fake old f4?

[mandovance]

i gasped when i saw this and was *this* close to hitting 'buy it now' until i noticed the missing fret board extension. anyone know what's up with this? looks like a pretty old high-quality repro. aftermarket tuners and scroll is a bit funky.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Gibson-F...4AAOSwXYtY0Dg2

[Bob A]

Tuners and bridge are replacements. The heel of the neck is U-shaped; usually they come to a point. The fingerboard has been replaced, and possibly the neck had been removed and re-contoured at the heel. The rest is legit Gibson.

Hard to say if it was repaired/modified by the factory; while the headstock is correct, the neck heel looks like the F5, though the rest is pre-Loar. Finish is also not correct for the period, leading me to think "factory re-work."

If you're interested, make a low offer and see whether the seller is flexible. It would be a steal at 2500, I think, so long as there were no playability/setup issues, or other hidden problems.

[MikeEdgerton]

It should also be noted that Gibson did use those tuners at one point.

Check out the tuners on this page.

Against these tuners from the auction:

[MikeEdgerton]

I'm guessing this was refurbished sometime in the 80's if the tuners are telling the right story.

[pops1]

Looks like a new neck, it's more like an F5 neck in length.

[mandovance]

Looks like a new neck, it's more like an F5 neck in length.

good call - it's joined at the 14th rather than the 12th. what an odd specimen. wonder how it sounds?

[atetone]

Where the back of the headstock meets the neck looks wrong. It looks like there is a bit of a volute there.
It doesn't look right to me.

[MikeEdgerton]

It's been renecked, that pretty obvious. The bigger question is was it done at Gibson and I suspect it was.

[pops1]

It's been renecked, that pretty obvious. The bigger question is was it done at Gibson and I suspect it was.

Why wouldn't they put a truss rod in a new neck that obviously was not even close to looking original.

[Tom C]

I would doubt Gibson would end the finger board that way. Why customize it to a way we have never seen.

[MikeEdgerton]

Because the guy that was doing the rework was doing something they hadn't done before. The longer neck may have blocked more sound hole than he wanted to. The tuners are the same that they were using on the prototype F5L. I don't know how readily available they would have been to the rest of the world.

[Jeff Mando]

interesting thread.

[atetone]

Did Gibson ever have a volute on the back of the neck/headstock on any of their F5s, even in the 70s, 80s, or 90s?

[stevedenver]

Not likely needed with maple

[MikeEdgerton]

By the way, that case looks a whole lot like the Harmony Batwing case.

[Tobin]

Something looks "off" to me about the back of the mandolin. The way the center join comes together in a boat V-hull type shape from the center up to the heel button just looks over-done. Looking at my teens F4, it does have a very pronounced V-shape (though it's a one-piece back, not two-piece like this example), but it doesn't come that far down the back plate. Did Gibson change the back shape in later years or something, or is this non-original?

The other thing that bothers me about the back is the work around the scroll. It looks amateurish. Gibson usually has better definition at the center curl of the scroll, even on the back of the mandolin.

[Jeff Mando]

By the way, that case looks a whole lot like the Harmony Batwing case.

def not a case befitting of a $3200 instrument....

[jim simpson]

Does anyone have a picture of the instrument in question? The link didn't work for me.

[mandovance]

Does anyone have a picture of the instrument in question? The link didn't work for me.

my original link is being redirected to some nonsense site that searches items for sale based on the title of the ebay item. not sure why that's happening, but i certainly didn't intend for that and that's what not what it did when i posted it. here's another link to the ebay auction at issue:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Gibson-F...4AAOSwXYtY0Dg2

edit: now the second link is doing it, too. go on ebay and search for gibson f4 rare and you'll see it. i have no idea why my links here are being redirected.

[mandovance]

and to comment more on the mandolin:

i think the last couple of frets look a little tightly spaced. no one really plays up there, but still, it stands out to me as something that doesn't look right if the neck job was done at gibson. but if it was done in the 80s, who knows?

the case critics are right: it doesn't fit at all.

i wish the seller would string it up and make a video so we could hear it.

[Jess L.]

Does anyone have a picture of the instrument in question? The link didn't work for me.

Link ok here, here are some of the other pics. The usual click-them-several-times to make 'em big enough to see:

[MikeEdgerton]

my original link is being redirected to some nonsense site that searches items for sale based on the title of the ebay item. not sure why that's happening, but i certainly didn't intend for that and that's what not what it did when i posted it. here's another link to the ebay auction at issue:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Gibson-F...4AAOSwXYtY0Dg2

edit: now the second link is doing it, too. go on ebay and search for gibson f4 rare and you'll see it. i have no idea why my links here are being redirected.

I'm guessing you are using Chrome. There is some forum weirdness right now. Right click on the link and open it in a new tab. Scott is working on this.

[Mandolin Cafe]

my original link is being redirected to some nonsense site that searches items for sale based on the title of the ebay item. not sure why that's happening, but i certainly didn't intend for that and that's what not what it did when i posted it. here's another link to the ebay auction at issue:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Gibson-F...4AAOSwXYtY0Dg2

edit: now the second link is doing it, too. go on ebay and search for gibson f4 rare and you'll see it. i have no idea why my links here are being redirected.

The entire site was switched to SSL, or secure server, on Monday. This is https vs http in the web address. The lingering effects have been a few odd issues we're working through. That site is a business partner of the Cafe, not a spam site. I reported this to them yesterday. Not certain but I think their server may be having a problem which could be part of the issue. Regardless, we're aware and working to fix it. Only some browsers are impacted.

One of the services they perform is an easy way to automate linking of web addresses in classified ads and even on the forum so that users don't have to insert HTML or BB codes. This has been great for the Classifieds but something occurred with our switch to SSL which has impacted only some browsers, mine included.

[pops1]

I asked a question about the mandolin several days ago, about the time this thread started, and as yet have not received an answer. That should say something.

[Gary Hedrick]

I asked a question about the mandolin several days ago, about the time this thread started, and as yet have not received an answer. That should say something.

Me too and no answer as well....