Had Monroe stuck to his Epiphone I have no doubt the F5 would still have been brought into bluegrass by others. Charles Bailey was playing a '27 Fern with his brother back when Monroe was in the Monroe Bros. And Lester Flatt played a '41 F5 with brother Charlie before he joined up with Bill and Bill got his Loar. Just like today when you see more models then just the F5 or it's copies being played it's not always about what you want but what you can afford and get that matters. There is not doubt the F5 now dominates the bluegrass scene and that would be because of Monroe. Others have tried to go different but usually come back to the F5 style. When is the last time you saw a guy pick a Montelone Radio Flyer in a bluegrass band? How long did Duffey pick his "duck" model? How long did guys like Lawson, Bush, Osborne stick with their A5 copies before going back to their F5s? Not long! How many times has the Dawg strayed from his Fern or Loar but seems to always come back to them? Heck the Dawg had his own special "Dawg" model made by two luthiers. When is the last time you saw him with it?
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