Loar Picture of the Day

[JFDilmando]

It was 8 degrees F yesterday as a high.... not the right kind of conditions for "outside" shots.... not in the beautiful climes like NC here !!
In the spring I will certainly take some pics and post them... until then, I'll just post one every once in awhile to keep the thread fresh and running....

[JFDilmando]

73755

[Darryl Wolfe]

On this day in history, 90 years ago, Lloyd Loar signed One (1) instrument

72615 The Griffith Loar, my first Loar

[JFDilmando]

Darryl;
could you share a bit of the story of how you came to it, or perhaps how it came to you ?? where it might be, why it left your hands if it did.... ?? you're about as legendary as the Loar these days, and it would be great to hear more of the back story....

[Darryl Wolfe]

The picture below is from around 1966 when I was 14. Tut Taylor owned it at that time and he got it and the A5 from the Griffith family. About a year later Tut sent the mandolin to me and Dad when we lived in Cleveland and he was in Milledgeville Ga. We kept it from fall until late spring of 68 and opted to buy a Randy Wood F-12 conversion that was about $800ish. I believe Tut wanted $1200-$1500 for the Loar at the time.

I played the R. Wood extensively and it was a cannon. When I joined the Knoxville Grass in 1975 I started looking for a Loar. By pure coincidence 72615 was on the market. It had changed hands to Norman Blake and to Randy Snoddy and was currently on loan to a guy in NH who dealt in instruments. There was only 2-3 Loars available at that time and they were in the $5500-$6500 price range.

Dad and I drove to NH and bought it. Of course now it was $6000.

I played 72615 for a 3-4 years and bought 75709 which was more original. I sold 72615 through Gruhn and a guy in the NC/VA area bought it and still has it.

The F-12 conversion I sold and is being played by Greg Hodge in the Dale Allen Bradley band.

I sold 75709 in 1981 and it ended up with T Williamson for years. He sold it not too long ago. I realized the error of my ways and I bought 73992 in 1981 or 82 and still have it.

I have owned and consigned quite a few others over the years as passing fancys that were intended to sell.

Back to 72615. It cemented my facination with Loars and at an early age.

72615 was played by Griffith and apparently refurbished at some point in time when these agents had to return or buy the instruments. Lets say 1928 or 1929. At that time the top and neck were darkened to a finish appropriate for the period and the original side and back finish was oversprayed.

According to legend, Norman Blake spilled hot coffee on the top damaging the finish. Randy Wood subsequently refinished the mandolin like it is today. In that time period nobody cared about the originality of the finish.

Tut also Loaned the mandolin to Herschel Sizemore who used it alot around 1969. Below are shot of Herschel with it, and then how it looked when I got it back.

Also, me and Randy Wood with the F-12 conversion from the same time period.

[Hallmark498]

72615 was signed on my birthday, is it the only Loar signed that day?

Now I'm dreaming of a birthdate signed Loar.

Ps thank you for the MAS

Pss how tells us about sound and tone of 72615, is it the best or worst Loar you have ever played

[AlanN]

Awesome history, Darryl. Always wondered about that Herschel photo.

My birthday is 12-June. 73675 is 13-June. In the words of Maxwell Smart..."Missed it by that much!"

[f5loar]

Okay I think I see, your BD is March 27 and not today April 2 as there are Loars signed on both of these days. The last owner of record has had it 25 years or more so it might be possible it could come to market. It's a refinished one (several times) as you know and should be more in that $100,000 or less range so maybe a 2nd mortgage on the house will get it. I will let previous owner Darryl Wolfe comment about it's tone and rank amoung other Loars.

[jtsc]

Anyone know the whereabouts of this one (or photos)?

Signed by Lloyd Loar March 16, 1923 manufacture date. 1923 shipment date, according to Spann's Guide to Gibson
Mandolin, Style F5
Serial 72450
Factory order number unknown
there is no Virzi in this instrument

Love to see it - that is my birthday +1 (were any signed on 3/15 - The Ides of March?). I love perusing this thread. Probably one of my Cafe favorites. Learn something new every day.

[John Soper]

72615 - The Griffith Loar F5 lives in Durham, NC and is played out frequently. I know the current owner well, have played that F5 several times. Despite it's checkered past it looks lovely, plays great, and sounds both sweet and powerful, depending on how it is played. Now, if the current owner would just let it out of his hands long enough to at least dress the frets...

All in all a great instrument.

[Darryl Wolfe]

Thanks...does it still have the large frets that I had John Paganoni put in it? I know the owner very casually, but had forgotten exactly where he lives.

[f5joe]

On this day in history, 90 years ago, Lloyd Loar signed One (1) instrument

72615 The Griffith Loar, my first Loar

Thanks to Darryl, I had many opportunities to "play" this instrument in my early mandolin days. It's still one of my favorites ...... but it's been a long time since I have seen her.

[Scott Tichenor]

This morning I entered into the forum's Advanced Search some serial numbers from the Mandolin Archive Loar records that had no image record just to see what I might find. Out of about 40-50 I came up a couple of Loars that previously had no visual documentation.

First pictures of #75843, below, taken at 2007 LoarFest. No record of who that belonged to but guessing someone has that information already. What member took these photos and never reported them to the Mandolin Archive? Yours truly. Found other Loar images posted/uploaded by other members that will likely get added to the Archive in the near future. Fun to match these up.



