Where is bill monroe's loar?

[carteru93]

Does anyone know where Bill Monroe's F5 is now?

[Stephanie Reiser]

I've got it.
I've been using it as my "beater" axe.

[Jonathan James]

Behind the glass at the Country Music Hall of Fame in N'Ville...

[Gutbucket]

Didn't he trade it for a pink Fender Telecaster?

[DryBones]

the real question is.....where is Uncle Pen's fiddle?

[allenhopkins]

the real question is.....where is Uncle Pen's fiddle?

Must be somewhere around here -- I can hear it talk, I can hear it sing...

[carteru93]

Seriously though does anyone know where it is?

[JEStanek]

Seriously, it is in the Country Music Hall of Fame. This thread from Sep 2005 details the induction. Ricky Skaggs played it one more time before it became part of the exhibit. There's some chatter about Ricky in there but the thread has lots of details on how Bill's mando ended up there. Thread.

Jamie

[PatrickH]

Didn't he trade it for a pink Fender Telecaster?

No, that was James Burton...

[f5loar]

The July 9'23 Loar of Bill's has never been a problem on keeping up with who has it, who should have and who got it.
Simple Google on that will tell the tales of it's whereabouts since he died.
It's Bill's 2nd Loar the Feb. '23 that is still missing since his death in 1996.

[carteru93]

Thanks guys.

[8STRINGR]

Thanks, JEStanek! I appreciated reading the older thread and reading the article for the first time on cmt.com! Now I know!

[Rroyd]

Surely there are some thoughts out there about where the February Loar is. I've heard mutterings along the lines of "we've got a pretty good idea where it is. It is in mumble, mumble, mumble, cough, mumble, cough, cough. Good to talk to you again. Catch you later." So this is an excellent opportunity to confess all that you know about where it could be.

[evanreilly]

Maybe Robert McLean knows where it is?

[EdSherry]

Elvis has it, but he's left the building.

[mrmando]

Maybe the Feb. 23 was buried with Bill?

[f5loar]

The rumor is that it was stolen by an "inside" source that knew too much. James even ran a stolen Loar ad along with some other mandolins missing in action in BU magazine shortly after his father died. It's not been heard of since

[JEStanek]

I hope it's not buried with him. I mean if you have one and choose to do that, its your right, but boy, I wish these instruments could stay in circulation. We need Leonard Nemoy to do an In Search Of... episode on the "other" Loar.

Jamie

[Elliot Luber]

He may play better than me -- even in his present state. Imagine stumbling across that one in a Vegas pawn shop!

[Rroyd]

See, now we are starting to get somewhere. So either Bill's acquaintance with the stove poker has it, or James has it, and ran the ad to confuse us. No, wait! I'll bet Kenny Baker has it. Are we getting close?

[mingusb1]

Did Big Mon record much (or any) with the Feb Loar?

Thanks in advance,
Z

[evanreilly]

Bill mostly used the second Loar in cross-tunings. He initially had it in 'Get Up John' tuning, but when 'My Last Days...' became popular, he kept it in that tuning. He would bring it out onstage to play those requests. I am not sure that he ever recorded with it, however.

[JEStanek]

IIRC, both Loars got the poker treatment and part of Charlie D's magic was separating the bits to their rightful places... Or am I mistaken...

Jamie

[carteru93]

I believe you are right. Check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsLU9ucUt7E

[earthsave]

Does anyone know where Bill Monroe's F5 is now?

If it comes up missing we'll no where to start looking.