Loar Period F-4 Mandolins

[William Smith]

To the OP, How is the virzi? Does it enhance the tone and damp volume or is she balanced well? I've wondered about these things as I've never played a virzi but I like the sound of what they do on all the videos I've seen! It's actually inspired me to have Randy Wood install a virzi in my 58 Gibson F-5. I bought her cheap as it had a very poor re-neck so Randy will be making me a new neck to my specs and an inside re-graduation while taking out the tone bars and putting in Loar style graduation/bars and the Virzi! I've wanted a virzi like I said for a long time and this is my chance to get one in a relatively old F-5 body even though the top wood is Sitka rather than the pre war red-spruce "Adirondack" I almost decided to have him put one in my 34 F-7 that's getting a 5 scale neck but for resale I didn't want to go there..

[Jason Stein]

I go weak in the knees seeing those coffee buttons! The icing on the cake!

[William Smith]

Yes those coffee colored buttons are IT man! What material did they use for those? Was it just a dark material/plastic?

[Troy Harris]

The strings are very balanced with good volume. Possibly dampened a little. The tone is a little more focused than other oval hole mandolins I’ve played. The fact that the neck is weighted by the truss rod, straight, and has excellent intonation, could play a factor in the clarity. Another contributing factor is that the back was most likely removed to install the Virzi and the rib (side) depth was narrowed to an average of 1.25” plus or minus. The stiffened ribs and less air volume could possibly tame the airy open buzz sound that you get from many oval hole Gibsons. I’m a little mystified with how the Virzi influences the tone and I do not have a developed opinion. I attached another photo of the peghead to help those who haven’t had enough coffee today . My guess is that the buttons are made from celluloid nitrate.

[Troy Harris]

A Loar period F-4 mandolin sold on a Skinner auction last month.
F-4 #77580
Virzi, arrow-end tuners with coffee color buttons, and Loar rectangular case.
The mandolin & case needed some work. I hope to see this mandolin resurface in the future fully restored.

[Troy Harris]

An interesting comparison between my F-4 #78538 and the Skinner F-4 #77580 is that the Skinner F-4 has an earlier Serial #, later Fon, and earlier Virzi no. Both were manufactured in 1923 according to Spann's Guide to Gibson. My F-4 didn’t ship until 1925 and explains the round-end tuners and the red-lined shaped case.

F-4 #78538
FON 11922
Virzi no. 10492

F-4 #77580
FON 11990
Virzi no. 10458

[mgap]

That Loar is soooo nice and clean. Wow, I love it.

[goaty76]

What did the Skinner F-4 go for?

[Troy Harris]

$5228.00

[goaty76]

That’s a pretty good deal considering the case might be worth that on its own to the right person.

Phil