Update on 1972 Gibson F5 rebuild:

[Karl Hoyt]

Greetings, You may have recalled back aroun last November that I was asked to replace the rotted binding on a 1972 F5. It ended up being a total cosmetic rebuild.

I cut out the original bindings, only to find that the top had nearly separated from the rim.... so that got glued back down but not before I checked inside to make sure the tone bars were intact. They were, but they were also huge. We chose not to mess with any regraduation or changing of the bars, partially because of expense and partially because my client likes how his mando sounds.

Neck joint and angle were fine, finish was definitely lacquer and it was flaking off of the top, so we went with a total stripping/refinishing. You will see in the pictures that the original finish was very dark and the back/side grain was almost totally obscured.

I went with the Royal-Lac finish. It's a shellac based varnish with some added resins/secret sauce that makes the finish more resistant to alcohol, sweat, etc...after a sufficient cure time (month) it polishes really nicely and can be wet sanded.

I delivered the Mandolin to its owner this week. He gasped when opening the case. Mission accomplished! (Good thing because the repair ended up costing more than he paid for it new :-). . Thank you to the folks who gave me a variety of advice on this project.

[Karl Hoyt]

This being only my third binding job on an F style instrument, I wasn't happy with my work on the scroll area, but , frankly, it was on a par with the original.... and the owner is ecstatic.... :-)

[Timbofood]

Superior to any of my work! Unless it's binding a chicken for grilling!

[CWRoyds]

It is a shame you didn't get to trim down the tone bars, etc.
I bet it would have made it far superior in tone.
How did it sound to you?

[Karl Hoyt]

It is a shame you didn't get to trim down the tone bars, etc.
I bet it would have made it far superior in tone.
How did it sound to you?

I thought long and hard about it , CW: But I'm a mandolin rookie, (though I've built all kinds of stringed instruments nice 1978) and this being a customer's mandolin, I talked with him about it and ultimately chose not to mess with it: He has an old Gibson A that he mostly plays, and this one is a cannon compared to his A and he loves the sound as-is... so we left well enough alone.

I had my first two mandolins strung up at the same time Gibson was: Both of mine had a better bass response and were a bit louder than this particular Gibson. So, I was very happy with the mandolins I built and disappointed with the Gibson: But my understanding is that the early 70's were dismal years for the F5. My customer has always loved his, and that's all that counts, ultimately.

Karl

[CWRoyds]

Well, in the end, it is his mandolin, so I am glad he is happy.
From what I gather from this forum, most of those 70s Gibsons need some serious scraping and tweaking to reach adequate potential.
I find it hard to own an instrument that has a potential that is not reached because of a fixable problem.

I had my mandolin worked on by Stephen Perry, who did his mandovoodoo on it.
I knew it could be better than it was.
You could just feel it when you played it.
It came back SO much better in tone, warmth, volume, and is a much more satisfying instrument now.
And that was from fairly minor scraping and tweaking.
It made me want to send my guitars in for the same treatment, and maybe my fiddle.

To each his own, as they say.
Like I said, I am glad he is thrilled.
It does look rather nice with the new finish.
Certainly the binding needed to be fixed.

Personally, I would have spent the money on the tone bars etc, and left the finish the way it was.
I would rather have the tone and the bling.

[Bernie Daniel]

Beautiful repair and re-finish! Personally if I did it (and it were my mandolin) I'd have replaced the binding, shaved the tone bars and maybe re-graudated it --if it needed it -- and mostly left the "natural distressed" look!

But the owner is the boss and you did an awesome job!

[Karl Hoyt]

Beautiful repair and re-finish! Personally if I did it (and it were my mandolin) I'd have replaced the binding, shaved the tone bars and maybe re-graudated it --if it needed it -- and mostly left the "natural distressed" look!

But the owner is the boss and you did an awesome job!

Thank you , Sir. We originally talked about replacing the binding only and leaving it distressed......but there ended up being a fair amount of chipping on the sides, so ultimately we ended up deciding on a refinish. I'm inclined to agree with you, if it were mine, I would have popped the back off and do as you suggested. But I'm a relative rookie to the inner workings of these little boxes and didn't want to mess with a customer's instrument. As I said, he already loved the sound of his mando.... so it was all good!

Thanks again: Karl

[Ivan Kelsall]

Beautiful work there Karl. No wonder the owner was pleased with it,the original binding was a real horror story. How did the re-fiished mandolin sound compared to it's 'original' finish ?. Was there any discenable difference in tone ?. As you pointed out,the owner liked the tone as it was,so,best left alone - one man's improvement is another man's disaster !!.

You brought out the grain on the neck & the back very nicely indeed,
Ivan

[Karl Hoyt]

Beautiful work there Karl. No wonder the owner was pleased with it,the original binding was a real horror story. How did the re-fiished mandolin sound compared to it's 'original' finish ?. Was there any discenable difference in tone ?. As you pointed out,the owner liked the tone as it was,so,best left alone - one man's improvement is another man's disaster !!.

You brought out the grain on the neck & the back very nicely indeed,
Ivan

Thank you, sir. Unfortunately, prior to the refinish it was so rickety that I couldn't string it up... The finish I ended up with was definitely thinner than the original lacquer finish.... I used that Royal-Lac bodied shellac. Nice stuff!. They had gooped up the original finish with opaque brown... no personality to the original finish, so doing a lightly wiped stain, then air brushing a bit more to even out the burst.. followed by the clear coat. I was pretty happy with it, and the customer was VERY happy with it, so that's all that matters.

Thanks again

Karl