Another Loar case

[Darryl Wolfe]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-CASE-for-LLOYD-LOAR-GIBSON-F5-MANDOLIN-/151187733884?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23337dbd7c#ht_372wt_1316

[Tom Coletti]

That case costs more than all of my instruments combined...

--Tom

[f5loar]

An original case with "issues" equals half price. Pretty soon we will have more Loar cases for sale than actual Loars :))

[Bernie Daniel]

Nice looking case. I wonder if it is possible to restore something like that? Who has a supply of 99 year-old black whatever covered those cases? Tolex came about in around WWII so it isn't that -- what exactly did they use as covering on those old cases anyway?

[goaty76]

Why didn't the other 5-series instruments get new "special" cases? Imagine a giant rectangle case like this for an L-5 or K-5. Wow! I think a lightbulb just went on over my head for a new custom case build.

Phil

[Bernie Daniel]

Why didn't the other 5-series instruments get new "special" cases? Imagine a giant rectangle case like this for an L-5 or K-5. Wow! I think a lightbulb just went on over my head for a new custom case build. Phil

When Weber introduced their scroll style octave mandolins (around 2000?) they put them in a rectangular case. I have a 2001 Big Sky and that case is huge. Too big to be practical for carrying around or even putting in your car! It looks bigger than the case for my J-200. They went to a shaped case later.

[notneils]

That case costs more than all of my instruments combined...

--Tom

Yes, but the Loar-era cases are all personally tuned by Lloyd... :)

[William Smith]

Nice case but whats underneath the ugly covering?, I wouldn't buy it unless the "brownish covering was off"

[Bernie Daniel]

Nice case but whats underneath the ugly covering?, I wouldn't buy it unless the "brownish covering was off"

Looks like mostly wood underneath though. Wonder if someone made the mistake of removing the original cover material to put this brown vinyl on it. What kind of material was the black covering of those pre-WWII cases. I've heard it called Tolex but but it can't be that. Tolex is (was?) a primitive vinyl-like material made in near the end of the that war. So I assume it is leather?

[peterk]

I wonder how much will that piece of junk, sorry, meant to say "piece of history", fetch.:grin:

[goaty76]

Does anyone happen to know the outer dimensions of a Loar case like this?

Phil

[Loudloar]

What kind of material was the black covering of those pre-WWII cases?
You are correct that Tolex was a post-war vinyl material. The dominant brand of prewar case covering was Keratol, although other brands existed. Believe it or not, it's a slurry of celuloid and linseed oil, applied to cotton fabric and then run through an embossing roller to give a leather-grain texture.


Does anyone happen to know the outer dimensions of a Loar case like this?
A Loar F-5 case is 29" long, 12 1/8" wide, and 4 1/2" thick. This is not counting the hardware, handle, or lip of the case.

Steve

[Loudloar]

Why didn't the other 5-series instruments get new "special" cases? l
Actually, this wasn't a special new case. Rectangular Gibson F-4 cases had been built since about about 1910 by Maulbetsch & Whittemore. They sold out to Feldsberg in 1920, and it seems that Geib & Schaefer won the Gibson business at that point. So Geib & Schaefer started building nearly identical copies of the M&W rectangular mandolin cases for the new F-5 models.

See more details here: http://www.stevekirtley.org/bullshead.htm

Aside from the question about the date they started, why didn't they build rectangular guitar and banjo cases? Probably the same reason there are very few today; they are too darn big and awkward.

Steve

[Bernie Daniel]

You are correct that Tolex was a post-war vinyl material. The dominant brand of prewar case covering was Keratol, although other brands existed. Believe it or not, it's a slurry of celuloid and linseed oil, applied to cotton fabric and then run through an embossing roller to give a leather-grain texture....Steve

Thanks, I believe you! :) Great information!

[Bernie Daniel]

....Aside from the question about the date they started, why didn't they build rectangular guitar and banjo cases? Probably the same reason there are very few today; they are too darn big and awkward. Steve

"...big and awkward." Yes, for sure. Here is the case that came with my 2001 Weber Big Sky octave mandolin. It is just plain huge -- and weird part is that handle is not in the center (and no it does not carry balanced when the instrument is in the case). :(

Weber has wisely long since gone to making shaped case for octaves and mandocellos.

[goaty76]

Thanks for the reply on the dimensions. I had the quick thought that maybe you could get the double violin case currently on ebay with the great exterior and then also get the Loar case from ebay with the messed up exterior and you might be able to make one nice case out of the two. I guess not. Oh Well.

As far as the larger rectangular cases go, most electric bass guitars (especially from the 60's and 70's) have large rectangular cases. There big but not overwhelmingly so.

Phil

[jim simpson]

The covering on this one looks to me like the woodgrain vinyl contact-like paper that was used on the old Premier amplifiers.