Fern mandolin

[LeeBohlen]

Does the term fern come about soley because of the headstock inlay being a fern? Or are there certain specifications that make it a fern model?

Thanks!

[Jerry Byers]

Are we talking modern or vintage? From what I've seen, the Fern had a different sunburst, typically with more of a red/yellow in the center. Gibson also used a w/b/w binding vs. the i/b/i binding used on the F-5. The vintage Ferns had both silver and gold hardware; today's Ferns are all gold hardware. I also believe the voicing was different with the Ferns, typically a much brighter sound. Today's builders are much more liberal with the Fern definition.

[sgarrity]

The Ferns were/are also sitka versus red spruce (Adirondack) on the Loars.

[Jerry Byers]

That certainly would affect the voicing.

[f5loar]

And then there are the Fern Loars! I believe the new term "Fern" just came out of the F5L which started out in 1978 being a Fern pattern as opposed to the previous modified flowerpot of the 70's. The old term "Fern" is attacted to the ones made from 1925 to 1936. A Loar "Fern" is in another league all by itself.

[GTison]

1. I've never heard anyone say that the 1920-30s "ferns" were sitka topped.
2. And I thought almost all of the fern models had gold hardware but had worn off over time. Seems I looked in the archives for a while trying to find a fern model w/ silver hardware.

3. the modern Gibson does have a model designation "Fern" which does have the above features, ie gold & sitka. They dropped the "F5L " in late 2001, after making some changes to the carving patterns, I think I read Charlie Derrington say this in the Mandozine archives.

[Jerry Byers]

About half of them listed have silver hardware.

[sgarrity]

The vintage "Ferns" were sitka topped. At least this is what I've been told by quite a few "experts." Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[GTison]

I looked back at the archive real quick. I do see several ferns w/ silver. I think when I was looking I was looking for a picture.

I wonder when they switched to sitka. Post Loar, but when.

[f5loar]

Legend has it that when Loar was fired in late '24 he backed up his "woodie" station wagon late at night and stole the remaining red spruce that was in stock. He also took the left over blank unsigned Loar labels and burned them out of spite. If he couldn't sign them then no one would sign them. And he poured all the specially formated quick dry varnish all over the shop floor. When the workers returned the next day they were able to soak up enough to do a few more Ferns. As far as Gold/silver there were several gold plated Loars.

[8ch(pl)]

I believe that Sitka Spruce was not harvested much before the early aircraft years of the 1920's. It rendered the long straight grained strong wooden members of the old Wood and Fabric Aircraft construction. It's use as a tone wood was likely a by product of these times. There was ample Appalachian Spruce then and the mandolin market was mostly in the east.

[Links]

Wonder how many tops the "Spruce Goose" would yield?