Why Do Loar's Have Different Peghead Inlays?

[Nalapombu]

Hey,

In looking at some of the pictures of Loar mandos I noticed that some of them have different inlays. Most of the ones I have seen pictures of have the traditional Flower Pot, but that new Loar talked about here has a different inlay pattern, I guess it would be a Fern. I was just wondering why they were different.
Anyone know why? Are there other differences in Loar mandolins. Are the Loar mandos that were signed in the beginning different from the ones made in the last days?
Just curious.

Nala

[BigJoe]

Well, to be exact, they are all a little different. Some have flowerpots and some have ferns. Some are sidebound and some are topbound. Some have reasonably matched woods, some do not. Some are more brown, some are real dark, some are slightly reddish. Some have virsis, some do not. It all depends when they were made and if there was a special order. Like any handbuilt instrument, they had a general guide for graduations and chamber toning, but the particulars are somewhat different. That is what makes them even more exciting. Not much different from most builders today. Even our mandolins, as consistent as they are, are a little different now from what they were a couple years ago. Maybe the color is slightly different. Maybe the back woods are a little different. Maybe we made other changes for special orders or http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif?? Ain't it fun!!!

[Darryl Wolfe]

With more respect to the peghead inlay...they appear to have been made in small groups (not the mandolin, but the overlay itself). So they end up changing slightly 2 or 3 times a year over the 3 year duration of Loars. It is believed that the fern was the "original intent" on the Loar, (the first catalog depicts one) but maybe they had to order the inlays..and there was a long lead time. This seems to explain why ferns show up later in production..and then a few month later the fern inlay was used exclusively