1921 F4 - Rosewood fingerboard?

[Bazz Jass]

Looks like it to me:



Here's the listing: https://www.sylvanmusic.com/store/p1..._Mandolin.html

Incidentally, they've had this since 2013! I'm thinking it's not as "all original" as they claim.

[HoGo]

My friend owns circa '21 F4 that has fingerboard out of what looks like brazilian rosewood. Very dark but has distinctive pores that ebony doesn't have and visible black grain on very dark reddish brown.
Yours may be just not perfectly black ebony as the strips are unevenly distributed and kinda tan colored. There are some other woods that can be present, like macassar ebony which can be candidate for your pic...

[Eric Platt]

Looking at the closeups of the other fingerboard photos, definitely looks like rosewood more than a striped ebony board.

[Hendrik Ahrend]

Both color and pores look like ebony to me. According to Bob Taylor's experience, only 1 out of ten ebony trees contain actual black wood (https://www.taylorguitars.com/ebonyp...ebony-matters/). Also, for this reason, Gibson would stain ebony bridges with black India ink. Much of the ebony I come across (in pipe organ making) looks brownish like your finger board. Enjoy your mandolin, BJ.

[Bazz Jass]

To clarify - it's not mine to enjoy. I just found the listing and thought the fingerboard looked odd!

I know a lot of modern ebony used by Taylor and the like is not uniformly black, but that is not my experience of ebony from historical pieces.

[William Smith]

My 1921 Cremona K-4 Mandocello has an odd but super KOOL fretboard-its ebony but almost half is brown! Gibson never blackened this board in! I need to get some good pix as this is another that's not in the archives yet! I've got like 10-15 instruments in my files that I've owned that aren't in the archives! I should get on this as I think it's very important to document these historical pieces of very playable art!

[rcc56]

A rosewood board or a striped ebony board would be highly unusual for an F-4.
I've refretted a number of F-4's, and they all had jet-black boards that did not appear to be dyed.
I have seen striped boards, both dyed and un-dyed, on some oval hole A models.

That said, from what I can see in the pictures, the binding and the side dots appear to be correct.
But do I see a very mild radius?? I can't tell for sure. Perhaps it is an original board that was dyed at the factory, but was radiused and re-fretted later, and not re-dyed.

As far as "all original" is concerned, I have seen 5 different factory original bridge styles on F-4's, depending on the period, but I have never seen one like that on any Gibson mandolin. It is either hand-made, or a late-teens bridge that has been modified by cutting the top off and a new top installed.

At any rate, the pickguard and clamp are missing, and the price is stiff for an F-4 in that condition, which is why it has been sitting there unsold for at least 2 or 3 years.

[Bazz Jass]

A rosewood board or a striped ebony board would be highly unusual for an F-4.
I've refretted a number of F-4's, and they all had jet-black boards that did not appear to be dyed.
I have seen striped boards, both dyed and un-dyed, on some oval hole A models.

That said, from what I can see in the pictures, the binding and the side dots appear to be correct.
But do I see a very mild radius?? I can't tell for sure. Perhaps it is an original board that was dyed at the factory, but was radiused and re-fretted later, and not re-dyed.

As far as "all original" is concerned, I have seen 5 different factory original bridge styles on F-4's, depending on the period, but I have never seen one like that on any Gibson mandolin. It is either hand-made, or a late-teens bridge that has been modified by cutting the top off and a new top installed.

At any rate, the pickguard and clamp are missing, and the price is stiff for an F-4 in that condition, which is why it has been sitting there unsold for at least 2 or 3 years.

Yes, the video clip on their listing was posted to YouTube in 2013. Either a very patient consignee, or they own it and are rigidly adhering to 2013 pricing!

[rcc56]

Well, even though prices have gone up over the last year, it's easy to find one with original guard and clamp and a finish in much better condition for quite a bit less than they are asking for that one. TR Crandall has a 1914 model [with guard] for 6k, and they're not a bargain shop.

[Bazz Jass]

Well, even though prices have gone up over the last year, it's easy to find one with original guard and clamp and a finish in much better condition for quite a bit less than they are asking for that one. TR Crandall has a 1914 model [with guard] for 6k, and they're not a bargain shop.

I hadn't seen the Crandall one before - very pretty.

Novel pickguard modification!

[Bruce Clausen]

My 1921 Cremona K-4 Mandocello has an odd but super KOOL fretboard-its ebony but almost half is brown! Gibson never blackened this board in!

Something like this? (My A-jr. board, definitely ebony)

[Bazz Jass]

Something like this? (My A-jr. board, definitely ebony)

Wow! I like that!

[William Smith]

Yes, Bruce your Jr. that's exactly like my 21 K-4 board. I think the two tone is gorgeous like that!