Re: Mike Marshall's Loar?
Originally Posted by
Nick Gellie
We can get caught up in the mystique of Gibson Loar F5 mandolins. Perhaps Mike should have found an equivalent modern maker to make a mandolin with a wider fingerboard with the tone he wanted. It is about accepting an instrument for what it is.
How many of those mandolins (and makers) were around in 1979? We are spoiled now with the range of quality instruments and talented builders available, but back in the day, you had to get lucky to find one (maybe in a Florida barbershop window), move heaven and Earth to afford it, and then modify it as necessary to maximize it for what it is: a tool for making music. Gator’s story is not that different from Sam Bush, John Reischman, or even Chris Thile (though it is instructive that the latter, who did have his choice of modern makers, still sacrificed everything to acquire a February 18 Loar and then optimize it for his playing).
1924 Gibson A Snakehead
2005 National RM-1
2007 Hester A5
2009 Passernig A5
2015 Black A2-z
2010 Black GBOM
2017 Poe Scout
2014 Smart F-Style Mandola
2018 Vessel TM5
2019 Hogan F5
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