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Thread: 1974 Gibson F5 - what's top of the market?

  1. #26
    Certified! Bernie Daniel's Avatar
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    Default Re: 1974 Gibson F5 - what's top of the market?

    Quote Originally Posted by mrmando View Post
    Well, for one thing there weren't any Ibanez or Kentucky or The Loar mandolins around for comparison/competition.
    Not too sure about that. I recall a guy coming in to the (now defunct) Columbus Folk Music Center around 1973 or so with an Ibanez F-5 style mandolin. At the time we were all pretty impressed with it. I owned a 1919 F-2 at the time and the Ibanez was at least comparable with it.

    Regarding my earlier post (#20) above -- yes I agree the '50's were not "officially" part of the Gibson "dark years I mentioned it because the 1950 F-12 just happened to be in the same room as all the imports and it compared so poorly with them. And yes for sure it had the fret board on the top like an F-4 -- I think the next year they elevated it?

    But I also had a 1952 F-12 that I sent to Randy Wood to be re-graduated (top, back and tone bars) he improved the mandolin a lot. But even with the fix that F-12 really did not compare favorably to a 2002 F-5 Fern I had at the same time.
    Last edited by Bernie Daniel; Jul-12-2012 at 6:26am.
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  2. #27

    Default Re: 1974 Gibson F5 - what's top of the market?

    I was serving in the USN aboard a nuclear submarine in 1973. I had only learned about bluegrass a few years before. I bought a 1973 F5 and taught myself to play while serving. These mandolins were very tinty sounding. Being new to the music, I didn't know any better. And during this time frame they were not a lot of dealers other than Gibson, so I naturally thought I was buying the best. I played the mandolin up until about 2000/01 when I talked with Randy Wood about making improvements. I shipped the mando to him. He removed the back, replaced the tone bars, sanded the top and back, removed some of the wood from the inside of the neck. When the mando was returned, it had been improved greatly, and was also lighter. I have a 1988 F5L and the sound between both is very similar. These 70's mandos are bad sounding but they can be improved upon.

  3. #28
    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    Default Re: 1974 Gibson F5 - what's top of the market?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bluegrasssubvet View Post
    I was serving in the USN aboard a nuclear submarine in 1973. I had only learned about bluegrass a few years before. I bought a 1973 F5 and taught myself to play while serving. These mandolins were very tinty sounding. Being new to the music, I didn't know any better. And during this time frame they were not a lot of dealers other than Gibson, so I naturally thought I was buying the best. I played the mandolin up until about 2000/01 when I talked with Randy Wood about making improvements. I shipped the mando to him. He removed the back, replaced the tone bars, sanded the top and back, removed some of the wood from the inside of the neck. When the mando was returned, it had been improved greatly, and was also lighter. I have a 1988 F5L and the sound between both is very similar. These 70's mandos are bad sounding but they can be improved upon.
    Welcome to the Cafe! Love your story!

    I'm a field geologist (and an engineer too.). Mandolin travels with me and they've been to a lot of places. Never a beater either! Just a real instrument!

    I'd love to hear submarine stories! The engineer in me and the whole experience is quite unique (well unless you are in the Navy, eh?).

    If you are like me (similar age it seems), you are in or close to retirement! I'll join those ranks in a few months and can't wait!

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  4. #29

    Default Re: 1974 Gibson F5 - what's top of the market?

    I do have some stories of my submarine life since I spent 10 years on diesel and nuke boats. But I think I am a few years older- I'm 77. Feel free to contact me at bluegrassubvet@triad.rr.com.

    Tks, bluegrasssubvet

  5. #30
    Dan Sampson mando_dan's Avatar
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    Default Re: 1974 Gibson F5 - what's top of the market?

    Unless you're hell bent on owning a Gibson and are prepared to spend more money to kinda sorta fix it, why not simply buy a different brand that will likely sound better and be less expensive? Although I can't way with certainty, I bet a Northfield would sound and play better. Mike Marshall seems to enjoy his about as much as his Loar! Plenty of other makers as well out there who've made just fantastic instruments over the years.
    1999 Buckeye #18 (Bucky)
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  6. #31
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: 1974 Gibson F5 - what's top of the market?

    Quote Originally Posted by f5loar View Post
    ..While the 50's F5/F12 models were in no way close to being the mojo of a 20's F5 they were used by many professionals of the day most noted Jesse McReynolds and Everet Lilly. Even Bill Monroe bought a new 1964 F5 as a spare. Many bought them new and like Dean Webb kept them many decades recording and doing live shows with no problems of sound they got from their choice of Gibson. Dave Apollon certainly had no problem projecting with a 50's or 60's F5. He even had a custom made 50's F12 with the F5 fingerboard finished in the solid red color like Jethro's custom red A5 (wish I knew who had that one). So don't discount as bad all 50's and 60's F5/F12 models. Some were quite good.
    Replying to a 2012 post may be a bit beside the point, but I just traded in the 1954 F-5 I owned for 44 years, and it gave me good service all through that period. Each instrument is an individual, although manufacturing techniques and standards may vary and make generalizations about "good" and "bad" eras relevant. For almost a century, the Gibson F-5 mandolin has been a standard against which other pro-grade mandolins are measured. Whether through all those years it deserved that lofty position, is open to discussion and argument. The old advertising line, "Only a Gibson is good enough," has been ridiculed from time to time, but the fact that so many of our mandolins look like Gibson F-5's, makes a point about the prominence of this instrument in our mandolin world.

    My F-5 was less than 25 years old when I bought it; now it's a "senior citizen," approaching "vintage" status (on its 75th birthday). No one would choose it as a mandolin icon, but it was a pro-quality, reliable, respectable performer for all the years I owned it. We can debate the merits of different "strata" of F-5's in the great mandolin fossil bed, but we can't deny their significance.
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  7. #32
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: 1974 Gibson F5 - what's top of the market?

    I'd trade a 1974 Ford Pinto for a 1974 F5 if I had a 1974 Ford Pinto.
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  8. #33
    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: 1974 Gibson F5 - what's top of the market?

    My mid-to-late-70s F-12* was not a great instrument. I had her for 30 years and put in a lot of playing and traveling with her, but she never did get to a point where she was all I'd hoped she would be. She was stolen in 2007, and the search for her, or at least putting out the word, led me here to you fine folks and more ... so much more. This is indeed how I learned the truth of what I had been suspecting - that she may have looked pretty nice, but she didn't sound as nice, and probably never would, as I'd have liked. So when I replaced her with a teens plain A, much the same as what I'd started with in another lifetime, and she sounded every bit as good as what I'd remembered, I've accepted her and never looked back.

    *I know, not an F-5, but close. Ish.
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