finger board extention usefull or worthless.

[varmonter]

I have a case of mas. In looking at various f styles i notice some have finger board extentions some do not.
Some folks remove the frets and scallop
Them out. I heard you can get pick
Noise when hitting them.??
Love t hear opinions likes and dislikes.
Can they actually be used or are they
More traditional/ ornamental??
I don't have one on my current rigel.

[fernmando]

I believe that the sound changes when the extension, the "Florida" as they say, is removed. My mandolins, for the most part, have had them. I don't use those frets, but I do prefer to play with a shallow pick. The Florida forces that, as to do otherwise produces a click.

[LadysSolo]

If you play high enough, you will need them. I have mine on my mandolins, and never hit them but I am not an aggressive picker. I will not have mine removed, as they do not bother me and I may someday need them.

[CES]

Chris Thile plays up there...I do not. I like Sam Bush's response when asked if he thought the tone of his Gibson changed when he removed his FB extension: "Yeah, that annoying click went away." (Or something like that).

I'll be avoiding the Florida or getting it scooped on future purchases, as I tend to dig in a little too deeply. Early on, the pick click was like a metronome for me. Insert eye rolling emoji.

[Bob Visentin]

My Rover has the worst of both. A FL without the frets. I would saw it off but it would hurt the resale.

My mandola has a FL and the highest note is a G. I am only allowed to play it once a night at our weekly community jam.

[mandobassman]

My Rover has the worst of both. A FL without the frets. I would saw it off but it would hurt the resale.

My mandola has a FL and the highest note is a G. I am only allowed to play it once a night at our weekly community jam.

I'm not sure it would hurt resale. You may lose potential buyers who would want the extension, but if it's there you would also lose potential buyers who would not want it. As you can see, people have strong opinions both ways. Personally, I would never have a mandolin that had the extension. The last F5 I had it got chopped off. I actually like the cut off look better anyway.

[foldedpath]

For me, it's a vestigial annoyance that has nothing to do with the music I play, and would actually hinder my playing with pick click. Sometimes I like digging in... try playing in a session with pipers!

My Lebeda F mandolin has an angled/gentle S-curve cutoff at the end of the fingerboard. I like the way it looks; a little fancier than a straight cut-off, and it stays out of my way. My Weber Yellowstone F octave mandolin has the "mustache" shape at the end of the fretboard; another shape that's a little more decorative than a straight cut-off, and it stays out of my way.

If I ever buy another mandolin, at any price, it will be one without a Florida extension. There are plenty of great, world-class mandolins out there without extensions.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From foldedpath - " There are plenty of great, world-class mandolins out there without extensions.". Absolutely - but. The most iconic mandolins, the Lloyd Loars,all have the extension & for me,it's part of the 'look'. I do play well above the 12th fret a lot when i'm improvising,just so that i'm able to do it. The extension's never got in my way,but as my Ellis "A" style has an abreviated extension,that's fine as well. My Lebeda is 'scooped',my Weber has the full extension & as i say,my Ellis has an abreviated extension,none of them pose any problems,
Ivan

[foldedpath]

I can understand wanting "the look" for playing Bluegrass, especially in a band. And maybe for Classical. I don't play those styles, but I'm still a sucker for the rest of the ornate F-style vibe with the scroll and the pointy bits. If it didn't cause pick click issues for me, I'd probably like the Florida bit too, on aesthetic grounds. I just don't want to have to alter my picking technique that much.

[DataNick]

Mine is scooped, but it still gets in my way causing "the click" sometimes because I dig in. I want to remove it but I fear the tone might be altered as some believe....I'm too scared to mess with my mando to have it removed....I guess I'm a bit superstitious...LOL!

[Stevo75]

How could removing that piece of floating material affect the tone? I'm actually curious, not being a smart a$$. That doesn't seem possible to me.

[acousticphd]

Yes, they're worthless. And the sound actually gets better when you remove it (or scoop it).
Just my opinion, but I didn't want to be vague about it.

[JeffD]

They are great for playing up there. Which is not unheard of. But they also can be in the way when trying to pick over the "sweet spot", giving you pick click. So its a trade off.

Except for pick click, I cannot think of a mechanism by which the finger board extension affects the sound of the instrument, positive or negative, though some do claim it does.

[Drew Egerton]

I rarely get up to the 12th fret and once in a rare while I do hit the 15th for the high G, but that's about it. Beyond that I can't do anything useful lol. I did try for the high B during an improv solo last gig. Definitely not above that.

