Loar era

[bahed]

What is/are the criteria that is/are generally accepted that constitutes the L. Loar era at Gibson ?

Is it:
a. when he joined Gibson ?
b. when truss rods were introduced ?
c. when the F-5/H-5/K-5 models were introduced ?
d. some of the above ?
e. some other criteria ?
f. who cares ?

[Will Kimble]

In my opinion, the "Loar era" instruments begin with the truss rods. #

Another good question is when does the "Loar era" end?

Will Kimble

[bahed]

I was prompted to ask because there are people advertising on eBay thusly:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....TQ:US:1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7398625924&sspagename=ADME:L:RTQ:US:1)

I ask also because I want to more fully understand this era, which is one of the most important in music history, well at least modern.

It immediately spawned a great follow up question about when it ended - very cool !!

[Will Kimble]

I personally wouldn't advertise that mandola as "Loar era" even though it is true that Loar worked at Gibson while it was made. #I guess it is technically correct, but most people associate "Loar era" oval holes with the innovations that occurred around '22 - adjustable truss rod, slimmer neck and adjustable bridge. #

The end of the "Loar era" is relatively simple for the Master Model instruments, it ends when he quit signing the labels. #Unless you have an unsigned Loar. # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

It would be harder to say when the end of the "Loar era" is with regards to oval holes, maybe when they went back to paddleheads? #Maybe when they started finishing them with lacquer? #I haven't seen much discussion about this.

Best regards,
Will Kimble

[Will Kimble]

Good looking mandola, by the way. #I guess the adjustable bridges start to show up in '21? #And there was that weird aluminum topped bridge on some mandolins from around '21, too. #Seems like I have also seen truss rodded A3s from '21, but I don't think the slimmer necks show up until '22 or '23...

Guess I need to brush up on my oval hole history!!! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Will Kimble

[jim simpson]

Yes, we want to hear the hole truth!!

[f5loar]

It ended the day they asked him to clean out his desk and take that box of unused Virzis with him. I believe that was the next work day after the Christmas office party in Dec. 1924.

[Big Joe]

His signed work was 1922-1924. While he worked at Gibson prior to that, he was not responsible for the truss rod or the adjustable bridge. They were first used in 1921, but I don't believe anyone would give Loar credit for those developments. His real input to the development of the mandolin is rather sketchy. His input may have been far more minimal than others, yet he was the one with the pen or pencil as it may be in the Master Model series of instruments.

[danb]

You can sort of stretch the window a tiny bit based on some evidence. The changes to the line started happening in 1921/1922. You'll see aluminum saddles & nickel silver truss rod covers on paddle-headed mandolins, and you'll see some possible "Test finishes" on F4s with cremona brown (no truss rods) just before that. There are some early wooden adjustible bridges at this time too, instead of a flattened "T" shape, they are just beams. Some aluminum saddles had a lock-nut on top in addition to the adjusting wheel below, some examples never did (I had a bizzare early one that I suspect was just a teens bridge cut in half, 2 screws added, and an aluminum beam-type saddle on top!).

Loar was a well-known performer, and was associated with Gibson-sponsored bands before he ever involved in instrument approvals/signature series. The first Loar signature label appears on 70281 (http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gibson/serial/70281), which was signed on June 1, 1922.

The first known snakehead A model appears at serial 71094 (http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gibson/serial/71094). These first snakeheads have the earlier style tuners with wriggles on the end rather than the arrow-end ones.

The last known signed Loar is 80416 (http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gibson/serial/80416), which was signed on December 21, 1924. The last known snakehead serial is 84715 (http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gibson/serial/84715), which occurs after a few paddlehead-truss rod models were made.

I have A4 81564 (http://www.mandolinarchive.com/gibson/serial/81564), which has a virzi and a lacquer topcoat. 81854 is also listed in the archives as having a virzi, so I suspect there was one batch of A4 with Virzis started before "Lloyd took the bag of virzis with him when he left" (if indeed that is what happened?).

You're pretty safe in thinking that the Loar range is serials 71000-81000 as a rule of thumb. I personally think it's misleading to call anything outside of this range as being "Loar period", because really that period is only widely agreed to take place while Lloyd was signing the master model labels. That said, I think that Gibson instruments made from 1916-1930 are the most desirable in terms of tone and playability, though there are obvious exceptions (especially the better F4s from 1910 onwards!).

[Will Kimble]

Cool info, thanks Dan!

Will Kimble

[grant_eversoll]

Just where did Lloyd Loar go? I mean, what did he do after he left Gibson

[danb]

Loar went to work on electric instruments at a company called vivitone. I recommend a read of Roger Siminoff's excellent Loar webpage (http://www.siminoff.net/pages/loar_background.html) for further information