Info on 1921 Gibson F-4

[Rick Albertson]

Looking for any information I can find on Gibson 1921 F-4 mandolins. Will appreciate help greatly. Thanks.

Rick

[danb]

What do you want to know?

[fatt-dad]

Heck, I'll give you some information: They're expensive, may be in need of repair, hard to find and may or may not sound very good (for example depending on the aforementioned repair efforts). They're also cool looking, an historical icon to the heyday of modern mandolin building and if in good repair fun to play. For photos, go to the link of the post above. If you get one, I'd make sure that it's gone over by a smart and talented luthier who has some experience with these things. People often hate to think of their instruments as investments, but I'd think an F4 would be a good one. That said, they're ment to be played.

f-d

[jim_n_virginia]

I'll add this too... if you have one in good shape you've got a mandolin that is the perfect counterpart to a F-5 mandolin. Between the two mandolins you would pretty much have every genre of music covered tonally I would think.

I played an early 20's F-4 Gibson a while back when I played at a Contra dance and a guy was there playing one and we swapped mandolins (I have Gibson Fern)for a while and that mandolin had tone like I never heard.

Exactly like what an oval hole mandolin should sound like, deep, resonant, some people describe it as "tubby"

I would LOVE to own one! If you can afford it and can get one GET IT because the prices are going up fast!

2 or 3 years ago you could get one for 2 or 3K now the prices routinely go upwards above 5K!

[allenhopkins]

Here are a couple currently up on eBay:

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Circa-1910-Gibson-F-4-Mandolin_W0QQitemZ270036737564QQihZ017QQcategoryZ1 0179QQrdZ1QQcmdZVi
ewItem" target="_blank">1910 F-4</a>

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/1920s-Gibson-F-4-mandolin-with-OHSC_W0QQitemZ130035443925QQihZ003QQcategoryZ10179 QQrdZ1QQc
mdZViewItem" target="_blank">1920's F-4</a>

Price seems to be ranging $3.5-5.5K.