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jso
Apr-04-2013, 9:56am
Just been reading the "what's the point of a scroll?" thread. And this even more basic question arose in my befuddled mind.
Presumably not just because Fs have f holes?
Is it because of the scroll? Not that scrolls look like Fs. More like Ss if anything.

And why As? As don't look like As. Some look more like Os. Or tear-drops.

Who labelled these instruments thus?

goaty76
Apr-04-2013, 10:23am
Orville Gibson was responsible for the A and F designations. I believe he used these model names when he was a private builder before The Gibson Co. was formed in 1902.

Phil

Rob Beck
Apr-04-2013, 10:29am
I have heard that the "F" stands for Florentine, and seem to always include the scroll, and that the "A" stands for Artist, although this is probably debatable! Some F mandolins like the F4 do not have f holes, and some A style mandolins do have f holes. There are probably lots of threads about this on the cafe :0)

Rob

MikeEdgerton
Apr-04-2013, 12:03pm
I have heard that the "F" stands for Florentine, and seem to always include the scroll, and that the "A" stands for Artist, although this is probably debatable! Some F mandolins like the F4 do not have f holes, and some A style mandolins do have f holes. There are probably lots of threads about this on the cafe :0)

Rob

That's wrong. They are simply letters. Gibson used U as the designation for the harp guitar. To the original poster:

The F and A are body styles, shapes as you were. Here is an F style mandolin:

100554

Here is an A style mandolin:

100555

allenhopkins
Apr-04-2013, 1:50pm
For some of its stringed instrument lines, Gibson, both while Orville G was affiliated and afterwards, assigned arbitrary letter designations:
A for oval-bodied or "non-scroll" mandolins
F for mandolins with scroll and body points
H for mandolas
J for mando-basses
K for mandocellos
L for guitars

On the other hand, for banjo-family instruments, Gibson used actual initials:
RB ("regular banjo") for 5-strings
TB for tenor banjos
GB for guitar-banjos
MB for mandolin-banjos
UB for ukulele-banjos

Due to the predominance of Gibson as an American mandolin manufacturer, the Gibson model designations have become general shorthand identifiers for scroll and non-scroll mandolins. The "F for Florentine" usage has become so accepted that Gibson uses it now in product descriptions, although in the past they used the "Florentine" adjective to apply first to highly-ornamented banjos, later to two-point, non-scroll mandolins.

I won't get into the discussion of "Florentine" and "Venetian" guitar body cutaways, which has been thoroughly exhausted elsewhere.

OldSausage
Apr-04-2013, 2:59pm
It's very simple - the F stands for F style, the A stands for A style.

jaycat
Apr-04-2013, 3:39pm
'Cause if you got A's in school, you know you can get twice the mandolin for the same money by buying an A style than if you got F's in school and would rather get an F style. Or something like that.

Bill Baldridge
Apr-04-2013, 6:02pm
Buy an A and put a sack over its head.

Levi
Apr-04-2013, 6:21pm
'Cause if you got A's in school, you know you can get twice the mandolin for the same money by buying an A style than if you got F's in school and would rather get an F style. Or something like that.

That's an interesting point, but when you get right down to it, a mandolin is a musical instrument whose main goal is artistic expression. It's only logical that such a tool be highly ornamented.