Public information from the Mandolin Archive for 75843:

Signed by Lloyd Loar March 31, 1924 manufacture date (traditional estimates)
1924 shipment date, according to Spann's Guide to Gibson
Mandolin, Style F5
Serial 75843
Factory order number unknown
Virzi Serial Number 10024

[f5loar]

Darryl Wolfe is still sitting on a 100 or so more photos (on a CD) from my archives he has yet to send to Dan to put in the cafe archives. Many of those you mention are likely in my batches.

[f5joe]

I had the pleasure of hanging with Bill on January 23, 1981 prior to his concert. This was just after he'd gotten 73987 back from Gibson with the headstock repaired. He was quite proud and happily shared it with me. He also had 72214 with him and was tuning it for Get Up John. Bill was under the weather but still very pleasant that evening. Here is a pic of both mandos that evening.


BigMonMandos by f5joep, on Flickr

[Scott Tichenor]

Darryl Wolfe is still sitting on a 100 or so more photos (on a CD) from my archives he has yet to send to Dan to put in the cafe archives. Many of those you mention are likely in my batches.

These would be photos posted by users other than you. Don't believe I've ever seen you post an image on this forum.

[Timbofood]

Don't you just love the case bound in duct tape!? Just like anybody else.

[Darryl Wolfe]

Actually Scott is correct. It seems none of my loarfest pics ( both years in Bakersfield) ever got sorted and posted

Dan has all the Loar scans from my books and F5loar. I recently uploaded all the post Loar pics from the CD

There still remains quite a few loose photos in my shoeboxes to reidentify, scan and post

These would represent photos I took, F5joe took and shared with me and ones that were sent to me by owners

I filled two three ring binders with pics, then lapsed for years in sorting catalogging and shoeboxes them. The shoeboxes are ones yet to be scanned if "not already posted"

D

[f5loar]

F5Joe, I'm pretty sure if you took those photos at the same time and it does look like the same room,same suit, that they are both pre-poker damage. The reason is on the July 9th Loar, the bare wood area shows as bare wood. After the CD repairs that area received some protective coating that darkened that area. And on the 2nd Loar, the pickguard pins are still in there. They were removed after the repair and when CD finished this one (about 6 months later) it ended up being much darker in the finish than the photo above shows. And I don't see the damaged top area to the 2nd one which is quite obvious in post repair photos I have that I made right after CD finished it. In regards to my photos they were sent to Darryl who sent them to Dan to post so no I have not posted my photos direct but someone else sure has. I guess I didn't get the credit for which ones I took with my camera.
There are so many Loar/Fern photos taken over a long 15 to 20 year period that it's sometimes hard to remember who took what photo and when. Darryl, F5Joe and me sent copies to each other (by US Mail in those days) as we took them. Usually they are only marked with serial nos. What I meant was some of those LoarFest West photos I had made at some other time of the same mandolins and should already be posted. They were also taken by me at LoarFest West and were in my photo book when Darryl got it. I thought Dan was not through posting all mine yet or if Darryl had indeed sent them all yet. Seems I am seeing some of mine missing from the archives. Way too much work to figure it out now. It was quite a chore for Darryl to copy my organized books. I feel for him to get his copied!

[danb]

I did recently get a huge new influx of pictures from Darryl (mostly Fern/post-loar!).. I also have a nice stack of Gilchrists from Steve, and a pretty big back-log of other vintage Gibsons to get through!

[f5joe]

F5Joe, I'm pretty sure if you took those photos at the same time and it does look like the same room,same suit, that they are both pre-poker damage. The reason is on the July 9th Loar, the bare wood area shows as bare wood. After the CD repairs that area received some protective coating that darkened that area. And on the 2nd Loar, the pickguard pins are still in there. They were removed after the repair and when CD finished this one (about 6 months later) it ended up being much darker in the finish than the photo above shows. And I don't see the damaged top area to the 2nd one which is quite obvious in post repair photos I have that I made right after CD finished it. In regards to my photos they were sent to Darryl who sent them to Dan to post so no I have not posted my photos direct but someone else sure has. I guess I didn't get the credit for which ones I took with my camera.
There are so many Loar/Fern photos taken over a long 15 to 20 year period that it's sometimes hard to remember who took what photo and when. Darryl, F5Joe and me sent copies to each other (by US Mail in those days) as we took them. Usually they are only marked with serial nos. What I meant was some of those LoarFest West photos I had made at some other time of the same mandolins and should already be posted. They were also taken by me at LoarFest West and were in my photo book when Darryl got it. I thought Dan was not through posting all mine yet or if Darryl had indeed sent them all yet. Seems I am seeing some of mine missing from the archives. Way too much work to figure it out now. It was quite a chore for Darryl to copy my organized books. I feel for him to get his copied!

Tom: Please re-read my post.

"on January 23, 1981 prior to his concert. This was just after he'd gotten 73987 back from Gibson with the headstock repaired."

Headstock repair ....... yes, pre-poker. I thought I was clear on this. btw, I have the negatives of these photos taken on 1/23/81.

[Darryl Wolfe]

The back room of a school gymnasium/auditorium if I recall correctly

[f5joe]

The back room of a school gymnasium/auditorium if I recall correctly

Yes, Jefferson County Middle School, Jefferson City, TN.

[f5loar]

Sorry wrong repair job! Makes sense now. When I hear repair job I think of the CD repair. The headstock repair was more of a kind gesture from Gibson to replace the logo and broken scroll. Still nice photos from that era of Monroe's time.

[Darryl Wolfe]

F5Joe just sent me this great shot of Monroe and 73987. Credit to some website it came from