Useful photo

[Jim Hilburn]

If your a luthier and your relative's are like mine you've probably gotten some kind of guitar related picture books for Christmas. I got one called Acoustic Guitars, The Illustrated Encyclopedia.
When I decided to make an L-5 based octave, I got a great straight-on shot of a '29 L-5 from this book to use for the body shape, but it also had this photo of Eddie Lang. The reflections on that guitar are priceless for getting the recurve details.

[markishandsome]

Looks like it would also be useful for fashion advice.

[thistle3585]

How did you decide on top and back thickness as well as the graduations?

[Jim Hilburn]

How Bennedetto graduates his guitar tops is a good place to start.

[PaulD]

How did you decide on top and back thickness as well as the graduations?
If you look really closely at the pictures, you can see the top thickess at the f-holes as well as the shadow of the bracing from the light reflecting off the back. Okay... so I'm full of it! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Seriously though, that is a great photo... thanks for posting! I love the lines of that guitar!

pd http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Jim Hilburn]

To me that's the nicest peghead ever concieved. I was going to say beuatiful but I can never spell it.

[sunburst]

Beautifulest.

[buddyellis]

I have to agree. That is simply the most elegant peghead design ever made. It looks great on a mando, too (http://www.brentrup.com/models.php) http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif (I'm sure there are others, but brentrup comes to mind with that style headstock on an A model)

[Chris Baird]

It is funny, often "bad" photography of mandolins is good for builders. I have a whole file of loars, nuggets, gils, etc. that have lots of reflections. You can't see the mando well but you can see the arching.

[Paul Hostetter]

Gibson built mandocellos using that precise body. Look on the left side here:

http://www.lutherie.net/loar.kit.collection.jpg

Unfortunately they used a 24-3/4" scale, which doesn't serve a low C well at all, but would make a respectable octave.

[PaulD]

Gawd, Paul... you made me drool on my keyboard! That's a great collection. What's the box-like thing on or under the bridge on the violin or viola or whatever that odd looking viol thingy is?

pd

[Jim Garber]

I am sure Paul H will answer, but in the meantime... that is Loars collection of personal instruments. That is his electric viola.

That photo of Sr. Massaro, alias Eddie Lang, made me want one of those L5s. I got a 1928 one in sad condition many years ago and a luthier friend painstakingly put it back together. It is an amazing instrument.

Jim

[Paul Hostetter]

This was actually Hank Risan's collection of Loar instruments, some of which came from the Loar estate, which he'd assembled to sell to the Smithsonian (they passed). The rectangular case held his traveling music pedagogue kit: his five-course mandola-thang, his solidbody electric viola, his musical saw, and two bows. At the time this photo was taken, I'd just restored the mandola-thang, Rick Turner had restored the viola, and I'd just had the bows rehaired. Inexplicably the photographer never thought to take the bloody plastic bags off the bows. I probably worked on some of the other instruments as well. Hank Risan was cycling a lot of fancy instruments at that point in time, including lots of Loars, and I was one of a number of people who did work for him then. I saw more Loar guitars than I ever thought existed. Blonde birch backs, standard shaded maple sides. Go figure. I saw several of the mandocellos, they usually had maple backs that looked like they belonged. Rick can talk about the viola, it's a real item.