General Information About "The" Gibson

[banjoboy]

I have another thread that I posted about not knowing what to do with my mandolin purchasing funds. I wasn't consider a Gibson until a couple popped up in my price range. Any information about Gibsons, especially F5G would be greatly appreciated.

[Ted Eschliman]

A preemptive "word" posted prior to the Poster's (now edited) comments.

Avoid flaming or trolling – posts intended to create discord, antagonize others or create general mayhem. Be polite and courteous at all times. We expect spirited discussions and widely varying opinions that some may even find offensive, but exercise caution. A good rule of thumb is don't say anything on the message board that you wouldn’t say to someone in person.

[MikeEdgerton]

Ask yourself this. If Gibson's quality is so bad why do people keep buying them? Are all of those people that buy Gibson's total idiots? There was a thread here recently about a Weber that had to be sent back so many times that they finally replaced it. Are all Webers bad because of that? There have been a number of threads about Eastman 500 series with tailblock problems. Are all Eastman 500 series bad? Everybody slips a bad one out now and then, the bigger you are the bigger the target you become.

[allenhopkins]

As I stated in the other thread, generalizations about different brands of mandolin, IMHO, take you only so far. I would hazard a guess that any major mandolin producer has at one time or another produced an instrument, or several instruments, that didn't satisfy the purchaser(s). There is a conventional wisdom consensus that Gibson mandolins from the '60's and '70's were not received as well as earlier models, and that the situation improved markedly with Gibson's acquisition of Flatiron, and the involvement of the Flatiron staff with the design and construction of Gibson instruments, in Montana and Nashville.

There also seems to be a conventional wisdom consensus that current Gibson instruments are by and large very well-made. This doesn't mean that everyone likes the design or the sound of them; about these factors there are differing opinions, and some of the disagreement revolves around taste preferences. Since the newest Gibson of the several I own is 22 years old (the oldest is, I believe, 103 years old) I can't talk about current Gibson quality control from direct experience.

I do think, however, that the variations among individual instruments are so significant, that selecting a mandolin based on brand alone is a questionable strategy. I have played Gibsons I loved, and others that didn't impress me at all. Same for other brands. You mentioned planning to spend about $3K on a mandolin, and planning to have it shipped to you sight unseen, without "A/B-ing" it against a variety of other instruments. It's your money and your choice, but I wouldn't do it that way; I'd go to dealer who had a variety of different instruments, play all that I could afford, and pick the one that I liked best.

I wish you the best in your search, and hope you find an instrument that's great for you!

[banjoboy]

A preemptive "word:"

Avoid flaming or trolling – posts intended to create discord, antagonize others or create general mayhem. Be polite and courteous at all times. We expect spirited discussions and widely varying opinions that some may even find offensive, but exercise caution. A good rule of thumb is don't say anything on the message board that you wouldn’t say to someone in person.

Thank you. Certainly it is not my intent to create discord, and I apologize if that was construed as my purpose. As noted above, in my first post, I edited it so as not to cause any problems. Just need info. Not too many Gibsons out where I live. No stores carry them, so I depend on the kindness of strangers for information. Thanx.

[MikeEdgerton]

For anyone wondering what happened here, the original post was edited by the OP after three replies. The message changed a bit.

I have an F5G, it's a great mandolin. I played every mandolin at Mandolin Brothers (inlcuding several that were higher Gibson models as well as other brands) and just kept coming back to this one. It spoke to me.

[ilovemyF9]

Wine, Single Malt Whisky, Women/Men, song AND Mandolins are a PERSONAL CHOICE!!

What floats your boat may sink mine. I feel people need to dig deeper in their enquiries about a certain Mando. "What should I look out for?" "Is there something I need to know before I make my purchase?” What about the Warranty history with the Company"? Etc, etc....

"There is nothing either good or bad, 'tis thinking that makes it so"
William Shakespeare

[man dough nollij]

I agree with Allen that generalization only goes so far. I had the privilege of going on a lot of road trips this year, going to a lot of music stores and playing everything on the wall.

At one particularly good store in the Denver area, I picked pretty much everything they had there, including some vintage Gibsons and a bunch of new, high-end Collings. One mandolin that really stood out was a humble Eastman 515, I think. It was a really great sounding mandolin, and sounded better to me than a lot of 'em costing ten times more.

I wouldn't extrapolate from that to say that all Eastmans (Eastmen?) are great, and certainly wouldn't say that they're better than Collings, in general. Greatness is a really individual thing in something like a tiny wooden instrument.

I think Collings (as an example) is really doing the right thing by emphasizing consistency. I don't think I have ever heard of a Collings that was a dog. That's pretty amazing, given the thousands of instruments they have cranked out.

Gibson, on the other hand is struggling back to earn a good reputation, after putting out thousands of dogs in the 60s and 70s. Great mandolin production and consistency were not a priority, and now they're paying the price. They seem to have made great strides in their QC and overall product, so that they are undeniably one of the premier builders around. I haven't heard too much bad about their new stuff. If they keep it up, they'll outlast the bad rap from the questionable years. Theres a big difference, though, between their reputation and most folks being able to say "I've NEVER heard a bad Collings". That kind of customer reputation is golden.

[Timbofood]

Every piece is different, not necessarily better, play as many as you can and make your own decision. I've played high end instruments that just didn't have what I wanted. and found the fire burning brightly in some humble little thing in the corner. No real help about a specific instrument but, it's really unfair to be overly general about them.