Signature label and serial number label of the earliest known Gibson F-5. (Photos courtesy Steve Gilchrist)
Gibson F-5 70281 as it appears today. Photos by this author, June 1, 2022: one hundred years old.
June 1, 1922 is the earliest authentic signature by Lloyd Loar found inside a musical instrument known to be extant. Today at Mandolin Central, we are celebrating the one hundredth birthday of Gibson F-5 70281 with new photos and by revisiting a piece that was played by Lloyd Loar and the Gibsonian Concert Orchestra in June of 1922. This is an excerpt from “Canzone Amorosa” or “The Venetian Love Song,” from the arrangement by Walter Kaye Bauer.
In the late 1960s and ‘70s, Gibson F-5 70281 often appeared at fiddler’s conventions in the hands of a gentleman who told us of finding it in a pawn shop in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was an enthusiastic mandolin player, happy to pass his treasure around to other musicians, and was quick to point out that the top was damaged when he found it. More recently, this mandolin underwent a brilliant restoration by world renown Australian luthier Steve Gilchrist (Walter Carter, Fretboard Journal 38, November 2017; for a full description of the restoration and details on the unique features, please visit gilchristmandolins.com).
Adirondack spruce top restored to excellent condition. F holes smaller than later F-5. Tailpiece base is silver-plated with significant wear. Cover is a nickel plated stamped tailpiece typical of Gibson models A-1 through F-4, and may have been replaced after loss of original.
F-5 varnish with unique color: not quite “Gibson Cremona Brown” or “Tobacco Brown” and not exactly Gibson style 4 red sunburst. F-4 style heel cap.
“Flitch beam” neck as per F-4: figured Maple with ebonized maple center piece.
Elevated fingerboard extension as well as pickguard. Lloyd Loar was the first person known to be photographed with an elevated pickguard on a Gibson mandolin (catalog “F”), demonstrating the benefit of an unencumbered sound board.
Single bound elevated pickguard with thickness similar to F-4; attachment bracket unique to this mandolin.
Peghead shows long (approximately 15/16) tuner post placement with top D string post drilled through the “G".” Back of peghead shown with original tuners; today modern machined gears enable ease of tuning. (Photo of peghead with original tuners courtesy Darryl Wolfe)
Back of sugar maple with atypical label orientation (Photo courtesy Steve Gilchrist)
Treble tone bar; unique tapering, reminiscent of violin construction. (Photo courtesy Steve Gilchrist)
Henry Patrick Holland, July 25, 1923-October 2, 1989.