Mandolin for sale - 1923 Gibson F5 Lloyd Loar (Joe Val)

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Feb 26,1923 Gibson F-5 Lloyd Loar Mandolin. Serial #72207. Beautiful Cremona finish. No Virzi ever installed. Extraordinary looking maple on back and sides.

This particular mandolin is well known in the music industry and has played an important role in America's music history.

Previously owned & played from 1970~1985 by the late New England pioneer in bluegrass music, Joe Val (Joe Val & The New England Bluegrass Boys). Joe performed and recorded exclusively with this mandolin, including all of his Rounder Records recordings from 1971~1983. Joe passed away in 1985.

He purchased this beauty ca.1970 when it was sold for quick cash off the street by a local guy, shall we say, down on his luck. It came without tuners on the bass-side. Luthier/Repairman Kenneth Miller did a setup at his New England shop in 1972. Ken repaired the "loose" cracked teardrop on the peghead, installed an ivory nut, and replaced a very short piece of (missing) curved binding in the upper body point.

Joe's mandolin has been cared for, and played exclusively, by Kevin Lynch since 1986. Present playing condition is EXTREMELY FINE! Re-gluing of original fingerboard (completed while preserving the original pearwood shim); plus custom-made Lloyd Loar-era Silver Waverly tuners installed. All work done in October 2006 by Master Luthier David Harvey at the Gibson Showcase in Nashville, TN. Joe left the original tailpiece in a hotel room in the 1980s. Banjo fret wire, slightly wider than classic mando fret wire, installed in the late 1970s by Joe's sideman/banjo player Paul Silvius. Refretted only once since.

Sale includes original rectangular case -- complete with original Gibson sales tag & key (sales tag reads, "Gibson: Music Pal Of The Nation $250.00"). Also comes with original treble-side tuners, original idge & (oken) saddle, Bill of Sale photocopy from Joe's wife, one of Joe's picks (found inside the inner seams of the case), written history, photos of Joe and this well-documented instrument, and more.

SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY may contact owner: Kevin Lynch via e-mail or phone for selling price and purchase arrangements (partial payments may be arranged). Will hand deliver if at all possible. Upon request I can offer a more complete history of this rare, collectible piece of American bluegrass music history.

As any historian will tell you, these Loar-period Gibson mandolins are few. Less than 300 are known. even fewer have the provenance of New England Bluegrass pioneer, Joe Val.

Currently located in the Netherlands (€128,000).