated by the work of the great violin makers and sought to include their features in the development of his fretted instruments. It is also no question that quality control at the Gibson plant was very high when he was there and it dived when he left. Some of the Loar F5’s had a “Virzi Tone Producer”, a spruce disk suspended from the soundboard inside the instrument.

The Loar period instruments are like the holy grail to many, and they are priced accordingly. Some of the fame of the F5 mandolin is no doubt due to Bill Monroe’s 1923 model, which he invented or defined bluegrass music with.
Author:  curtis [ Mon May 07, 2007 6:46 pm ]
Post subject: 

fantastic- i've read a bt about Lloyd Loar in Roger H Simnoff's excellent book - and he obviously holds him in very high regard. In fact Siminoff's website hs a section dedicated to Loar. Seems like he was a great pioneer in terms of mandolin development. Thanks for the info!
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Tue May 08, 2007 12:12 am ]
Post subject: 
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Tue May 08, 2007 12:14 am ]
Post subject: 
I knew about the Verzi, after reading about Dudenbostel's F-5 built for Nickel Creek's Chris Thile, which includes a Verzi in his.
Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 5 hours
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/