View Full Version : Story behind Bill Monroe's mandolin being vandalzd
Darren Kern
Oct-07-2004, 9:21am
Can anybody fill me in on what happened back then? I saw the pics on http://www.mandolinarchive.com and it's amazing to me that they were able to repair it.
JiminRussia
Oct-07-2004, 10:34am
Probably the best recounting of the story is in the book "Can'y You Hear Me Calling?". As to who did it, it remains an unsolved mystery to this day. The resoration was a labor of love and an incredible feat. If I remember correctly it took about six months of working on it every day to get it back into one piece. Maybe one of the Gibson Guys on the forum can give you better details.
mandobob
Oct-07-2004, 11:22am
Correct me if I'm get this wrong; the mando was run thru with a fire poker which led police to believe a female had done it.
The idea is a man would have grabbed it by the neck and smashed it.
Jim M.
Oct-07-2004, 11:33am
One of the Gibson Guys on the forum, Charlie Derrington, is The Man who put it back together. A feat that certainly should be in the Luthier's Hall of Fame.
Darryl Wolfe
Oct-07-2004, 11:40am
Yes, Charlie certainly should be proud of that job. I was almost in tears taking those "after" pictures that are on MANDOLINARCHIVE.COM. Those were taken very shortly after the mandolin was returned to Monroe, and I could not believe the mandolin would ever maintain it's stability and sound essentially the same as it did. In some respects the mandolin sounded better. It to my ear had a little bit stiffer snap to it. Thanks Charlie.
As to who did it, it remains an unsolved mystery to this day.
I always assumed that Monroe know who did it or had a very good guess. Probably, the woman that he most recently cheated.
f5loar
Oct-07-2004, 10:36pm
And what a looker she was! You wouldn't have the balls to turn her in either if she had done that to your Loar!
I'm thankful Big Mon was not there at the time or the firepoker might have been meant for him and we would not have enjoyed another decade of new bluegrass music. And don't forget it wasn't just one Loar, it was 2 Loars that were trashed that day! Charlie repaired both of them.
Has anyone even seen the 2nd Loar lately?
Nalapombu
Oct-08-2004, 4:05pm
I saw him on the old show on The Nashville Network (the talk show one) where he was asked about it and he said that someone busted them with a fire poker while he was out. He did mention 2 mandos that were busted but I think his main Loar was the one that got the majority of the damage. It was supposed to have pieces that size of matchsticks in an envelope when he brought it to Charlei Derrington. I also heard that when Charlie finished it and gave it to him, he cried.
jim simpson
Oct-08-2004, 6:18pm
The reason Bill cried was the phone # of a girl could not be found in the mandolin. Evidently Bill would stuff the f-hole with phone #s of his favorites. When Charlie asked about it Bill replied "You'll find her name written there". This turned out to inspire the song of the same title. True story, nope - good story, maybe.
Cletus
Oct-09-2004, 5:39am
Not that it really matters, but Bill's mandolin took Derrington about three months to repair. From the excellent book 'Can't You Hear Me Callin' the incident occurred on November 13, 1985 and Bill was presented the restored mandolin on February 25, 1986. No doubt, an amazing feat by Derrington.
Peter Hackman
Oct-09-2004, 5:43am
As to who did it, it remains an unsolved mystery to this day.
I always assumed that Monroe know who did it or had a very good guess. Probably, the woman that he most recently cheated.
That would have been his wife, Della, and she had an alibi!
GTison
Oct-13-2004, 7:28am
This made me re-read the article in the '86 frets magazine about the vandalism. It also had pics and some interviewing with Charlie Derrington, Gruhn and Siminof . Someone had some photos on ebay a while back of the mandolin all cracked up. I wondered where those photos came from as they were in Alabama. Some of these photos were in the '86 FRETS article. Very interesting to look at.
I also wondered if Charlie were doing the repairs today what he might do differently. I wondered if Glue selection might be different or any of the other things he had to do to get it back together. I have a video of Monroe soon after he got it back. It sounded pretty good in his hands to me.
