The thread about the "Attic Find" Loar got me thinking about the first Loar F-5 I ever played. I recall that the first Loar I ever saw was at “We Buy” Guitars on West 48thStreet in NYC. My guess is it was the mid 70’s and at the time I was buying every tiple I could find. I would put them in different tuning and fingerpick them. I was also buying Les Paul Jr’s and 00-18 Martins.
Larry the owner of “We Buy” told me I was wasting my money on them and that I should sell them all and buy this mandolin he had in the back. It was a Flowerpot headstock F-5, OHSC, Strings, Receipt & Period Gibson Paper Goods. I had never seen one before and really didn’t have any idea what the big deal was beyond it was fancy Gibson and seemed cool. He offered it to me for $3,000. He said I should buy it and never sell it and it would be the best investment I would ever make. He always gave me great prices and taught me a lot about instrument dealing. I started bringing him guitar and mandolins when I was about 15 and he seemed to enjoy my efforts to learn.
I would tell my mom a bit of a lie and say I was going to New Haven to buy and sell instruments. I left out the part that I was getting on the train and going to Grand Central and walking to W48th St. I’ve played that day over in my head many times over the years and wonder how the course of my instrument dealing would have gone had I actually sold every instrument I had acquired to that point and paid the $3000 for it.
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