I'd sell it and pay off my house and as much of our student loans as possible. My dad has plenty of nice instruments I can play, so I'd take the lifestyle change over a new instrument.
I'd sell it and pay off my house and as much of our student loans as possible. My dad has plenty of nice instruments I can play, so I'd take the lifestyle change over a new instrument.
Soliver arm rested and Tone-Garded Northfield Model M with D’Addario NB 11.5-41, picked with a Wegen Bluegrass 1.4
Just let it happen to me and then I would let you know what I did with it, I do believe that if I was unemployed I would sell it and in vest in a Gil and live off of the rest of the money until a good job came along...
I get it, but there is a continuum. Alison Stephens acquired a 1764 Vincentius Vinaccia. As I remember the story she had it copied as exactly as possible by a master luthier, and then the mandolin was put in a museum, and she played the amazing copy. I am not sure that is a bad decision.
And even if played, as they were designed to be, perhaps they don't need to be played by me. Chris Thile playing a signed Loar F5 likely pleases the mandolin more than would my playing it.
Also chiming in to say that I would absolutely sell it in a heart beat, use the proceeds and invest in something, and when the amount doubles, I may begin to start considering getting a ... Gil I would also give the seller some added compensation once I was able to sell it.
Wishing you well Nick and hope all is well with you. If you're down my way let's get together for some food and tunes (though you'll probably have to do most of the playing)
Orcas Island Tonewoods
Free downloads of my mandolin CDs:
"Mandolin Graffiti"
"Mangler Of Bluegrass"
"Overhead At Darrington"
"Electric Mandolin Graffiti"
What if it was a white-top Gibson A (not an A3) with two broken tuners picked up at a garage sale for $25? And the seller just wanted to get rid of it, wouldn't accept anything more, and was going to give it to Goodwill if he couldn't sell it?
From experience, I can tell you most attempts at "added compensation" after the sale will BACKFIRE and most likely confuse and often will embitter them toward you. Most people do not have any experience with buying and selling on that level. Imagine handing someone a check for $50K and reminding them you bought a $20 mandolin from them last summer. The first question they will ask is, "what did you get for it?" If you are honest and say, "$100K and I'm splitting it will you!" They WILL NOT be grateful and will want the entire $100K. They will ask for your name and address and write down your license plate number as you are leaving. They will get a lawyer and say you "stole" $100K from them. The reason is that they are suspicious about "what else" they may have given away over the years and you may become the scapegoat. Believe me.
A friend of mine was leaving town and she had some broken guitar pedals and an old amp that she was throwing out and asked me if I wanted the stuff. I said sure, and took it home. Most of it just needed some minor soldering and adjustment, so I fixed the pedals and the amp and sold the stuff on eBay. I got about $300 for the stuff. About a year later she was in town visiting and I heard she was a single mom now, so I figured she could use the money and gave her the $300. She had the strangest reaction, almost as if I had stolen from her. I'm not sure what she was thinking, but she certainly was not grateful to receive $300 in cash! So anyway, in my humble experience, attempts to set the world "right" often fail, regardless of the sterling intentions. Just a word to the wise, not that any of us are going to find a Loar for $20......
Orcas Island Tonewoods
Free downloads of my mandolin CDs:
"Mandolin Graffiti"
"Mangler Of Bluegrass"
"Overhead At Darrington"
"Electric Mandolin Graffiti"
To me, Loars are something I've always admired and held with great respect, but I've never lusted after one, or even dreamed of owning one if I hit the lotto. So yeah, I'd guess I'd sell it as long as I could generate a chunk of money that made a real difference in my financial standings.
A quarter tone flat and a half a beat behind.
Since I know I would never buy one - if it fell in my lap I'd keep it til the thrill wore off completely. Might be a lifetime might be 3 weeks but my first instinct would be to play it til my hands gives out . A bit of money never made much difference in my life. Waking up to play a LL every morning just might be the stuff of dreams
Out the door it would go.
