Look how beautiful that looks on that Fern instead of the usual ragged ones.
Look how beautiful that looks on that Fern instead of the usual ragged ones.
I agree William, I also love the look of the Loar F-5s.
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I have studied this subject extensively over the years. My F5Journal, if you have ever seen the print version documents the entire metamorphosis for F5 Mandolin peghead inlay. In general, the "closed script" with obviously drilled holes for the saw blade was the first Loar era pattern. But, it did appear well before then. Prior to that pattern is the very handsome and flowing pattern seen throughout the teens. During the July 9, 1923 batch of F5 mandolins, the "open pattern" appeared. This has the open loops and almost looks like it says The Gilson because it is so crude in appearance.
Both patterns were used from that point on during the Loar era, however the crude pattern appears the most. But here is where it gets interesting and I must inject some subjective speculation that is partially fact based.
I had, but recently sold some original Gibson peghead blueprints from the Loar period. These blueprints depict the flowerpot inlay on one and the fern inlay on the other. They show exact arrangement of the inlay with dimensions. The flowerpot print has the earlier closed pattern and the fern print has the new crude open pattern with the fern. Let it be known right now that the earlier pattern has never been seen used with a fern inlay. I am suggesting that the pattern was developed for use with the more crowded fern inlay. The open pattern is also much smaller.
Additionally, we have the snake pegheads for the A-models. The older closed pattern does not work on the snake peghead. There are a few examples, but the inlay is always partially under the upper string grommets. These are all in July of 1923. And guess what happened next? All snakeheads received the new smaller open pattern immediately after that. It looked much better and more balanced. The closed pattern then disappeared from most everything except style 5 instruments with a flowerpot.
So, all F5's with ferns, both Loar signed and those afterwards had the open pattern that it was likely developed for. Of course then later in the 20's, around 1928, all of a sudden the The Gibson script returned to the graceful teens pattern and the fern inlay was modified to be slimmer and more graceful. One could speculate a change in vendor, or one could speculate that they were left over samples from 6-7 years earlier that were never used. At any rate, there are only maybe 20 or so of these known. Attached is a pdf of that portion of The F5 Journal with some visual candy to see what I am referring to.
Last edited by Darryl Wolfe; Dec-08-2020 at 3:43pm. Reason: add pdf
Darryl G. Wolfe, The F5 Journal
www.f5journal.com
WOW!
Question answered.
Darryl, you concur that Aumann was the supplier up to 1930?
I can't confirm that Jim. But, I think whatever Spann has in print should be trusted information
Darryl G. Wolfe, The F5 Journal
www.f5journal.com
I wonder if they had a band? The Aumann Brothers Band.
I always understood part of the conversation to be that early on there was smaller demand for the inlays, so they were cut individually by hand. Later on, as the demand and production numbers at Gibson increased, they would stack the pearl sometimes four layer or more deep. That meant that while the top layer may have looked good, the others would show more variations as you got deeper into the stack.
John Hamlett
www.hamlettinstruments.com
I assume the reason most modern builders do some form of cursive script is because of The Gibson". Were there other instruments that pre-date Gibson?
You know, Jim, off the top of my head I can't think of another manufacturer that was putting a brand into the front of a peghead at the time. Martin was stamping the back of their heads, some banjo makers were stamping their dowel sticks, and some violin factories were stamping "Stainer" et. al. into their backs. But I think the script peghead logo might have been a true Gibson "first."
This '29 at Greg Boyd's is one with the Fern and old style inlay. I never realized these existed.
jim your pic is what my inlay looks like on my 29 f-5....but the script on mine is not as dainty as your pic.....
Jim
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Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
If you count stamping the logo (name) on the back of the headstock Martin beat Gibson to it. The front I'll leave to Jim.
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