so i may have purchased a Gibson F5G

[darylcrisp]

its enroute.

found it 2 weeks ago. not really a mandolin kind of shop, but guitars/brass/windwood.

only saw pictures, only mandolin in the store. they had it listed as: Gibson Dobro F5-G.
a lady answered the phone and our conversation went like this:

L: "what department do you need"
me: "i have some questions on the Gibson F5G"
L: " is that brass or windwood?"
me:"uh, its a mandolin"
L:"i'm sorry, i don't know what that is"
me:"ummm, its a small instrument, Bill Monroe? does that help"
L:"is it a guitar"
me:"no, its a mandolin, its a thing all by itself"
L:"hold for guitars"

the man that answered had a thick accent, nice guy. told him what i was calling about and he said "oh, the mandolin(in an excited voice), oh yes, its here, i have it placed high up, nobody touches it, its very very nice, its the only one we have".

asked if the pictures showing on the website was the actual same mandolin.

the man:"um, let me get it. oh yes, its the exact mandolin as you see in the pictures. actually its the only Gibson we have had in a year or two. its very beautiful, the neck and back are very flamey"

before i could ask anything else he says, "i can offer you a very good deal, let me check......oh yes, here you are, what do you think of this $----"

the offer was indeed quite nice. told him i would think about it and call him back if i decide to buy it. he answered "i will remove it from inventory and hold it for you"

well, thats nice but i'm not sure i'll buy it yet, just kinda checking things out.

"no problem, i will hold it for you for a week, if you need longer call me back"
well, ok. here is my name and contact info.

"i don't need your name i'll hold it for you-no problem"

***it was really nice of the man, but it was quite "different" than any shop i have ever called. so i tell him, here is my name and phone number, put that on it and i'll let you know in a day or two.
"no problem sir, i have removed it from inventory and it will be held for you-let me know if you need longer".

then the nice fellow tells me he is a floor manager and not actually sales so to hold while he has a sales person speak with me. i hear him over the phone tell the sales person the offer and that they are going to hold it for me for a week. the sales person comes on the phone next:

"hi, my name is ---- and i'll be handling your sale. i have it on hold and when you are ready call and ask for me and i will process it and ship it the same day. you have a 30 day trial and can return it for any reason and only be charged shipping(which was very reasonable btw)".

so i ask ----. how long have you had this.
"i'd say one or two years. we don't really stock mandolins, this kinda came along in a Gibson package we ordered and we thought we might as well see how it goes. Its only been hanging in the display case and i've never seen anyone handle it. everybody that comes here is after acoustic or electric guitars"

i called ---- back after 2 days and told him to not hold it because i was still unsure and really didn't have the full funds. he said:
"hey, no problem. i'll keep in on hold for you for 2 more weeks to give you time to think about it, not being pushy, but you seemed interested and i'll keep it out of the system until you call me back. if you need more time just let me know".

so i called today and thought, heck, might as well get this thing moving my direction, been chasing one of these for a while and there are very few out there and the deal on this one is nuts. it may be out of sorts, or it may simply be a good find and be in great shape and sound quite good. its worth it to pay the $54 if its not.

in a couple days i'll let you know how it turns out. fingers crossed.

d

[Kevin Briggs]

its enroute.

found it 2 weeks ago. not really a mandolin kind of shop, but guitars/brass/windwood….

in a couple days i'll let you know how it turns out. fingers crossed.

d

Yesssss. Best story I’ve read in a while. It’s like the fates were aligning and stubbornly refusing to accept your hesitation. Can’t wait to hear/read about what arrives at your house. Sound clips too, please, of course.

[pops1]

Sounds like you found a place where no one is interested in mandolins (huh?) and they would like to move it along after a couple of years of no interest. Most likely will be the best deal you have make in a long while. Good luck.

[Joe Bartl]

Thanks for the flash playscript! Really enjoyed it! Hope you really enjoy the mando.

[J Mangio]

And the price was?

[dhergert]

Uhmmm, you know you've got about 100 people holding their breath for you now. Don't leave us hanging!

[Bazz Jass]

Sounds like they really want that mandolin gone! I bet whatever they offered you as a deal they'd take 10% less

[Mojo]

NOS Loar. The folks at Gibson didn’t want that old thing hanging around the factory gathering dust any longer either.

[BrianWilliam]

This is awesome!

[mrmando]

Guessing it's this one.
https://reverb.com/item/48832782-gib...-display-model

[Bazz Jass]

Guessing it's this one.
https://reverb.com/item/48832782-gib...-display-model

Well that don't sound like a great deal. Unless it's half price? Maybe it is That's quality used Fern pricing right there! And some.

