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Thread: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

  1. #1

    Default Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    Here is something you don't see everyday. NFI. https://www.retrofret.com/product.as...-Mandolin-1934
    Last edited by Jeff Mando; Sep-07-2022 at 10:57am.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    Recently I had just read some old threads on this mandolin. I'm curious if it has sat there for 10 years or sold and made its way back.
    Sounds great in the video clips, looks amazing too price aside. I may be a bit bias as my mandolin has a 30's f10 fingerboard.

    https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...34-Gibson-F-10

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  4. #3

    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    Thanks, Aurora. I see that it has been previously discussed on this forum.

  5. #4
    Registered User grassrootphilosopher's Avatar
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    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    I was about to post the same link to the old thread (2013). I am pretty sure that it is the instrument from the old thread and that it is sitting in New York for over ten years, waiting for a lover to woo it. When Christ was a cowboy the asking price was 25k. I still find their pricing ambitious. Rarity does not necessarily drive the price.
    Olaf

  6. #5

    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    I've been in business 45 years and to my way of thinking if I have had something for 10 years without a sale -- I have lost money to the point that even an eventual sale will not offset.

    I guess some dealers have a different business model that works for them.....let's see, paying NYC rent for 10 years plus paying utilities and taxes for 10 years plus paying employees for 10 years -- I can't figure how that adds up, even with NYC prices?? Unless I was financially independent and just running a store for a hobby.....don't know???

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    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    They already had it when we published this feature in November 2013. There's a video of it in that article being played. I'll say this much about it from playing it myself: it's a an exceptional sounding instrument.

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  9. #7
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    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    When I was shopping for my first good mandolin and went to George Gruhn's then little shop for the first time, they had an F-10. It might have been the same one that Retrofret has. They only made a handful of them.

    I played it, half a dozen F-4's, and a couple of A models that day. The F-10 was one of the two best sounding mandolins in the shop. The other was a 1918 F-4.

    The bottom line was the asking price on the F-4 was $1850, and the F-10 was $4000. I was making about 8 bucks an hour, so the F-4 was the one that came home with me. I still own it.

    I walked out of the shop that day with the F-4, and a 1939 Martin 0-18 for my then girlfriend for $2500. It was a lot more fun in those days.

    There's currently another F-10 for sale at Schoenberg Guitars for $16.7 K. Both of these F-10's have been on the market for years.
    I would say that despite the rarity of these instruments, no one seems to be interested in purchasing one for $16k - $18k.

  10. #8

    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    Quote Originally Posted by rcc56 View Post
    ...I would say that despite the rarity of these instruments, no one seems to be interested in purchasing one for $16k - $18k.
    Supposedly one of George Gruhn's patented responses when someone tells him how "rare" an instrument is -- something to the effect of "Diphtheria is rare, but that doesn't mean anybody wants it!"

  11. #9
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    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    And now, with the advent of reverb and the GC used marketplace, darn near anything that's more than 20 years old gets called either "rare" or "vintage" these days . . .

  12. #10
    NY Naturalist BradKlein's Avatar
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    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandolin Cafe View Post
    They already had it when we published this feature in November 2013. There's a video of it in that article being played. I'll say this much about it from playing it myself: it's a an exceptional sounding instrument.
    Oh my! It's been almost 10 years. Dom Leslie and Eric Robertson on the mandolin duo video. Even the young cats aren't so young anymore. ;-)

    Still a very fine mandolin, in my opinion, for the collector or player who doesn't mind the shorter neck. I'd snap it up under the right circumstances...
    BradKlein
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    Default Re: Interesting Gibson F-10 at Retrofret

    I played this mandolin in the Retrofret showroom. It's a special mandolin of course but it wasn't in my top 5 favorite mandolins in the showroom. Other similarly priced mandolins get snatched up so perhaps others feel the same as me.

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