hello to all & merry Christmas . I have built a F5 mandolin from Roger Siminoff's plans. I would like to know the weight of a Gibson F5 for comparison sake. If anyone knows, I would appreciate knowing it. Thank you and Roger for the great plans. By the way, as busy as he must be he still takes time to answer a question personally. A great guy, bob
2 pounds or a little over (from the web)
thanks Maurice. I tried to find it on the web but couldn't
quote:
Originally posted by bob81thanks Maurice. I tried to find it on the web but couldn't
Congratulations on the mandolin! What an epic achievement!
I included the words "Lloyd Loar Gibson" in the google search. The old highly esteemed Gibson's are lighter than most modern F5's.
From my limited experience weight seems to be important. At the Franklin guitar shop Mr. Kukich weighed every guitar and had a target weight that was based on his experience. He kept a record of guitar weights going back to the years he spent repairing old Martins.
The mandolin factory made "No Frills" mandolins designed to be affordable. If you have ever had an early Mid Missouri Mandolin in your hands you will feel that the neck is heavy. The truss rod in the old Mid Mo necks is a 3/8 inch solid steel square bar. Those old, heavy, Mid Mo's are loud and have lots of sustain. They were too neck heavy and Mr. Dulak switched to thin wall square tubing truss rods like Martin used back in the day.
Edited by - Maurice Mcmurry on 12/22/2025 03:03:51
I weighed in at 2.2lbs. Thanks for the reply my friend, bob
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