Anyone familiar with F-25 Folksingers? I'm trying to ID my Dad's old Gibson

[GibsonFan1337]

 

 

HI all,

I'm in the middle of looking at my father's old gibson acoustic, just for fun. And since there are no identifying labels inside the body I've used other clues to get this far.

 

It looks like it is a 1968 F-25 Folksinger as it has:

 

• 12 frets clear
• White pearl dot on a wide fretboard
• X-braced
• Low rosewood bridge w pearl dot inlay adjacent either side of the bridge pins
• Solid pegboard
• Classical shape ~10" upper bout /14 1/4 lower bout
• Yellowed purfling top and bottom
• yellow two ring rosette
• serial number stamped on the headstock, no "made in usa" -
• 89XXXX SN so built around 1968
• Tuners have been replaced with grovers, but you can see where the kluson 3X3 tuner strips were removed

 

It looks very similar to examples on the web for an F-25, however there are a couple differences to note:

 

• The white vinyl pickguards are either missing or were never installed, there is no hint of them ever being there
• The headstock is natural (brown) stain with gold paint GIBSON logo, not black lacquered
• The bridge pins are black plastic, not white

 

I'm hoping someone has seen this before and can confirm my conclusion that its just a weird F-25, maybe a one-off plus owner mods.

 

Sounds great by the way and I'm going to play the bloop out of it.

 

Best

Ryon

[Smurfbird]

Folks here will request a photo to better help you. I'm far from an expert on these things. But someone will come around soon.

[zombywoof]

Not a "one of" as I have seen 1968 F-25s (made just before the model was discontinued) without the double pickguards. The lower bout width, neck meeting the body at the 12th fret and such sounds like a typical F-25.

[GibsonFan1337]

Folks here will request a photo to better help you. I'm far from an expert on these things. But someone will come around soon.

 

Thanks, I'll get a photo up as soon as I can

[Jjunk]

I've owned an F-25 for about ten years now... they're wonderfully quirky. It has a ton of Gibson mojo... more warmth and growl than my J-45, but the age helps of course.

 

Have you measured the nut width? Mine is exactly a full 2" across. I'd say if it has that, it is definitely a Folksinger. That said, I've also seen F-25's in the wild with slightly less-wide nuts, and also without any trace of the double white guards.

[tpbiii]

We have a 65. Our studies have seemed to show that these evolved tonally along the way -- ours has a big raw mean sound. At first we did not know what to do with it except for old 20s rawish mountain stuff, but then we learned how to play it and now we love it.

 

Here 'tis.

 

 

 

 

Song 1

Song 2

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[GibsonFan1337]

I love that sound! There is a difference I noticed the saddle is slanted on your f-25 where ours is straight across. Gibson sure had fun with their designs in the 60s.

[Jjunk]

Curious - I also notice that the bridge is right side up (or right side down?) compared to others.

 

[GibsonFan1337]

1446313296[/url]' post='1707282']

Curious - I also notice that the bridge is right side up (or right side down?) compared to others.

 

 

Yeah, it is, there are all sorts of subtle differences, and your example has a straight saddle too. I wonder if that was normal batch to batch differences or perhaps they were within batch differences.

[GibsonFan1337]

1446234487[/url]' post='1707069']

I've owned an F-25 for about ten years now... they're wonderfully quirky. It has a ton of Gibson mojo... more warmth and growl than my J-45, but the age helps of course.

 

Have you measured the nut width? Mine is exactly a full 2" across. I'd say if it has that, it is definitely a Folksinger. That said, I've also seen F-25's in the wild with slightly less-wide nuts, and also without any trace of the double white guards.

Mine is 2" as well. The tone on this one is subtle or bright depending on how you play it, very versatile.

 

 

 

[j45nick]

Curious - I also notice that the bridge is right side up (or right side down?) compared to others.

 

 

 

Gibson has done both belly-down (Martin style) and belly-up bridges (what we think of as "modern" standard Gibson) over the years. In the mid/late 1960's, they did a fair number of belly-down bridges, but most of those were adjustables, rather than fixed-saddle types.

 

These days, you sometimes see belly-down bridges on Gibson historic re-issues. My '43 SJ has one, since a number of SJ's in that period had them.

