2021 Gibson F9

[darylcrisp]

satin finish, 1 1/16" nut width, flat fretboard, small frets. lightweight, headstock balanced, very woody resonant tone, crazy low action without a buzz, plays effortless, no florida to hit or scoop. nice tuners.

thanks once again to TheMandolinStore for delivering yet another stellar mandolin.

i love this F9.

puts me in the mind of "back in the day" when you bought a Harley Superglide. it didn't have all the glitter or chrome or extra heavy additions. the Superglide would take you anywhere you wanted to go and of the Harley models at the time, was the better handling in the mountains and curves. could haul --- all across the country. had space for your lady(and in comfort for her with a big double step seat and med height bar). drag bars, forward set controls/pegs, straight pipes, rejet the carb, saddle bags,rainsuits, and off you go. the SuperGlide would get you there and back in style and comfort.



these days the Harvey team have definitely stepped up the offering on the F9. wood choice/burst pattern is very pleasing to the eye and the touch. fit and finish are right at the top with anybody. and rarely offered these days as standard outside of Gibson-old school flat fretboard and the fast playing 1 1/16" nut width and superbly shaped neck. you want that old school tone, get it at the source.

"a whole lotta of something"

[darylcrisp]

[Aurora]

Congrats! The flame on the neck is beautiful. As well as the curly maple back piece.
I indeed hope they stepped up their game. I had a 2015 Harvey signed that was a dog; carved at 3mm on the bass side f hole and 2mm on the treble side. Was hastily returned! The other 2015 I had to sample had an insane amount of glue squeeze, finish not scraped off the binding and a really bad internal finish on the scroll. Glad to see how tight and nicely finished yours is! Would love to own one like that.
As far as Harleys go I grew up on the back of an Electra Glide, and those Super Glides definitely looked cool as a hybrid Sportster and Dyna!

[darylcrisp]

Congrats! The flame on the neck is beautiful. As well as the curly maple back piece.
I indeed hope they stepped up their game. I had a 2015 Harvey signed that was a dog; carved at 3mm on the bass side f hole and 2mm on the treble side. Was hastily returned! The other 2015 I had to sample had an insane amount of glue squeeze, finish not scraped off the binding and a really bad internal finish on the scroll. Glad to see how tight and nicely finished yours is! Would love to own one like that.
As far as Harleys go I grew up on the back of an Electra Glide, and those Super Glides definitely looked cool as a hybrid Sportster and Dyna!

in early 80's we would buy used or wrecked Electra Glides, strip them down and call them "sport glides". i'll try to dig out a picture of my 81. fat tires, forward controls, sometimes drag bars. this was way before the "Fatboy". i actually think the HD company spotted these bobbed glides and saw how good they looked and how many people were doing it, so they made the Fatboy.
here it is. this sport glide took me all over the USA from 81 thru 86. i always had a beemer beside it for the long or fast trips. i was trained/certified on the airhead beemers of that time period. we would jump on and ride 22 hrs to arrive in New Hampshire or Vermont for a long weekend. 1000 mile days happened on the R100RS.
at a friends house in Vermont and picking up a few things at the Woodstock country store before heading back to Va.

[Aurora]

That looks like a fat boy to a T; your probably right about HD seeing them and offering them in 90.
If your the type to name your instruments maybe you just picked up your (little) “Fat Boy”.

[Frankdolin]

Congrats DC! She's a beaut. My 03' SG, with 87,000 very happy me miles, is still in rotation. ENJOY!! Love to hear it sometime...

[Lowrace56]

Congrats! Looks very cool

[bahed]

I had a marvelous moment of serendipity with my F9 a couple of years ago. A quick backstory about my 2017 "Mudhen" that I bought new from TMS. I got a great deal on it as it is "Desert Burst Custom #2" and from talking to Dennis it sounded like there were no plans fir Gibson to make #3. It is not particularly pretty (hence its name) but it plays and sounds fabulous and is a definite keeper. .

A longer backstory... So, in the fall of 1980 I was a Sophmore at Kansas State and I had been hearing about the Walnut River Bluegrass festival in Winfield KS. I hitchhiked down after my classes on a Thursday afternoon because my friends couldn't leave until the next day. I had not reason to wait! It took 24 hours to get there... slept by some bushes somewhere along the way for a few hours: not a lot of traffic out in that part of the world. The last ride I got was ~20 miles out from the festival, and the driver was also going to the festival and said I could camp with his friends that night. I was absolutely blown away by the level of musicians jamming that night, not to mention the hospitality! The next day I saw that same new friend win 1st and 2nd in the fiddle and mandolin (or the other way around) championships.

Move forward ~40 years later, after I had my F9 for a few years.. something about the name David Harvey signed F9 resonated with me; quizically!? I had looked inside at both label dozens of times, but now felt the need to dig further. I searched and found a website listing the past winners at Winfield over the years, quickly looking for 1980 winners... and then looked at the signed "Acoustic Engineer" label in my F9 and then back at my computer screen... over and over again. To this day I can not fully explain the feeling that came over me that took almost 40 years to come full circle.