Gibson f-5l ferns

[Gibsonman]

Anybody know when Gibson started making the F5-L , and when they started doing the dovetail necks?

[G. Fisher]

1978-Roger Siminoff headed the project.

[Gibsonman]

Can you tell me more information on the necks, as far as construction? Also how were these mandolins, or when did they start making a decent F5 L ?

[Nolan]

I think they went to the dovetailed neck when they moved to Nashville. #I believe the older neck joint is a mortise and tenon.

[Danny Clark]

to the best of my knowledge they started actually calling them a F-5L in 1979 ,started dovetail around 1999 .
Danny

[KenR]

I owned the 2nd F5L made. I believe I got it in '80 or '81.
It had a dowel and epoxy joint. The neck pulled away from the body twice and each time I returned it to Gibson it came back with the neck angle was reduced to the point where it had no volume at all. I know of several others that had this same problem. Stay away from all '80's Gibson mandolins.

[f5loar]

Monroe was given the first F5L so they say and it is dated June 1,1978 and it was noted as an F5L. As far as I last knew the last time I saw it in a band James Monroe had recently the neck was holding up just fine.

[Bill Halsey]

Can you tell me more information on the necks, as far as construction? Also how were these mandolins, or when did they start making a decent F5 L ?
Throughout the redesign stages, Gibson engineering dept. management insisted upon retaining the one-piece neck/straight mortise construction that immediately preceeded the F-5L. So the neck, the neck block riser (known in the factory as the "half-moon" block) and the fingerboard support were all combined into one piece, but made to look like three, with the celluloid cross-piece inserted in a slot under the 15th fret.

There were three prototypes built, and stamped as such on the back of the headstocks. One went to the 1978 summer NAMM show in Chicago, one was presented to Roger Siminoff for his considerable involvement in the project, and one had a cosmetic problem (how the spruce accepted the hand-stained sunburst) and remained in the plant manager's office. I thought the latter was the best sounding, although all three prototypes were really quite decent.

Edit: I spoke today with Aaron Cowles, the last mandolin maker to leave the Kalamazoo Gibson plant in 1984. He assured me that the F-5L neck/body joints were straight mortise/tenon (not dovetailed) through the close of the Kalamazoo factory in 1984.