[j45nick]

I love that sound! There is a difference I noticed the saddle is slanted on your f-25 where ours is straight across. Gibson sure had fun with their designs in the 60s.

 

 

Since the Folksinger was designed for both steel and nylon strings, I believe the original design had a straight saddle, like a classical (or a Hawaiian) guitar.

[GibsonFan1337]

Gibson has done both belly-down (Martin style) and belly-up bridges (what we think of as "modern" standard Gibson) over the years. In the mid/late 1960's, they did a fair number of belly-down bridges, but most of those were adjustables, rather than fixed-saddle types.

 

These days, you sometimes see belly-down bridges on Gibson historic re-issues. My '43 SJ has one, since a number of SJ's in that period had them.

 

I wonder if its just a style choice or if it affects tone?

[j45nick]

I wonder if its just a style choice or if it affects tone?

 

If affects intonation, but not tone. I believe it's more of an issue with the high tension of steel strings than the relatively low tension of nylon strings. If you are playing primarily in the first position, it doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of difference. If you play way up the neck, it does.

[Mickthemiller]

We have a 65. Our studies have seemed to show that these evolved tonally along the way -- ours has a big raw mean sound. At first we did not know what to do with it except for old 20s rawish mountain stuff, but then we learned how to play it and now we love it.

 

Here 'tis.

 

 

 

 

Song 1

Song 2

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

 

What a great sound you two make - pure magic. The guitar has a really nice tone when picked

[boboldstring]

Hi Folks..Old thread i know,,but this thread seems to be a good source for info on the "F-25 Folksinger here.

 

tpbiii I honestly love your singing of "song 1" linked in your post..

 

I wanted to ask if any period/year for this model is more desirable than other.

 

Here - http://vintage-guitars.blogspot.com/2005/11/gibson-folksinger.html

they value the 1963 - 1964 higher in value/money

than the one's made between 1965 - 1971

 

Why is this.Do the early ones sound better ?

Or is it purely that the older models in year(63-64) command a higher price ?

i am not a collector..But player.its all about the sound..

 

(i know all about the 2" inch neck width, pickguards etc)

 

Any help

[boboldstring]

@tpbiii

 

@grampa

 

Anyone have an idea ? : - )

[tpbiii]

Hi Folks..Old thread i know,,but this thread seems to be a good source for info on the "F-25 Folksinger here.

 

tpbiii I honestly love your singing of "song 1" linked in your post..

 

I wanted to ask if any period/year for this model is more desirable than other.

 

Here - http://vintage-guita...folksinger.html

they value the 1963 - 1964 higher in value/money

than the one's made between 1965 - 1971

 

Why is this.Do the early ones sound better ?

Or is it purely that the older models in year(63-64) command a higher price ?

i am not a collector..But player.its all about the sound..

 

(i know all about the 2" inch neck width, pickguards etc)

 

Any help

 

Hi,

 

I noticed I had removed the old photos and made new ones since the earlier post. I fixed it in the old post.

 

I'll tell you what I can -- which is not a lot.

 

I have played a very few of these and ours is the only one I played a lot. I talked about how it sounds above. While discussing ours on-line in years past, it seems clear that at some point the tone changed pretty dramatically -- from the strong and a bit raw sound of ours to a less strong warmer sound.

 

In 1965 Gibson made the first of a series of changes that eventually led to their great decline under new ownership in the very late 60s and 1970s. The beginning of that decline is often dated to 1965 with the introduction of machine made necks. The older necks had a headstock angle of 17 degrees -- the newer ones 13 degrees. You can generally see a price break around this time for all 1960 Gibson acoustics.

 

I don't have enough experience to speculate how the sound of the guitars evolved with time. Once again the market feels the older ones sound better.

 

Best,

 

-Tom

[boboldstring]

Thanks Tom,thats a great help.And explains some.

Interesting about the hand made necks..Ive seen a number of these around

and was wondering..Much appreciated

[slimt]

would this have more tone than the Lg2 and 3 , B25 models beings its a 12 fretted? neck width would be close to the Smeck would it not? I may have to get one of those ..

[boboldstring]

Sounds like a plan .

------------------------

 

One other spec difference from the norm is the non-radiused flat fingerboard.