I played a Loar!!

[Rex Hart]

After reading the article "At Last, a Loar To Play" on the cafe, I wanted to relay my experience in playing a Loar.The one I played was dated 1924 (if I remember correctly) and is owned by Jimmy Orchard in Missouri.Our band was playing a show and Jimmy was there with his Loar and offered to let me play it instead of my Collings.My knees started shaking immediately and I told him I couldn't do that But he said "these are meant to be played," and so I did. I was so nervous that I was going to bang it against something that I stunk up the joint.However,I will never forget the chance Jimmy gave me to play a Loar and will cherish the memory.I think Jimmy said he picked his up in St Louis in 1959 at a pawn shop(?) for $2000, which was a lot of money back then.Jimmy is a great ambassador for Bluegrass music.Thanks Jimmy!!

[Glassweb]

Loars, Strads, Strats, Teles, Les Pauls, D-45s etc... the originals are what they are... forever copied and cherished, iconic game changers that effectively captured the collective imagination of many generations of musicians. are they always the "best" sounding of their sort... not necessarily so... but the best examples of their kind will always be seen as having no equal. I used to own the Loar in question here. Its exceptional qualities may not seem obvious at first, but once time is spent exploring the myriad tonal possibilities, well... you gotta love it! It even took the current owner awhile to realize just how great a Loar this was. And note... it HAS a Virzi inside!

[re simmers]

Bill is a great writer. Yes Bill, I wish my dad's 1951 Kay, with a badly warped neck had been a Loar, too.
I got to play Benny Cain's 5 Loars a long time ago but I didn't know much at the time. He confessed that only one was worth insuring for $25,000 (about 1992 I think). The rest, he said weren't very good.
Then I took a lesson from Herschel and played his. The 2 that are numbered one after another were terrific. Yes, the thunder roared. It was like his living room wasn't big enough to withstand the sound. Beautiful sound, big sound, lots of deep volume. I had a 3 1/2 hour drive home to think about how much equity I had in my house, and could I find a Loar? The answers were "not enough" and "no."
I got to play another about a year later. It was loud, but didn't compare to Herschel's.
Bob

[miked500]

Well I'm green with envy. Maybe one day I'll get to play one!

[D C Blood]

I've been very fortunate over my years (close to 50) in bluegrass, to have played a good number of the Loars. I sat in with Benny and Vallie Cain in Virginia back in the late 60s, and Benny let me play one of his. The time I think about most is Reidsville, 1969. My old friend, Bob Artis of Pittsburgh offered me a choice of two Loars, one w/Virzi and one w/o, for $1200. I declined at the time, being young and foolish. At that time Loars were special, but not revered and I had a mando that sounded better than either of them. Then in 1971, I was on my way to Vietnam for my second tour, (USAF). I stopped off to visit my friend, John Paganoni, who was still in the Air Force, and had recently made me one of his first mandolins. His band was playing that night in San Bernadino, but John got a call from his Commanding Officer late that afternoon and he had to go in to work. John handed me his recently acquilred Loar and said, "go take my place tonight, here, play this"...
WOW!!! Then back in the nineties, I was able to pick on "The Loar" quite a few times, as well as carry it in my car, down to the Bell Cove Club in Hendersonville, where Bill played many times after Wed nite church service.
Sometimes I'd take Bill down there, and other times he'd say, "take this on down and I'll be along shortly". I've had a good bluegrass life...:)