Curious.....with F4's and F2's ...how many blondes and black

[Gary Hedrick]

In the years of '21 and beyond how many blondes and black tops have folks seen with F2 and F4's?

The '21 of Mike Holmes in the Classifieds got me thinking about this question. I have seen very few. Some black top A models up into the '28's or so but not a lot of F models and of course there were fewer mandolins being made by Gibson in these "later" years.

[Glassweb]

I've never seen a black or blonde top F4 or F2 mandolin from that date on... of course with Gibson there were always exceptions or custom orders but the one in the classifieds ain't one of those...

not much about that mandolin looks "right" to me...

[allenhopkins]

The Vintage Guitars page on Gibsons -- which is not the last word, but pretty good info overall -- says the black tops stopped in 1914; my 1906 three-point is a black-top, but I've not seen '20's F-2's or F-4's with black tops unless refinished that way, and blonde ones are "hen's teeth," IMHO.

[Bob A]

The only blonde F4 I've ever seen or had my hands on is one that Mike Holmes was selling a few decades ago; it might be the one in the current ad. I chose to give it a miss at the time.

[lenf12]

The one on the left is s/n 26563 FON 2742. I believe that's 1916.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[V70416]

I once had a Loar-era, 1924, F4 that had a reddish sunburst. Sold it to one of the guys in Atlanta Mandoln Orchestra.
My 1915,F4 is black.

[f5loar]

If the cafe archives don't list one, I'd say there ain't many. A rare finish past 1921 would be the F4's in the F5 cremona finish. I've seen several of those.

[MartinMandolin]

i have a 1921 f4 black top , far as I can tell its original .

In the years of '21 and beyond how many blondes and black tops have folks seen with F2 and F4's?

The '21 of Mike Holmes in the Classifieds got me thinking about this question. I have seen very few. Some black top A models up into the '28's or so but not a lot of F models and of course there were fewer mandolins being made by Gibson in these "later" years.

[William Smith]

The one on the left is s/n 26563 FON 2742. I believe that's 1916.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

What year is your F-12 in the middle?

[lenf12]

It's a 1956 F-12 with what appears to be a 70's era neck. It was re-voiced by Randy Wood in 2008 so it sounds wonderful.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[William Smith]

Very Kool, nothing wrong with them 12's! For sure after Wood gives it the treatment! I have a rare 35 F-12 shortneck, greta tone, but that one will not get converted too rare!
Today I just bought a 58 F-5 "as is" from Gruhn at a great price, body is nice, neck is hammered! Its a reneck with original peghead overlay, and original fretboard, neck is a bad example looks crooked and wrong, George said fretboard is also kinda shot. but the body is nice, so I'll maybe pop the back off, regraduate and put a maple neck on with the profile I like, small peghead compared to the large one thats on it and radiused board with maybe block inlays and cock the neck back "John Duffey"style. It'll be a great one when I'm done!!
I tried to get the 39 F-5 from him as I sent my Uncle Gene Johnson to check it out as he lives closer to Gruhns than me, played it for me and said it was actually pretty decent but George said its going to that Belmont museum, bummer for me!!! I was going to swap some goods and cash for it, Can't wait to get the 58 F-5, real awesome price I think, well worth it.
I love conversions, the old F-7's are my faves!