Search:

No Tom, I probably was not quite clear enough. The Fern that Ken saw with the shape case was another, later Fern (# 85146, I just checked), which I sold to purchase the Rinzler Fern. The Rinzler Fern...

Yes it was. The case was in incredible condition, still had the key! But it did not offer much protection, the instrument was moving a lot inside the case, so I carried it most of the time in a...

Ken, are you refering to the time you came visiting me with Lynn in Johnson City around 2000? if so, you might be confusing the Fern I had then with the Rinzler that I own now. The Fern I had was a...

Wonderful job, not only the restauration part is awesome, but the mandola sounds great. It's always nice to see an instrument like that preserved and brought back to life. Thank you.

Sorry I misunderstood.

I think the banjo player, as all the other musicians, is excellent. Obviously these guys did not have the same mix in their monitors as the mix on the PA. Blame is to put on the soundman in the hall...

Wonderful article, Loudloar, i've learned tons of things. Thanks for sharing.

I had the chance to play Monroe's mandolin in 1981. What surprised me mostly after hearing and reading so many horror stories about the manly action was the fact that the action was fairly normal at...

I don't think I saw Larry Rice's first solo album either. "Mr Poverty", great record, I don't know if this has been reissued on CD, if it's not the case, I hope they will. I loved the duet vocals...

Darryl, Joe, this is great, fascinating stuff, please keep it coming!

[QUOTE=Joe Spann;1048074] Having said that, there is nothing to prohibit it from being constructed from older parts. The same Gibson employees who worked with Lloyd Loar in the period of 1922-1924...

I flew many times with violin and mandolin in two different cases, and rarely had problems, except on low cost flights with strict policies when they absolutely refuse a second hand luggage (in which...

I agree. Respect to a style implies a deep knowledge of it. I just believe that before experimenting, one needs to know the genre as deeply as possible, and I feel that this experimentation is...

Gary, I'm referring to the set of pictures you can view by pasting the link in the ad, not the picture featured in the add, where the peghead is cut. If you look at the picture of the Fern, the top...

That's a good point, and I gave it a lot of thought over the years. To each his own philosophy, but I always had a hard time mixing up traditions. I remember with terror about the 80s and the avent...

Hedgehog, you might be surprised to know that the French also write about such topics. Coal mining, civil war, love lost and found. My passion for bluegrass and for American history in general is...

Sorry I'm finding and joining this thread a little late. To answer the OP, I must say I agree with Philippe, there is no such thing as "French Bluegrass". Everyone I know overhere playing that music,...

I'm wondering why the top part of the Fern is not present. Everything else looks right on that peghead, but the fern is similar to the later ones when they moved to the horizontal logo. The Gibson...

Probably so.

I don't believe Jack ever owned a Loar. I spent a lot of time playing and discussing mandolins with him when I worked at ETSU. He was playing a Hutto at that time (and a good one!), and before that,...

Right. A dozen or so, according to the Archives. And most of them bear the same FON : 8231. It is fascinating to think that it took Gibson almost three years to get rid of the last Loars! That Spann...

So that would mean that between Dec. 1924 and early '28 when the first batch of Ferns came out, the only F-5s that came out the Gibson factory were Loars (signed or unsigned), that had remained...

Now, that raise an important question : should we use the manufacturing time or the shipping time to date an instrument? The Spann book makes a clear distinction between the FON which indicates the...

Sorry, I'm joining this thread a little late. Concerning the Rinzler Fern : yes, Robin, I still own it, and you're welcome to come play it anytime. Concerning the date of its construction, I agree...

That recording of Old Joe Clark also features Stuart Duncan on the third mandolin, if I remember right. That brings us back to another recent thread of yours Alan! Talking about it, I remember...