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Sam Bush Fern '34


jim_gordon

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Hi,

 

I am a italian mandolin player and about 2 weeks ago I have buyed a fantastic Gibson Sam Bush Fern '34.

It is a great instrument with a fantastic sound. Is there anybody that can says me why there is a particular misalignment of the F-holes? Looking at the picture of the top it looks like the F holes are off. One is closer to the edge than the other one. It looks like the right one is closer to the edge than the left one.

Thanks

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  • 2 months later...

Hi Jim,

 

congratulations on your new mandolin. I proudly own a 2005 Distressed Master Model and a brand new varnished Fern (Dec. 2009), both of which seem to have the same f-hole "offness" as yours. The bass f-hole is farther from the edge on my instruments. From Charlie Derrington's Mandozine interview, we learn that a certain assymetry on the Loars was on purpose, such as a seemingly too high treble f-hole making up for the neck to be tilted towards the scroll. The f-hole misalignment can be observed on only a few original Loars - sometimes, the misalignment is even towards the bass side. My guess is that Gibson takes this assymetry just a bit further. On my varnished Fern, it has the effect of the neck being close to the body scroll (which looks way better than on many copies, I believe) and the bridge being right in the middle between the f-holes. Also, I personally love the brightness of the Gibsons. And I wonder if it has to do with the placing of the f-holes, among other "secrets", of course. As far as I know, f-holes close to the edge basically tend to help the bass frequencies. Looking inside my two Gibsons I can find a few more irregularities, which were certainly not on purpose: The cerfed lining (the notched strip of wood that is supposed to enlarge the glueing surface for the top and the back) shows a little gap between the back and top board on certain spots. But that's not a big deal. In my opinion, it just adds an authentic touch to the Loar spirit of my mandolins. Original Loars weren't as cleanly made as Gilchrists. But in order to really know what's behind the f-hole offness, one should write to David Harvey, who is usually very helpful. Since I'm from Germany, we are not too far apart and might actually pick some together somewhere along the road.

Ciao,

Enrico

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  • 1 year later...

I've got a May 2002 Master Model signed by Charlie Derrington; it also has the off-aligned f holes as you describe. Aa mentioned above, just about all was done on purpose, and I've got to think that all of these Master Model Mandolins went through rigorous inspections. The "E" pair spacing my Master Model is very close compared to the others, and I looked up pictures of original Loars and they had the same spacing too. Enjoy your new Mandolin, these are the best ones made since the originals.

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