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Thread: Oval Hole F

  1. #26
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Hi Andy - Thanks for putting me right. When i looked at the player listing on the LP cover,i looked at the name before the instrument,instead of the one after the instrument - Vernon Derrick it is.

    Timothy - ''Big Country'' is a terrific tune. I've played it on banjo for years, & i used to play it with a mandolin playing friend of mine years before i ever dreamed of playing mandolin myself,
    Ivan
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  2. #27

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Here's how I resolved that dilemma for myself:

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    Len B.
    Clearwater, FL

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  4. #28
    I really look like that soliver's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    I love the look of the Northfield F2S? The YT vids of those make them look and sound wonderful... wish I could afford one.
    aka: Spencer
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  5. #29
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Quote Originally Posted by lenf12 View Post
    Here's how I resolved that dilemma for myself:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Len B.
    Clearwater, FL
    Hey Len,
    now, follow that with a really big raspberry!
    Merry Christmas pal!
    Enabler!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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  7. #30

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Hi Ivan - I too am a big fan of "Big Country" and the rest of the "Big And Country Instrumentals" LP. I love Vernon Derrick's playing--he seems to be an underrated virtuoso from a great period in Jimmy Martin's music. I especially enjoy the way Derrick detours into the minor pentatonic on "Big Country" and several of the other tunes on that recording, really straight tunes like "Red Rooster" (Coming Round the Mountain) and "You Are My Sunshine"--all of a sudden, seemingly from out of nowhere, he breaks into a bluesy variation that nevertheless works perfectly.

  8. #31
    Registered User fentonjames's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    When the Kentucky Colonels were on the Andy Griffith show (they were called the Country Boys), Roland played a sweet oval hole F. If Roland White thought it good enough for bluegrass, it is. Oh, and that is "The Antique" Clarence is playing, with the original replacement long fretboard with dots and missing pickguard. I think after Tony Rice acquired it and had it restored (as it was completely wrecked), he replaced the fretboard and kept it long, but without the dots and put on a pickguard, black at first before going to a real tortoise shell one he got in Japan in the 1980's.



    1935 Gibson A-1 Wide mandolin
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  10. #32
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    On another Andy Griffith show, Dean Webb (the Darling family/Dillard’s) also plays an F-4 so, the thrust of this whole thing seems to be in the hands of the player and/or ears of the beholder. They sound different but, neither (as far as I’m concerned) is wrong.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  11. #33
    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Have a couple of friends who own older Weber Gallatin F models with oval soundhole. Great sounding mandos, IMO. And perfect for Irish and Celtic, IMO. Then again, I have a bias for mandolins without binding.

    I also like the sound of the old Gibson F4 (and F2) but when trying to play them, never fell in love with them. Guess I just prefer the A style.
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  12. #34
    Teacher, repair person
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    A lot of the old records were made with those old oval hole mandolins. Probably more than most folks realize. Possibly more than were made with f-5's.

  13. #35

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Quote Originally Posted by Timbofood View Post
    Hey Len,
    now, follow that with a really big raspberry!
    Merry Christmas pal!
    Enabler!
    No need to gloat about it, in fact there was about a 25 year
    gap between acquiring each of them and i easily accept the fact that
    these are my "keepers". Santa did NOT bring me an Ellis this year,
    AGAIN!!

    Len B. (Merry Christmas to all)
    Clearwater, FL

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  15. #36
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Quote Originally Posted by Torpedotom View Post
    I know that most oval hole mandolins are As and are usually not used for bluegrass but Irish and Celtic. The Fs on the other hand are usually f-holes and used for bluegrass. There are always exceptions to these so would an oval hole F be the best of both worlds if you were looking to cover all genres? Just a thought.
    F4 type* is oval hole with the fancy bits , there are hybrids shifting the bridge so as to use a neck with a few frets further up the neck

    off the body .. so that is like an F5 without the F holes ..

    you play what music appeals to you .... they all have the same notes on the fingerboard.

    * there was F 2 & 3 also.. like the A 1,2,3,4, trim and features varied..




