Book on Vintage mandolins

**GeetarPicka** · Jun-05-2006, 12:32pm

is there a good book on vintage/Gibson mandolins?

**carleshicks** · Jun-05-2006, 1:07pm

the F-5 journal It only pertains to F-5's but their is a lot of info

**Bob DeVellis** · Jun-05-2006, 2:40pm

There are books on Gibson that include some mandolin information. "Gibson Guitars: 100 Years of an American Icon" is a good example. There really isn't a good overview of vintage mandolins in general. Some of us have thought that it would be a great project but I don't know of anything that's in the works. Much more is generally known about Gibson than about most of the other vintage manufacturers, mainly because Gibson is still around. Documentation for Martin is pretty good but their mandolins definitely take a back seat to their guitars. There's a book on Washburn/Lyon & Healy but, again, it's primarily guitar-oriented. Vega, Bacon, Howe-Orme, Martin, Lyon & Healy, and other venerable American companies all made some pretty darn nice mandolins in their day but there's no one place to find information on them. A book would be a good thing, but such undertakings take time, coordination, and capital. The new Fretboard Journal might provide an outlet for some vintage mandolin history. Gregg Miner and I have an article on Howe-Orme mandolins coming out in the August issue. I think the editor, Michael Simmons, would be happy to see mandolin-related submissions. A quarterly publication on fretted instruments in general doesn't pull information together on a single topic the way a vintage mandolin book would but it may be the best outlet available for the time being.

**GeetarPicka** · Jun-05-2006, 2:44pm

I'm a newbie here but from what I found on this part of this message board I'd be more than happy when a book on this subject would be published someday. I really think the Loar era deserves it !