30's F

[stevem]

I haven't seen many non-Gibson F's from this time period. Here's one at <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-ANTIQUE-HANDMADE-MANDOLIN-1934-MUSICAL-INSTRUMENT_W0QQitemZ7382866700QQcategoryZ10179

QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">eba#.</a>

Anyone know more about this mando or about other 30's-50's F's?

[John M. Riley]

Yes, I also saw that mandolin and wondered about it... I wonder if its built similar to gibsons of that time?

Might be a good one...

Anyone else have any info on it??

[kudzugypsy]

wow - thats really interesting - i sort of doubt the 1934 part, but who knows - could this have been the first F5 clone? sort of looks like late 40's/early 50's work. i wonder what instrument originally came in that case??

it could have been a guy who couldnt afford a Gbs and made himself one, but the workmanship is pretty dang good. outside of the headstock, it is a good design too.

[jim simpson]

It's interesting to see A tuners on an F model. Bound f-holes on such an early model is also of interest.

[Tom C]

from edromanguitars.com, Its an ebay fraud alert page #7 is pretty interesting one we have all seen.
Any way...
Joe Wilson is a very well known Luthier. He has been repairing guitars professionally since 1964. He also owns and operates an authorized Fender service center.
Precision guitar Mt. Pleasant SC


Here is a picture of Joe holding the guitar 11-7-03

I guess in the above link, Gruhn gave his notes on counterfeit fender. and Joe Wilson made note about screws used. So maybe contact him.

Wrong Joe Wilson?

Wrong date from mando or it was his father? He says he's had it since the 50's. (Maybe it was the 60's)

But a clam shell tailpiece seems very 30s'ish.

That is not fitted hard shell case hand made. I would be concerned about thinking that case would provide any attention. So if you win, make sure it's packed good.

[Professor PT]

I'm not saying it's a forgery--the guy's not a famous builder anyway--but you could put some old hardware on a newer distressed mando and claim it was old.

[kudzugypsy]

of course every situation is different - and i'm in no way saying the owner didnt buy it in the late 50's - but anyone who has *been around* the block buying and collecting instruments will tell you that most of the time, a guy will SWEAR he bought this old martin in 1965 (or whenever) and you just say, wow, thats odd, cause this serial number is from 1974! this use to happen all the time before the internet came along with instant access to the masses.
a lot of times they bought it from someone, who themselves, didnt know - and info gets passed down.

the interesting comment is about charlie collins - who KNOWS about instruments though.

point being, if this were acutally a 1934 f5 clone, that would be wild.

[sunburst]

It's interesting to see A tuners on an F model.

Nothing really to add to this thread, other than to say it's an interesting looking mandolin.
But, here's an observation:

I don't know when F-style tuners, (different length shafts) became available for sale to retrofit, but I suspect this mandolin was built before that time. Looks like the builder wanted to copy the Gibson headstock more closely, but couldn't find the tuners, so he/she "modified" the design to work with the tuners that were available. Perhaps, OTOH, F-tuners were available, but he/she didn't have any, so decided to use what he/she had.

From my experience in design, as a builder, when a design is pretty much where you want it to be, moving a line 1/32" can change the look completely. Modifying a design to accomodate different hardware requires a complete re-draw, not just a modification or a shape change.
When a design is "morphed" rather than totally redrawn, sometimes the results come under the heading of what I call "folk art". This is one of those cases. That peghead shape makes me think about the thought process that went into using those tuners, and indicates a "primative" (isn't that what they call art done by untrained artists?) approach to the design problem. I imagine the builder thinking the design change wasn't that important.
I think it would be cool to have that mandolin, but not so cool that I'd spend money on it.

[Willie Poole]

Yeah....I have a D-18 Martin that the seller said that the fellow he bought it from said it once belonged to Elvis...No lie, but I don`t have any way to prove it or disprove it so I just hang onto it hoping some day I will be able to prove it was his....Willie

[Bill Snyder]

Here's one at <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-ANTIQUE-HANDMADE-MANDOLIN-1934-MUSICAL-INSTRUMENT_W0QQitemZ7382866700QQcategoryZ10179



QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">eba#.</a>

I understand the tongue-in-cheek changing of the spelling of banjo, but why do so many people here change ebay to something else?
I don't really expect an answer to this - just pondering.

[stevem]

I actually don't know why I did it. I was just copying other people.

[jim simpson]

I took another look at the head stock and realize that the shape of the head stock is set up for F-style tuners but has the a tuners on it. I recall seeing an import where the head stock was modified to accommodate the a-tuners while still trying to look like an F-5 style trad head stock - it did not work!