Three 1924s

[Gail Hester]

It was a real treat the other day to have all three of these wonderful mandolins in the shop at the same time. #Both F4 and H4 have original Virzi Tone Producers. #None of these are presently in the archive but hopefully I took enough pictures in case Dan wants to add them.

[Gail Hester]

Here's the back of the Fs.

[Glassweb]

That's some good wood right there... would love to play 'em!

[Gail Hester]

The H4 in its original case.

[Gail Hester]

The F4. I had to take the pictures fast without checking them because the owner of the two Fs was picking up another mandolin but I tried. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Steve Davis]

My dream collection. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif How did they sound?

[Gail Hester]

I got the A4 with strings off so I won’t know how it sounds until I’m finished working on it and get it strung up. Just from handling it and tapping the box I expect it to be a great sounding snakehead.

The F4 has some setup issues, old strings and lots of buzzing but I expect it will be a very good sounding F4 once set up properly.

The H4 sounds great/dreamy, rich and lush, articulate all the way up the neck and is everything you would expect from a mandola.

[TeleMark]

Gail...

Two questions... What is your address, and Do you have an alarm system?

Sub-question... If the answer to question 2 is "yes," what is the code?

[GTison]

What year is the F4? I have some ratty old tuners like that; soon to be for sale.

[Stephanie Reiser]

Gail, I noticed that the F-4 does not have the Ebony centerline inlay on the back of the neck. I had always thought they all had that feature. Interesting.

[Gail Hester]

Stephanie, it seems that more had the ebony neck inlay than didn't but a lot of them did not and the A4 pictured does not as well.

bowfinger, all three mandolins are from 1924 and have nearly identical finishes. It was a rare and exciting for me to have them here at the same time.

[danb]

Hello Gail, please do send me the details for the archive

[Darryl Wolfe]

Gail, I have an interesting question..I have never seen those tuners mounted in that way on an F4....do they tune "backwards" ?

Or are there a few sets of "worm under" Waverlys (bump end tuners) out there that tune correctly?

Do you know what I mean?

dgw

[Gail Hester]

Darryl, yes these turn correctly. I also have the A-style version on our 1924 that are the same.

Here's a better picture.

[Glassweb]

If anyone out there has a set of tuners that are IDENTICAL to the F4 tuners above, please PM me... thanks!

[Darryl Wolfe]

Amanda,

Generally speaking the three piece ebony stripe necks disappeared when the truss rod was introdued. Of course there are exceptions.

dgw

[atetone]

Gail, I see that all 3 of the mandos have the brown tuner buttons even though they are not all the same style #tuners.
Are all 3 close in serial #s?
Also, is there a name or nickname that has been attached to that color tuner button that anyone is aware of?

[Gail Hester]

I've heard them refered to as butterscotch buttons and I've seen the marbled as well as the solid ones.

The F4 is 78XXX and has round end tuners, the H4 is 76XXX with arrowhead tuners and the A4 is 75XXX and has arrowhead tuners.