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  16. #37

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Quote Originally Posted by lenf12 View Post
    Here's how I resolved that dilemma for myself:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Len
    Clearwater, FL
    That really is the only reasonable solution I can think of.
    Silverangel A
    Arches F style kit
    1913 Gibson A-1

  17. #38

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    I have a Kentucky KM171 A oval that will have to do me for a good long while now that my ntm KM1500 is on the way. I use my oval for Dylan stuff, older country rock stuff I play here at the house, so it doesn't have to have a good chop or be real loud. But if I get a chance, I WILL have an F oval someday.

  18. #39
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

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    Just sayin'

  19. #40
    Registered User almeriastrings's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    This one belongs to my wife...

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    It's a Mark Bluett, from Pa.

    Sound?... quite different from my own F-holes.... not as much projection, more resonances....maybe a bit 'warmer'.
    Gibson F5 'Harvey' Fern, Gibson F5 'Derrington' Fern
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  20. #41

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    No instrument actually achieves that mythical best of both worlds. As a primarily Celtic player, I have found that Since my particular celtic style is, ahem, a tad aggressive, I prefer an instrument with f-holes, because that bluegrass setup gives ideal response in those take-no-prisoners scenes. I sometimes yearn for the sweeter, more sustained tones of a roundhole and I'll probably give into that again--already have a wee Seagull S8 but eventually with go farther up the food chain. Meanwhile the old Eastman 505 is my go-to for absolutely any session situation. I like that F4 look and feel and would love to end up owning one of those--but it could as easily be a flattop roundhole, perhaps a Sobell-type "large body" that would be my dream in that category. (To speak to your question, yes an F4, or A4 might very well,be the instru,ent that could play both styles well. You'd have to find a particularly loud one though.)

  21. #42

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Enjoy playing my Weber Vintage F for any type of music I please.Click image for larger version. 

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    This picture does not depict how I open my case. I just can not seem to load the picture correctly.
    May those who love us, love us. And those who don't love us, May God turn their hearts;
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  22. #43

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Quote Originally Posted by pheffernan View Post
    Was surprised to see this one still available... so I nabbed it! :-)

    As for the oval hole thing, I find them to have more of a bell-like ringing tone ( a bit more sustain) than the ff holed isntruments. YMMV

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  24. #44

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    Quote Originally Posted by Gerry Cassidy View Post
    Was surprised to see this one still available... so I nabbed it! :-)

    As for the oval hole thing, I find them to have more of a bell-like ringing tone ( a bit more sustain) than the ff holed isntruments. YMMV
    I got the Arches F4 a couple of days ago, and in line with my experience with Arches mandolins, it is a cannon (impeccable build as well. Chris is good). It's definitely the loudest F4 I have ever played. So, being heard in a jam situation shouldn't be a problem. That being said, to my ears the oval holed instruments ring, or more technically, have more sustain than ff holed instruments. Thus, there is less note-to-note separation. Somebody, say in a bluegrass situation, who plays machine gun barrages of notes might not appreciate that.
    Last edited by Gerry Cassidy; Jan-10-2018 at 12:57pm.

  25. #45

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

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  26. #46
    Henry Lawton hank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    I think I’m a parlor acoustic string aperatus kind of mandolin driver. I can’t imagine how to tell you how impressed I was with my F5 Goldrush’s molar vibrating sub-Woofer back coupling when I first initiated it. I also struggle to tell you how loud and fast my 1913 A4 sang out for my feeble pick input song after song but Mr. Loar changed the target when he gave me an F4 that almost plays itself and is the joy of my musical persuasion and aspirations in this vortex of fifths I have fallen into.
    "A sudden clash of thunder, the mind doors burst open, and lo, there sits old man Buddha-nature in all his homeliness."
    CHAO-PIEN

  27. #47

    Default Re: Oval Hole F

    i'm a real simmer here. i think f designs look like they were designed by fred flinstone. they look crude . i know they are more valuable but i am quite happy with an A model. mostly i like an oval or round sound hole but i play celtic. i made a local trade for an artist A recently, by bill davis. it has f holes and i love the tone. but it's very different from my fsvourite gibson snakehead. Name:  new snakehead mandolin 001.JPG
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    i have a goya florentine made in japan (probably) which is great but not as great as the davisClick image for larger version. 

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