Interesting Gibson F2

I notice this F2 has tortoise binding.

http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gibson/serial/72838

Do you think this thing still had a dovetail joint?

link is to an ivoroid bound F4.. I assume its not yours...

It would be interesting to know how many instruments of this period had such binding. The Rybka Loar Mandola, recently surfaced and sold has tortoise binding front and back.

Btw the link provided is indeed correct....to a F2 with tortoise back binding

1922 (Loar Period) Gibson F2 Mandolin #72838

The back is tortoise bound. But the neck area is a little different.

Compare this:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/02...g?v=1376761467

to this

http://www.mandolinarchive.com/image...ack_detail.jpg

I have never heard of an F-2 with factory original back binding of any kind. Standard specs for F-2's was an unbound back.

The back was probably removed from that mandolin for some reason, and the binding added when it was reassembled. Instruments spring out of shape when a back is removed, and adding or replacing is one way to get a clean joint when reassembling.

I have also never heard of a prewar Gibson mandolin of any kind without a dovetail joint, although I must add that I've only exposed the neck joint on a small number of them.

The parrot Loar has a similar neck joint.

http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gibson/serial/71055

The presence of a separate heel cap instead of the back covering the back of the heel on both the F-2 in question and the "Parrot Loar" is an indication that the instruments were disassembled. We see this often on violins where either a back or a neck has been removed.

These are both simply instruments that have been repaired and modified cosmetically in the process. In the case of the F-2, the intention of binding the back was probably to make the removal and reassembly of the back look less noticeable.

Notice the presence of a Virzi with a high serial number in the "Parrot," which could be considered to be irregular on such an early F-5. The instrument was probably disassembled and the Virzi installed post-production. There are several other signs of post production repair work besides the parrot painting.