[HoGo]

And when I look at the pic I can see how the neck is not installed in correct direction...
The strings are offset to the left side of bridge as far as it goes and still the e's are much closer to the edge of fingerboard than G's. Reminds me of the F-9 I revamped few years ago....

[Bazz Jass]

And when I look at the pic I can see how the neck is not installed in correct direction...
The strings are offset to the left side of bridge as far as it goes and still the e's are much closer to the edge of fingerboard than G's. Reminds me of the F-9 I revamped few years ago....

Which photo are you looking at? The listing someone shared? I'm sure that's not the mandolin in question. It seems very overpriced. Very very nice F5Gs can be found for under $4000.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Which photo are you looking at? The listing someone shared? I'm sure that's not the mandolin in question. It seems very overpriced. Very very nice F5Gs can be found for under $4000.

And without that crack on the top bend of the scroll.

[Ray(T)]

And without that crack on the top bend of the scroll.

Looks more like a reflection to me.

[FLATROCK HILL]

Looks more like a reflection to me.

Yes... you may be right Ray (A reflection of a crack in the ceiling maybe ).
Crack or no crack, $6400 is a lot of coin for an f5G. I doubt that is the mandolin in question.

[BrianWilliam]

That’s a reflection, not a crack

Heh, there’s an echo in here….

[Jill McAuley]

Check out photos 4, 5 and 7 from that reverb listing that Martin shared the link to - maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me but it really looks like there's a crack along the neck carrying on to where the neck joins the body by the top point.

[dhergert]

Which photo are you looking at? The listing someone shared? I'm sure that's not the mandolin in question. It seems very overpriced. Very very nice F5Gs can be found for under $4000.

Hmmm. I really doubt many dealers of any kind of instrument are going to call this a "Gibson Dobro F5G Mandolin", which is exactly what the OP described. This is probably the one. Since this dealer doesn't specialize in fretted stringed instruments, they probably don't even know what Dobro means.

Lighting on the pictures is nasty, don't know if that's accidental or intentional. I'm having trouble differentiating flaws from shadows. As others have mentioned, I hope the OP got a better price than listed in the add. Nice flame though.

@darylcrisp, I hope this is a nice one, and that the deal the dealer provided is equally nice. Keep in mind, since they do not routinely work with mandolins, this instrument has probably not had a good setup yet.

It would be interesting to know who signed the label.

One last note... The add -- if it is the right add -- seems to have Gibson boilerplate descriptions and specs like would be used by stores that don't normally specialize in this kind of instrument. I wonder if the pics are also Gibson boilerplate.

[Mandolin Cafe]

The term "Gibson Dobro F5G" shows up several times in a Google search for such a beast. Not exactly an unknown. And now found here. Sweet!

Appears from the looks of the search results that the term originated on Gibson's own web site as a "legacy" product. Perhaps they know something we don't! This bit of information pairs well with the incredibly tacky sponsored ads (the new owners never miss a chance to make a buck on something that has nothing to do with actually building an instrument) that follow at the end of the article. Articles like, how to keep your dog from licking its paws, or what the world's number one pizza oven is. And then the article "here's what happens when you eat oatmeal every day." TMI. I think we know.

Example, this page. So while the term "Dobro" does not actually appear on the face of the displayed page itself, if you view the source code for the HTML you'll find these gems below in the coding which is what search engines are good at using. I'll need to put these inside of a coding safe tag below or the Forum will think they're HTML (they are). Then some of the links and images also have that word inserted into them. Spiffy!

<meta name="keywords" content="Dobro,Mandolin,F-5G" />

and arguably the most important tag in HTML

<title>Gibson.com: Dobro F-5G</title>

[dhergert]

Good catch!!!

I was looking for a date reference in their HTML that might point to when this description was written (and perhaps an approximate date of this mandolin build). I saw 2008 there. Did you see anything more recent?

[Mandolin Cafe]

Didn't try to determine that. You likely could get an idea of when by going to the Wayback Machine and seeing how long that information has been on that page. I can't imagine it coming from anywhere else, and it wouldn't make sense that someone responsible for their web site saw it elsewhere and thought it was a good idea. As for me doing that, my level of interest is just not there in finding out. Just the fact their web site has that is kind of all I need to know. Well, then there are all those teaser sponsored ads...