2021 The Loar LM700 VS
Ah, we can all dream, can't we? OTOH you probably would have a better chance winning a state lottery than finding a Loar signed mandolin and buying it for $20.
BTW I know Spruce is respecting this new Loar owner but it would be nice to hear about the story and some, perhaps more general, details.
However, if that happened to me, and even if it was in poor condition, I would consider having it properly restored and it would be worth it to me to put a few thousand dollars into it to make it playable. I often feel that obligation for anything that has value as an instrument.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Jim - Winning a boat load of cash on the lottery,is a different situation as you know. In that case money is no problem. We could buy a Loar (or 2 ?) & not feel the pinch - but would we ?. Personally,unless you're really lusting after a Loar,i think that most of us would explore the mandolins of other makers - Gil. / Dude. / Heiden / Ellis etc. & buy our choice of those. Not everybody sees a Loar as the ultimate goal - but i'd be open to persuasion if i found one that REALLY rang my bell !. I'd also have my Ellis F5 'custom' as well,
Ivan
Weber F-5 'Fern'.
Lebeda F-5 "Special".
Stelling Bellflower BANJO
Tokai - 'Tele-alike'.
Ellis DeLuxe "A" style.
Ivan, I was referring to the probability of that happening not really comparing the two situations.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Having been lucky enough to play several and compare them to my Nugget F5, I would sell it , pay my house off, quit my job, and spend more time playing The Nugget.
Back to the original question, would you keep it?
Two thoughts come to mind. IF somebody gave me a piano, and I accepted, they really didn't GIVE me much. Basically they GAVE me about $400 in expenses of having it moved and tuned. Something to think about.
In the same way if someone GAVE me a 40 room mansion sitting on 10 acres, I couldn't afford to keep it. The taxes would be $100K a year, depending on your location, and it would require hiring housekeepers, gardeners, butlers, etc, probably costing another $100K a year minimum.....heck the electric bill would probably be $2K a month.....
Now with the Loar, you would only have insurance and maintenance to consider which wouldn't be too bad until something requires a major repair. You couldn't just have the high school kid at Guitar Center working on it, in other words -- you would have to overnight it to one of the known "Loar" guys to do the repair right, which would require keeping a contingency fund. At least, this is my way of thinking. On the brighter side, having the Loar is entrance to one of the most exclusive "clubs" in music. Quite a calling card, IMHO. Not to mention getting to play something that sounds really great!!!
Last edited by Jeff Mando; Mar-25-2017 at 12:05pm.
If in some bizarre twist I happened upon a Loar, I'm in the sell camp too. Assuming I got $175k from it's sale, I'd buy about $40k worth of mandolins on the used market. Probably a Heiden, and maybe an Altman, and Ellis A5 and a few others. I'd definitely keep my current Gibson and Collings. I'd invest the rest and pay off a few bills. I'm lucky to have the 2 mandolins I have currently, and with the team of the Collings and Gibson at home, I've been cured of MAS ever since acquiring the Gibson. They're a great duo and pretty different. I just want to keep working hard at pickin and get BETTER. At this point, no mandolin is holding me back. I just need a few more years in the saddle to pick my fingers to the bone to get to where i want to be musically. I'm seeing constant progress which is really rewarding but I still need more time, not more mandolins.
*2002 Collings MT2
*2016 Gibson F5 Custom
*Martin D18
*Deering Sierra
I'm willing to assume it's true. Shinola happens. Fairy tales can come true, it could happen to you, no matter how moldy and dessicated your feeble old ticker is. Would I keep it or sell it? What do I care? I don't have it!
It sounds like we might be getting ourselves in a twist over nothing. I mean, it makes sense to lose sleep over things that actually happen. We do some of our best thinking in the middle of the night. But losing hair over what I'd do IF I won the mando lottery just sounds like a cruel squander of primo Z time.
Maybe it was a "The Loar"?
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