Dave apollon

**Rick Schmidlin** · Apr-21-2007, 12:51pm

I was just listening to my Dave Apolllon CD and I just relised I got to hear how his two Loars progressed from 1930-1956 in this masters hands. It was a nice way spend Saturday morning

**Elliot Luber** · Apr-21-2007, 2:45pm

How much of the tone was the Loar and how much of the tone was Dave Apollon?

**Rick Schmidlin** · Apr-21-2007, 3:16pm

What a combo, what Loar designed and Apollon played.

**f5loar** · Apr-21-2007, 4:56pm

I'm pretty sure he did not use his '23 Loar in those recordings. Although it would be impossible to tell exactly which F5 he did use in those recordings he was playing his late 20's Fern, his early 30's Fern and his '37 Flowerpot on most of them. He also had a '56 but doubt it was used in those recordings but possible. Keep in mind he used an aluminum bridge top on his F5s and that gave it a more "tinny" sound that in his hands could cut the bark off a tree at 50 feet.

**SternART** · Apr-21-2007, 6:27pm

Don't you think in those days having a "new" Gibson was probably like showing some success in your career?
Back then I'm not sure anyone thought a late 20's Gibson Fern was much different than a 1922-24 Gibson F5.

**8ch(pl)** · Apr-22-2007, 5:26am

73009 was found in a Pawnshop in Halifax Nova Scotia in the early 1960's and purchased for $100. The fellow who bought it is a local musician named Fred Eisener (there are several spellings to this family name). He kept it for about 10 years and sold it for $10,000. I always wondered how it got there. The story Mr Eisener tells is that he beat the price down and knew what he was buying. I don't know him, but I have heard the story from several sources.

**evanreilly** · Apr-22-2007, 9:51pm

Interesting.
I thought he had sold the mandolin a lot later, late 1980's.

**f5loar** · Apr-22-2007, 10:02pm

Having a new one would be a status type statement but for Mr. Apollon he didn't pay a dime for his many F5s since he was a full time endorser for Gibson. He did however after wearing them out sell them for the then list price. According to Gibson repair/shipping records he was also their most frequent repair endorser. He went through frets and tuners pretty quick. I recall the spelling of Fred's last name as "Isenor". He bought the Apollon Loar in 1960 and sold it in 1988 or vastly more then 10 years. It still retained it's alum. saddle and had been refinished by Gibson in the 30's.

**evanreilly** · Apr-25-2007, 10:56am

Happy Birthday 73009

**8ch(pl)** · Apr-25-2007, 7:26pm

You are probably right about the date, I was going by what a friend of Fred Isenor told me. Same with the name spelling, it is a German name common in Nova Scotia which has evolved into several spellings. There are many names common to here, a lot are originally German in Lunenburg County

I am wondering how this mandolin found it's way into a pawn shop. There used to be several shops in the old downtown area, only a couple left today.

**P Josey** · Apr-25-2007, 8:16pm

Vic Mullen told me a US Naval Fleet was in town and a sailer left it at the pawn shop and never retuned to get it back. I was also told the shop keeper wanted around $400 for the mandolin and wouldn't budge on the price. Fred went home and came back with $100 payment to put it on hold. The shop keeper had a friend there when Fred returned and the friend told the keeper to sell him the mandolin because it would probably end up hanging around the shop and not sell. Fred got it for the $100. Vic Mullen was a regular cast member of The Don Messer Show and used the mandolin on that show a couple of times.

**evanreilly** · Apr-26-2007, 2:37am

73009 is in good hands.

**f5loar** · Apr-26-2007, 2:40pm

I bet I could "sweet talk" it out of those hands!

**JeffD** · Apr-26-2007, 4:08pm

There is a video up on youtube of Dave Apollon playing what looks like a L&H two point - the asymetrical one with the scroll peg head and vulcanized rubber pick guard.

**8ch(pl)** · Apr-26-2007, 8:47pm

That would figure how it got into the shop. Not exactly what I heard about how it got out (except the price), but Vic Mullen would know. Fred shows up sometimes on CBC Radio, he brings in old records to play. He also did a Bluegrass event in Truro recently.

