Sorry if this is a rerun thread of a rerun show, but did anyone else see this Monday night?
Beautiful. Mint condition. Quilted maple sunburst. Original case. It had gone through three generations of people that wanted to play but ended up sliding the case under a bed. The appraiser said it was worth between two and four thousand, and I thought that sounded a bit low. Comments, please?
Brian T. Walker
Down beside the Alamo
In the Lone Star State
"Ignorance is when you don't know something and somebody finds it out."
-- Kenneth "Jethro" Burns
Two thousand? Ummm... if anyone has an F4 for sale for two thousand, I'll take it. Please PM me immediately, and don't bother with the classifieds....
I love the Antiques Road Show but they consistently undervalue instruments. I watched an episode where they valued a pocket watch at $250,000 and then grossly undervalued a mint, almost unplayed, all original 1957 Fender Strat. I think the episode with the F4 was an old one as it has come up here several times. I’m with FrankenMouse though, I’ll take em’ all day long for $2000.
-Chuck Hester
Gail Hester
Oh sure, Chuck. Start a bidding war! $2,005 and that's my final offer!
The fellow who owned the F4 made a big deal about the fact that it had hardly been played for many years. He thought that was a good thing. I have heard that going unplayed for long would almost kill a violin's sound. Anyone know if the sound of a mandolin suffers if not played for, let's say, decades?
Bob Higgins
Rigel Q-95
Mid-Mo M4, M11
Weber Hyalite Oval
My dad said of the F4, "Two to four thouusand -- that sounds like a lot of money." So, I showed him the ad in Elderly for the Loar 1924 Gibson H5 mandola linked off the cafe's homepage. I should have had a camera to post a picture of his shocked expression. Ha!Smiley here doesn't do it justice.
Brian T. Walker
Down beside the Alamo
In the Lone Star State
"Ignorance is when you don't know something and somebody finds it out."
-- Kenneth "Jethro" Burns
Periodically mandolins surface that have been unplayed for years. After suitable spanking and thrashing, they are fine sounding instruments.
I think Ricky Skaggs' 7/9/23 Loar had been stored for years in a tightly sealed storage box before he bought it; it sounds fine now.
Looked to me to be about 1918-1921 - no Handel tuners, and the sunburst also seemed to be a late teens coloration.
I too believed that an instrument unplayed might be somewhat tonally deficient, but I played a A2Z that looked like it has sat under the bed for 70 years, and it was superb.
I recently bought a 1923 A-1 from a guy who claimed the original owner had died in the late 1930s, and the instrument had been stored in a linen chest ever since. Judging from the fretwear and finish dings, I can easily believe that this is a one-owner instrument that has gone unplayed for 65 years or more.
It was a fantastic sounding instrument from the moment I strung it up, and has only gotten better with some setup work and playing.
"Few noises are so disagreeable as the sound of the picking of a mandolin."
My guess is that it's not that it's been unplayed, but totally ignored. Including normal maintenance and proper storage, humidity and temperature in particular. However, the wood fibers may become 'stiff' from lack of exercise and might need to loosen up again.
"If you've got time to breathe, you've got time for music," Briscoe Darling
I find it interesting that there are two threads on this Roadshow episode featuring the F4, one dating the instrument at 1914 and the other at 1921. Was a year of manufacture mentioned on the program? If so, I missed it. I'd guess a data after 1918 (no Handel tuners) but before 1921/22 (no truss rod).
Bob DeVellis
Maybe I missed the date, but I could have sworn he said 1914. I was just shocked to see it on TV, just the same.
Brian T. Walker
Down beside the Alamo
In the Lone Star State
"Ignorance is when you don't know something and somebody finds it out."
-- Kenneth "Jethro" Burns
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