During the 70's and 80's Flatiron mandolins a made big splash in the mandolin family market. They produced inexpensive instruments based on the old Gibson Army-Navy model which was a limited edition "backpacker" mandolin sold only through military exchanges. The Flatiron Company was bought by Gibson in the late 80's, and somewhere along the line Gibson discontinued production of the flattop models. Gibson's Flatiron line now consists of just a single F and a single A model.

Does anyone have any idea why and when Gibson dropped the flattop models? Surely they couldn't have just quit selling. I know they were prone to neck and structural problems. Did Gibson just decide the whole design was flawed? Too many warranty repairs?

Bruce