$400 may likely have been a fair price for a Gibson F5 in 1960, but what would a Loar fetch then? They were about $45,000 ten or so years ago.

Great shot of 73009 Evan.

**testore** · Apr-26-2007, 8:57pm

I have a client who, as a child, was Dave Apollons next door neighbor in Las Vegas. He told me that Mr. Apollon gave him a cheapy mandolin when he was a kid, maybe I should unearth this "cheapy".

**sgarrity** · Apr-26-2007, 9:00pm

So who is that in the pic?

**f5loar** · Apr-26-2007, 9:25pm

She's the new "Carolina Songbird". My facts come directly from Fred Isenor (we're distant cousins) about the Apollon Loar. A new 1960 F5 in 1960 would set you back about $575 with a case. Gibson only put out 24 F5s in 1960 so you really had a better chance at finding a used one. A used F5 rather it be a Loar, a Fern or a 1956 model would run you $200 to $400 in 1960 in US Dollars so Fred got a pretty good deal. Up to around 1969 you could fetch a Loar for under $1500. If was not until after the Buffalo Springfield broke up that the price of vintage acoustic instruments started to go up in value at a pace that out paced the stock market.

**Martin Jonas** · Apr-28-2007, 4:36pm

Originally Posted by (f5loar @ April 26 2007, 22:25)

If was not until after the Buffalo Springfield broke up that the price of vintage acoustic instruments started to go up in value at a pace that out paced the stock market.

Interesting landmark to chose. You mean because once Stills hit the big time with CSNY, he had enough cash floating around to buy any vintage instrument that took his fancy, plus a few for bandmates such as Chris Hillman?

Martin

PS: I don't know if it'll be shown on PBS, but there was a wonderful BBC programme shown a few months ago tracing the history of California rock from 1965 to 1975, focussing mainly on CSNY and David Geffen's circle. Catch it if it comes around.

**evanreilly** · Apr-29-2007, 8:49am

Here is a picture of 73009 when Fred Isenor was playing it with the Nova Scotia Ramblers.

**8ch(pl)** · Apr-29-2007, 5:12pm

Imentioned earlier that Fred Isenor often contributes old recordings to requests on CBC Radio, He sent one in yesterday for Stan Carew's Weekend Morning show. I listen to it almost every week, since I seem to get up around 6 AM.

**f5loar** · Apr-29-2007, 10:16pm

Yep that's my cousin Freddy from Canada. Actually you can say it was Stills and Young both from the BS band that was buying up the prewar Martins/Gibsons/Gretchs/Fenders. It's a known fact that when Chris Hillman in 1972 went with Stills to Gruhns and liked a '24 Loar with Virzi he had in at the time and Stills just turned to George and said "how about adding that old mandolin to my tab today". Hillman still has it. We should all have such friends!

**evanreilly** · Apr-30-2007, 9:24am

Speaking of 'friends with benefits', didn't Vince Gill buy a rather nice mandolin (Loar) for one of the members of his band? Or is that rumor?

**f5loar** · Apr-30-2007, 3:41pm

Don't know about that but his wife Amy bought him 2 of Bill Monroe's mandolins at the Estate Auction in Nashville without him knowing it. I guess it's not who you know but who you marry!

**Fred Isenor** · Jan-27-2017, 9:06pm

Thought I replied before regarding F-5 73009 but possibly I didn't. It was bought by Ray McLean from a bootlegger in Virginia when Ray was in the navy. Back in Halifax it ended up with a mandolin and guitar duet known as Lucky and Curly. They pawned it at Gottingen Exchange for booze money. I bought it in the winter of 1959-60 for $100.00 and there was no mention of a down payment. That was the price. I sold it to Evan Reilly in 1988. Evan was able to find out that it had belonged to Dave Apollon. Had a phone call from the present owner a year or two ago. He had just bought it from Evan.
Fred Isenor