Played my first Loar Monday night

[Docmarc]

A mando buddy is close to a Chicago area collector who has several dozen high-end mandolins...every once in a while he'll show up with a mando that his collector friend lets him borrow to play...last Monday he came in with an old Gibson F5 that he handed me to look over...at first glance it looked like a hundred others - until I raised it to the light and looked at the labels -- Lloyd Loar 1922...I can't explain it but the instrument changed palpably...like a ghost touched it-- very hard to explain... the mando sounded very 'sweet' with almost no overtone and it wasn't particularly loud...but it did sound ancient...whew...

[John Zimm]

Wow, I envy you. I bet that was quite an experience. I would be afraid to hold one of those mandolins I think. Congrats on being able to play a Loar.

-John.

[mandomood]

I'm trying like mad to find an opportunity to play a Loar...to get a sense of what 'that tone' is or can be in the right hands.

I recently had the chance to play a couple of Gilchrists (an F5 and a new F4) and finally can put a feeling and sound to those that will stick with me for a while...

you're a lucky man!

[Brad Weiss]

If you get a chance to see Mike Marshall and attend one of his workshops, he'll just hand you his Loar and say, here give it a whirl! I'm so barely competent that I couldn't exactly say it was an earth shattering experience when he offered it to me, but it sure was intimidating.

[Fred G]

I was at a festival lat summer and showed up at a friends campsite and he said "your going to see whats in my friends case" and it turned out to be a loar. I got to play it in a jam for about the next 20 minutes or so. I was pretty nervous at first, and it was quite different to play than my rigel, but at the end he gave me a great compliment saying how most people who played it were not able to get such a beautiful tone from it immediately like I did. My guitar buddy had his camera with him so it was nice to get a couple of pics with it too.

[carleshicks]

I played my first loar at Elderly last weekend and it is amazing. To tell the truth I thought all the hupla about Loar's was just hype but boy was I wrong. There is definetly something about the sound that is coming out of those F holes.

[ethanopia]

I've never played one personally, maybe someday...

But I've played a handfull of the original D-28s and I thought the whole mystique was bunk they all sounded like good guitars but not knock your socks off good you know what I mean.. Then I played Scotti's dads Herringbone and then I knew what awesome sounds like, incredible can't put it into words good!!! And if there are others out there that can sound better than that one then watch out.

So I imagine Loars to be a lot like that, some are average and not all that astounding, but the ones that sound good are whole different story.

I'm looking forward to one being able to check one out someday, I think that is really the only way I can tell if an instrument sounds good, if I play it you know http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[plunkett5]

I was checking out mandolins at Vintage Instruments in Philadelphia about 12 years ago. I really like A styles and was looking for a good affordable old Gibson. Fred Oster came into the room and handed me an F and told me to try it out. It wasn't really tuned, so I boldly and none too gently tweaked it and played it for awhile. He asked me what I thought, and I told him it was OK. He kinda smiled and told me it was worth over $45,000. It was a Loar in great shape. I gingerly handed it back to him and thanked him for the chance to play it. Honestly though, I was scared to think what I had in my hands. I remember thinking that for that kind of money, it better have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.

[krishna]

I've read a # of interviews about Loars over the years,and have been able to play 4 of them. Not all #Loars are #the best sounding mandos . I remember one interview were the guy said he had played about 20 of them(I think he was a repair person).He said there were quite a few that he thought sounded not at all good. Of the 4 that #I've played, one was amazing,(but other than dollar #wise,I would not have traded my mando for it.)The other 3 were good, but didn't sound terrific enough to write home about.You have to remember,of the Loars that are known,every one of them has had a different history. Some have been played little, others have been played tons. The same goes for repairs.Do you think that Loar that was found in unplayed condition, with it's tags still on ,will sound anything like a Loar that has 4 or 6 thousand hours playing on it? #And how about set up, and old strings? Sorry if you think this post is out of line.I personally would love to own one also. And to think,I could have bought one for 16k back in 88 when I was looking at high end mandos.

[onlyagibsonisgoodenuff]

I have a friend who acquired a post-Loar Fern, and I think he told me it was from the year after Lloyd left the building. At any rate, it sounded terrible! I couldn't play more than one tune on it before I handed it back. I wonder how long it would take to get that thing opened up? I can definitely make an educated guess that it probably hasn't been played in years. It would be kinda spooky buying a Loar, or near-Loar mandolin if it didn't sound good. You'd wonder if it ever would! I guess my friend just bought it for investment purposes, doesn't plan to play it or take it out anywhere. Too bad.

[Brian T]

Mandolins in general need to be played to sound good. The Loars were built to be played. If they have been sitting around for 60 years or so, then it will almost be like breaking in a new mando. It would be interesting to make a recording of one that hasn't been played, then drive hard every day for about 10 months or a year and then do another recording.

[Spruce]

"If they have been sitting around for 60 years or so, then it will almost be like breaking in a new mando."

I played a Loar recently that had been sitting around for 50 years unplayed....
Greenish gunk on the frets, etc...

Sounded pretty good to me...

And I've been playing a lot of new mandolins recently that sound great right off of the workbench...
And I mean great....

Go figure....

[mandoJeremy]

I have played ten different Loars and I must say they were all great with the exception of a Fern Loar that never gets played, only stored away under a bed. #It sounded good but not great and I am sure that six months of playing on it would open it right back up. #I have said it over and over but the best mandolin I have EVER played was Grisman's Loar. #The epitome of what a mando should sound like! #I have also played Wayne Benson's Fern a few times and you must really know how to pull the tone to get it sounding the way it is supposed to, which he does!

[Docmarc]

I was told that the mandolin I played Monday night was appraised at $73,000...funny thing though was that the value didn't have as much impression on me as did the 'soul' of the instrument - the thought that Lloyd Loar on some day in 1922 sat under a single bulb at a work bench and tapped and tuned and set the bridge and maybe played a couple of bars...it was almost mystical feeling...understand that I'm not a guy easily moved by the unseen/unknown...but for a few minutes Monday night I had a chill that I'll remember for a long time...

[floyd floar]

Does anyone know how many Loars are out there? I wanna find one at some little old lady's yard sale:;):

[Coy Wylie]

Try this, Floyd: LL archive (http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/list_mandolins.pl?f5journal).

[danb]

Spruce- I bet it's still warming up and sounding better too!

[f5loar]

If you played a '22 Loar on Monday night of this year and they told you it apprasied at $73,000, that owner needs to find another appraiser. He didn't get his $10 worth of appraising! I can't think back how long ago a Loar was worth under $75,000!

[danb]

Actually a better link to list just Loar F5s in the Mandolin Archive is
this query (http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/list_mandolins.pl?loar)