You might remember this one from ebay a couple of weeks ago, it came to visit tonight. I was pretty skeptical.. but nothing about it seems wrong, it very likely is a 1934 F5 copy.
First off, here's the signature visible in the bass fhole..
You might remember this one from ebay a couple of weeks ago, it came to visit tonight. I was pretty skeptical.. but nothing about it seems wrong, it very likely is a 1934 F5 copy.
First off, here's the signature visible in the bass fhole..
Face..
Back
Bound f-holes!
so hows it sound and play??
09 Altman F5
20 Stiver F5
07 Rattlesnake F5
18 Gibson F5 Custom
94 Flatiron Artis F5
18 Weber Fern F5
Probably Gibson A tuners from the teens.. note how one plate was modified to not overhang the edge of the peghead
compare to a Gibson '26/'27 F5
Cool case also looks pretty much hand made folk-art
Scroll
Peghead
Grained Ivoroid.. up & down!
Back wood detail
The Front
Back
Point protectors. Interesting solution..
Case
I've seen this tailpiece in period catalogs.. note the wood quality too
Fingerboard extension
It appears to have a bit longer scale from the pictures. Is that correct, or just the perspective from the angle they were taken?
Ron
My wife says I don't pay enough attention to what she says....
(Or something like that...)
Nothing holding it up!
Last one.. the bridge
One more for scale.. just about matches a '26 f5, though I didn't measure it (whoops)
The sound is pretty decent considering. I'd still take an F4 from Gibson over this one, but it could use a little setup too. With a properly fit bridge (maybe that one on there is later..) it has some definite potential. The F-holes are quite slender compared to the '26 too. Pretty respectable though ,has some elements of the F5 sound you can hear in there vs the F4 or oval-hole tone. Didn't check the inside for bracing pattern either, though I'm kicking myself a bit now over that!
So whaddaya know. To me, it looks like the signature info in there plus feaures add up, I can't think of anything off the top of my head to say that would make it not likely a 1934 instrument.
Here's a Windows AVI video clip from my point & shoot of Phil playing a tune on it
Looks closer to an H5 mandola than the F5 mandolin.
At least they didn't use the Gibson name anywhere.
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