Re: Where do the names F-style and A-style actually come from?
R U kidding?!? No? Oh. OK ...
I'm more than willing to accept the "A" designation as representing the first style, the starting point. I have never seen anything that sensibly explains the "F" designation for the F style; it should have been "B." The missing intervening letters may have represented proposed styles that never made it past the prototype stage to production, though I'd think they just as well could have used "B" all the same. Most of the explanations for the "F" designation resemble back-formation, as far as I can tell. It's all a mystery, unsolvable without a time machine.
Allen's point regarding banjo model designations as well as that for the electric mandolin is salient. It's unfortunate that no similar designation derivation exists for the rest of the product line. Or not - they're free to call them whatever they wish.
There's a saying around here, when someone makes an excuse for improper behavior, or to explain the unexplainable. Delivered with a shrug of the shoulders, one says, "It's Key West." It drives me nuts, as it doesn't mean anything, yet people think it does, and that's all one has to say; you're supposed to understand and accept it, as if it does explain things. Even though it doesn't. The equivalent here is, "It's Gibson."
Last edited by journeybear; Jan-18-2022 at 7:11pm.
Reason: just one more thing ...
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
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