An Unusual F-4 Oval Hole Mandolin
29 July 2008
3 Comments
The 525 model was Ibanez’s F-4 style mandolin and featured an oval soundhole, no headstock binding, and a single ply truss rod cover.
Kevin has shared pictures of his early Ibanez 525 mandolin, which have been posted in the serial number database.
Kevin purchased this mandolin in about 2002 from Cripple Creek Music in Ashaland, Oregon, USA. There is no serial number and no label inside, dating it to about 1975, although the angled corner truss rod cover is normally seen on mandolins with serial numbers. The headstock inlay is also more typical of the 522 model. There appears to be an imprint on the back of the headstock reading Q10. This one appears to be a bit of a mystery!
I have a friend who is an original owner of an F-4 525. As far as I know it is still in mint condition. Haven’t seen it recently, but it rarely comes out of its case.
This is a 522F model mandolin. While not nearly as common as the 522 Gibson A5 model mandolins, these were standard issued models from 75-78 for sure, maybe longer. Also, I want to comment on how much I love your sire. I have been coming here since it’s inception, but decided to register today. I’m attaching a link to some of my Ibanez collection of banjos , mandolins and guitars. I have more vintage Ibanez banjos and mandolins that I need to upload, but it currently has a 1976 524, 1975 522 and a 1978 593 Tree of Life posted with a few electric Ibanez guitars and an Ibanez acoutic. I have several folders, but I thought some of this sites’ readers might be interested in seeing my vintage Aria and Aria Proo II mandolins and banjos, being that they’re very comparable and in most cases equal to the Ibanez instruments of this era in craftsmanship. materials, and overall quality. Cheers
http://s630.photobucket.com/albums/uu30/gitgrad85/Ibanez%20Collection/
After closer evaluation, I agree that this is more of an interesting mandolin than I stated in my previous post. While there were 522F model mandolins produced, this mandolin has a more elaborate enlay design on the fretboard like the 525 models, but has the headstock of a 522 Gibson lawsuit era mandolin like the one that I have posted on my photobucket page. My guess is since this is obviously a 1975, pre lawsuit era mandolin, the 525 hadn’t been fully designed and this mandolin recieved features of both models. Either way, it’s a beautiful mandolin and I’m sure it’s a little more collectible being not only being a prelawsuit era, but it’s design was still evolving making it quite unique as well. Cheers !
Leave your response!
Recent Posts
Links
Most Commented
IbanezMandolin.com is not affiliated with Ibanez or Hoshino in any way. All content © 2010 Ibanezmandolin.com