[darylcrisp]

hey folks
i've been busy with family.
to answer some questions.
*it is the mando in the pictures.
*there is no crack or defect, thats all reflections(actually the shop apologized for the pictures and said they were no longer using that photographer-i honestly thought the pics were fine. showed me everything i needed to see without having it in hand).
*not listing what i paid-in case the shop might catch some sort of flack from the mothership, it was a good deal.....wait a minute i need to cut the lights, the police cruiser is driving by again........
*advertised price on this model. um, thats what they are listed at anywhere you find one, i could be wrong but i think that cost has been on that model for a few years and when i was looking i found this one and one more in another shop. that other shop would not budge from the list price, had a 48 hour inspection period, AND a whopping 10% restock fee. so that restocking fee would have been $639.90, add the shop shipping charge of $100, my return shipping charge of whatever, and i'm not sure if the restocking fee included the 3% that i would not receive back due to using a CC(which is entirely understood, thats only fair), i thanked the man for his 1 minute spill and hung the phone up in a hurry on that place. there may be other new F5-G models out there, but i didn't find them. i think its very hard to find any new Gibson right now for sale. TMS is sold out, few other shops i know who sell them have zero inventory and most of these vendors have no idea or exact ETA when anything will show up. I never found any used of this model either. This situation is not just with Gibson, but with most name USA brands.
*offset string courses with regards to the high e set being too close to the fretboard edge. the string courses on all 4 sets are cut on the top of this F5G bridge exactly like the amazing Dave Harvey 2021 F9 that i have. each string course is cut to the left edge of the intonated area looking down at the top of the bridge. my TOH Webers(both also extremely low action, easy to play, effortless)are cut the exact same. assuming i'm understanding the mention of this in a reply. if i have time i'll post some pics for you all to compare. the F9 i have is absolutely amazing. its one of the most easy playing, great sounding, mandos that i've owned. this F5G is right there with it.
a minuscule move of the bridge corrected the high e strings to fretboard edge alignment/maybe 1/64"-nothing is wrong with the neck on this F5G. just like my F9, it plays super easy, intonates very well, as good as anything i've ever owned, and it does have the tiny frets, flat board and 1 1/16" nut width as the F9. both are champs. the F9 has a very defined woody bark and ever pleasant ring of the notes, the F5G has that "gloss finish" difference in tone, and also has all the cut you want, but still rings nice in whatever genre you use it for. these are, flat out, top performing, Gibson mandolins with the legendary tone that a flat board, tiny fret, Dave Harvey build Gibson brings to the table. on both, i have very very little relief, no buzz, ease of fretting, and they ring true up the neck.both are very light in weight but not headstock heavy, very balanced to hold and play. the build quality is Collingsesque and takes no back seat to any mando i've had in hand. are current build Gibsons cheap-no. are they worth what the asking price is-thats a personal opinion. but if you want that feel of the fast neck, the light weight, the woody tone and cut that can be brought into play without working hard for it, and the tone of days gone by, the Dave Harvey Gibsons bring it. both of these have "it".

the sales associate told me when we were talking that nobody there played mandolin and they really didn't know a lot about them. the customer base for the shop was guitar oriented along with brass and windwood. i felt nobody was being misleading or anything of the sort, they had simply had the thing around for a while, had a lot of $ in it, and wanted it to go out the door.

i removed a little relief, dropped the bridge to the bottom. tuned it, and its a champ. one day soon i'll deep clean it, and set it up probably to where it is now. action is really low but plays clean for my style-i will probably turn the high e bridge side a turn or two when i set it up-just barely. my F9 is the same(i did level two frets on it which is no big deal-i really think a lot of necks shift over time and frets can move ever so slight over time and under tension, variations of temp/humidity moving to and from different regions of the US).
both nuts are cut as clean and nice as is humanly possible. equidistant space between the string courses, and the depth of both the F9 and the F5 are just right. i have no need to drop any slot-all fret easy from the 1st to the end of the board.

i guess thats a wrap. when i have time i'll try to post some pics of the F9 and the 5.

[dhergert]

Great stuff! Congrats!!! We're looking forward to a vid or sound clip!

P.S. Is this Dave Harvey signed?

[mrmando]

In general, on a Reverb ad where the instrument has been sold, the price listed doesn't necessarily bear any relation to the actual sale price.

In another thread we've discussed an ad for a 1921 Sheraton brown Gibson A that some genius has refinished in redburst and now wants $6500 for. As "proof" that it's worth that much, he's posted a screenshot of a Reverb ad for another Gibson A that is listed as "sold" with a price tag of $9,999. We all know it's unlikely that anyone actually paid that amount.

Some platforms leave the ad on their site once an instrument sells, but remove the price. That can be a little frustrating, but I understand why they do it.