[J Mangio]

I don't pick that high up the board, and pick at the end of the Florida, so it doesen't affect
my playing. I also like the look of an intact Florida on an F style Mandolin.

[fscotte]

I think it must have been an aesthetic decision. Suddenly with a raised fingerboard, you had all this room to design a cool looking extension since it wasn't attached to the top, it wouldn't mute the soundboard. I mean, how many guitars do you see with unusually long fingerboards? You don't because it would affect the top from moving freely.

[JeffD]

I think it must have been an aesthetic decision. .

I wonder. At the time the mandolin was used in classical and semi-classical music, where those notes were more likely to be an advantage. I heard Dave Apollon removed the 27th fret on the extension in order to make the 26th fret easier to hit accurately.

Maybe a bit of both actually. Because it is undeniably cool looking and must have been aesthetically appreciated from the start.

[Chris Daniels]

I mean, how many guitars do you see with unusually long fingerboards? You don't because it would affect the top from moving freely.

It's comments like this that always pique my interest and send me down the rabbit hole searching for those one-off instruments that go beyond common practice/sense. There were a few electrics with 27 plus the 31 fret Danelectro Guitarlin (yes, guitar/mandolin-in-one) but I had almost given up hope on an acoustic when I found this:

[DavidKOS]

If you play high enough, you will need them. .

I wonder. At the time the mandolin was used in classical and semi-classical music, where those notes were more likely to be an advantage.

Exactly!

If you play music styles that use those notes, you need the extension.

If you play music styles that do NOT use those upper register notes, then it's your own choice.

Personally I use every fret at some time or another, so I like the extensions.

[fscotte]

It's comments like this that always pique my interest and send me down the rabbit hole searching for those one-off instruments that go beyond common practice/sense. There were a few electrics with 27 plus the 31 fret Danelectro Guitarlin (yes, guitar/mandolin-in-one) but I had almost given up hope on an acoustic when I found this:

I'm posting from the position of what's useful to the masses. A guitar with an extended fretboard as shown in your video would no doubt need to be built to compensate for the stiffer area of the top. The masses do not need those frets, and I don't suspect it was entirely different in Loars time either. Thile, who makes wonderful use of the extended frets, doesn't represent 90% of us, then and now.

So I still stand by my uneducated guess that the florida was there for more aesthetics rather than useful purpose.

[DavidKOS]

So I still stand by my uneducated guess that the florida was there for more aesthetics rather than useful purpose.

I'm pretty sure that the Loar F5 was designed as a classical mandolin, so the extension was a necessary part of the instrument, not an aesthetic choice. The fact that it became the Bluegrass mandolin par excellence was not the designer's goal.

[MediumMando5722]

If mine had one, I'd have it scooped. My Eastman has the angled extension, which I think looks good.

[terzinator]

I'm not sure it would hurt resale. You may lose potential buyers who would want the extension, but if it's there you would also lose potential buyers who would not want it. As you can see, people have strong opinions both ways.

This is soooo true about many "modifications." Strap buttons, pickguards, pickups, non-original tuners, etc... If it's done correctly, you shouldn't have a problem.

That said, if I had a florida, I'd probably prefer it to be scooped, rather than chopped off. But I've never had one. Ahdunno.

[fscotte]

I'm pretty sure that the Loar F5 was designed as a classical mandolin, so the extension was a necessary part of the instrument, not an aesthetic choice. The fact that it became the Bluegrass mandolin par excellence was not the designer's goal.

I guess we would be getting into some serious instrument history here, but there were many instruments prior to the F5 that were purely classical in nature. Perhaps many pre-F5 instruments were classical by nature, yet the didn't have those extended Florida frets, which are nearly impractical to play for the masses.

[Chris Daniels]

Perhaps many pre-F5 instruments were classical by nature, yet the didn't have those extended Florida frets.

This is not entirely accurate. There are pre-Loar mandolins with a Florida fret extension, such as the 1908 F2 owned by Loar himself.

The practicality of the extension is certainly a matter for debate but I doubt it was originally added simply for aesthetics.

Note: To keep with the original intent of this thread, I chose my current F-model in part because it has a scooped extension after finding the un-scooped one on my original starter mandolin (Epiphone MM-50, which was marketed as a Loar F5 copy) very annoying due to pick-click. Any and all future mandos will have either a scooped or non-existent Florida.

C.