03 F5L question

[Milesw]

Hey all,

A few months ago I acquired a well-played Roberts F5L from the Music Emporium in Mass. She’s beautiful, sounds incredible, and plays like butter.

I’m not going to, for the millionth time on here it seems, rehash the fern/f5l differences questions as if seems it has been addressed here as nauseum. My question is this: there seem to be good dates and bad dates for all models, even Loars. I’ve read in multiple places (even heard that Roberts himself agrees) that 03 Roberts F5L Are particularly well made and sounding, and I’m inclined to agree that my axe is a work if art.

So the question is this: why are are 03s better than the 01s? It had to be a very similar crew making them, right? Is this one of the great mysteries of instruments, like Stradivarius’ greatness? Or am I entirely wrong, and my fern is no better than any other?

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity, y’all.

[HoGo]

I think it is impossible to compare factory instruments this way. Unless there was some major change in technology or materials (like pre/post flood or early 20's and later eras) that could influence final result... I've seen so many different Gibsons from all eras from Derrington, Harvey etc. and there were nice ones and duds, many times the lower end models were significantly better sounding than the higher models. Pretty much random. There ar even some Loars that are not considered "best effort" in sound dept...

[William Smith]

Yes each one is different, like was said some lower priced models can sound better than higher end models, I had an 03 I believe V-fern that was pretty good, pry the lightest mandolin I've owned, it was better than an 01 F-5G I owned but not as good as my 36 F-5 fern, and some others I still have. So I believe it's just depends.

[T.D.Nydn]

I play a '03 fern,,,flawless construction on mine,factory custom radius fingerboard,great sound and can get extremely loud if I want,plays like an electric guitar,,,this mandolin ain't going nowhere but in my hands ..

[carleshicks]

I will say that there is not really any good years or bad years with Gibson, but there were definetly good and bad eras. I would say that the Derrington Era is my favorite. I had a 2003 Fern dated July 15, 2003, and it was spectacular, but I played an 01, 05, an 07 and a 2011 that were also spectacular. Each mandolin is different but in a factory if the construction method and materials are the same the outcome will be similar.