Perhaps if the few Gibson-bashers would let-up.., Charlie D. would post a few words concerning the theme of this thread (as he has so graciously done previously). He WAS "da' man" ya' know!!. - http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif
adgefan
Oct-13-2004, 1:13pm
OK, stupid question time. How on earth was that mandolin repaired? Was it a case of gathering up all the shards and gluing them back into place?
However it was done, it's remarkable that anything was salvaged. I am very, very impressed.
lindensensei
Oct-13-2004, 1:36pm
What is really amazing is that Gibson could do that much work to an instrument in three months, but cant replace a simple truss rod in five... and counting...
Keith Wallen
Oct-13-2004, 1:43pm
What did Bill play while they were being fixed?
Blind_Cowboy
Oct-13-2004, 1:54pm
I had no idea that I was in such esteemed company as Mr. Derrington on this board. That is an amazing story that I am hearing for the first time today. Thank you folks for sharing it with me.
To Charlie,
You must certainly be proud of your amazing talent for instruments and repair. Your hands are blessed gifts.
f5loar
Oct-13-2004, 2:21pm
The lady in AL selling the bash photos was one of his live ins. She said he gave them to her as he didn't want to be reminded of the vandelism. While being repaired he used mostly his '78 F5L (who has that one?). And others loaned him theirs during the time including Charlie D.,Sam Bush,Ralph Rinzler and me to name a few.
theres a video on bill monroe, i got it at the library
well, they talk about that incident for a few minutes. they said vandals broke in and smashed his mandolin into a thousand pieces. all the pieces were sent to gibson where they put it together piece by piece.
they redid the finish, and that pissed bill monroe off, so he dug out the gibson name and took a piece of glass and ruined the finish.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000IREE.01._PE10_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
earthsave
Oct-13-2004, 2:41pm
Just to add to what I havent seen mentioned... There were two mandos and both were Loars. His main mando's tone bars were not damaged which I remember Mr. D say was the reason it kept it's tone. The other Loar was not so lucky and it never sounded the same. Parts from both mandos came to Mr. D in a paper sack and he had to sort them out based on grain and such...
You might search some of these keywords... cause I remember Mr. Derrington posting details about it early this year or maybe before that.
earthsave
Oct-13-2004, 2:43pm
theres a video on bill monroe, i got it at the library
well, they talk about that incident for a few minutes. #they said vandals broke in and smashed his mandolin into a thousand pieces. #all the pieces were sent to gibson where they put it together piece by piece. #
they redid the finish, and that pissed bill monroe off, so he dug out the gibson name and took a piece of glass and ruined the finish.
You sorta got two separate events mixed together and mixed up. #I believe he carved out the Gibson name, which was much later replaced after Gibson and Mr. Monroe made up for lack of a better phrase. He had sent it in for rework and they kept it for several months and didnt fix what he sent it in for... I am not remember the details clearly... it was either a neck reset or something like that.
Correct earthsave. I don't remember the exact year but the logo gouging took place many years before the vandal incident. In fact as Nalapombu mentioned he was so happy with the restoration it brought tears to his eyes.
GVD
Keith Wallen
Oct-13-2004, 5:35pm
The lady in AL selling the bash photos was one of his live ins. She said he gave them to her as he didn't want to be reminded of the vandelism. While being repaired he used mostly his '78 F5L (who has that one?). And others loaned him theirs during the time including Charlie D.,Sam Bush,Ralph Rinzler and me to name a few.
Thanks Tom!
GTison
Oct-13-2004, 7:01pm
I played the F5L at a friends house. When THE mandolin got busted he called for the F5L. They shipped it. ( I think on the Grayhound Bus) It was in that old case that Tut made and gave him. During the shipping it got busted too.
(I think that's the time line) An insurance claim was made on that one as a total loss. But I think someone in the band got it back and had it repaired. But later it was "lost" again.
To bring up a year old topic...
Why in the picture from mandolinarchive.com where Bill Monroe’s mandolin is smashed is the Gibson logo intact on the headstock, and the scroll present on the headstock?
http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/show_image.pl?139
It does not appear that the headstock has already been repaired because there appears to be damage to the binding on the left hand side of the headstock. #Yet there are other aspects that seem to match the "Frank Ray" picture of this mando
http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/show_image.pl?2603
such as the small dark patch of finish near the f-hole. #Is this inconsistant? Is this really a picture of bills "other" mandolin (and therefore not 73987)? #I emailed this question to info@mandolinarchive.com some time ago and never received a response. #Any thoughts?
Dan
Darryl Wolfe
Oct-31-2005, 11:10am
The photos on Mandolinarchive are from three distinct eras
Era One is prior to anything being done..no Gibson, no scroll (1972)
Era Two is after Gibson revamped the peghead
Era Three is post vandal repair
Spruce
Oct-31-2005, 11:27am
Here's a pic I snapped last week through the glass at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum...
salleyann
Oct-31-2005, 4:55pm
IN A CONVERSATION WITH CHARLIE D. YEARS AGO, HE SAID THE PIECES OF BOTH MANDOLINS WERE PICKED UP AND PUT TOGETHER IN THE SAME "TRASH BAG" WHEN THEY WERE FOUND. HE WAS HANDED THE BAG AND HAD TO SORT OUT WHAT WENT WITH WHICH MANDOLIN BEFORE HE COULD EVEN START REPAIRS. HE THEN MATCHED PIECES THAT WOULD FIT WITH EACH OTHER AND GLUED THEM TOGETHER, WRAPPED THEM WITH SEWING THREAD AND PUT THEM ON A SHELF TO DRY OVERNIGHT. THEN
HE REPEATED THE PROCESS OVER AND OVER WITH THE GLUED PIECES UNTIL COMPLETED. A MONUMENTAL TASK FOR ANYONE, IT STILL AMAZES
ME WHEN I THINK ABOUT IT!
GTison
Oct-31-2005, 8:27pm
I'll answer. Bill's mandolin was repaired by Gibson in a goodwill gesture BEFORE THE VANDALISM. They repaired the headstock and I believe a few other minor things. Not too long after that the vandalism was done. That's why you see the Gibson name on the headstock in the beat up pics. There are a few pics of the other mandolin but not many. It looks "better" than his main mando. The binding got broke in the fire poker vandalism as well.
Spruce, did you get any more shots? I have very few of that oh-so-importane instrument for the archives
Spruce
Nov-01-2005, 9:23am
Hi Dan....
Man, I need to get a good digital camera, 'cause the shots I got are about of the same quality as the one I posted....
I'll send you what I have....
I also ran into someone at IBMA who has some good shots of #73987 just before the first restoration...
Will send those on if and when they appear....
Celtic Saguaro
Nov-01-2005, 9:29am
Bill and Gibson made up their differences before the vandalism. #They did some repair work, and with his permission restored the logo.
Here are a few shots I found on my hard drive. I think they are from the Frets Magazine article from Feb '86 on the repair of Bill's mandolin.
jim simpson
Nov-01-2005, 4:31pm
Whoever did the damage knew how to hurt a man by damaging his instrument!
Amazingly enough I was just having a discussion about this with Mrs. Moon. She just bought me a new F-5G for our 25th wedding anniversary. She mentioned that if she got pissed off the mandolin was safe but I'd better watch my sorry a$$.
JEStanek
May-03-2006, 6:49pm
Congrats and walk the straight and narrow, Diego.
Jamie
jim simpson
May-03-2006, 6:57pm
I guess there are no pictures of the inside of the top plate after repair? I wondered about the use of any cleats?
wsm: THOSE pics!! - enough to tear your heart - and soul OUT!! - Thanks for posting -The thunder and lightning of Bluegrass... Thanks to Charlie D. & staff - the surgery!! - Moose. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/coffee.gif