Gibson Loar

[danb]

"exceptional" takes a while to "get" too though.. In my experience so far, nearly any old Gibson I've had a couple weeks sounds better as you figure out how to play it.. move the bridge to just the right place.. Mandolin players are always retuning, tweaking. It's a pretty large set of variables to get just right, and not the same for any two people.

Anyway, it takes a good 20 mins minimum to really get the swing of an instrument. I make a nuisance of myself when I try a luthier's wares, but you have to do that to know how to get the note out..

As far as the list of instruments & the F5 journal- Darryl could speak on the "biography" of it all.. there are inputs from many folks now at the mandolin archive, but nothing approaches in scope or detail the notes & photos Darryl has collected. I'm starting to get the knack of these instruments, but I've still got years of catching up to do

[Darryl Wolfe]

Thanks Dan.

This turned out longer than I planned, but I believe this needs to be said and clarified.

As a historical note, here is deal on the The F5 Journal and how it came to be.

I started out with a copy of Benny Cains list that Benny gave me in the late 60's. #From there I established a small pocket journal for Loar mandolin notes for taking to festivals ect. #That progressed to a day planner sized three ring binder with a page for each mandolin. This was the Official pen and ink "Journal". #I had been making notes and documenting Loars for about 7 years at this point.
During this period (early 70's), Louis Good of Charlotte NC was also researching Loar. #I received pages and pages of letters between he and Scott Hambly where Scott was apparently turning the project into his thesis. #Ms Westerburg (Loar's widow) had been identified and contacted, but to no avail. #Lloyd Loars general history regarding Northwestern, ect after Gibson had also been figured out. #I believe in some way, Louis financed Mr. Hambly's effort.

Enter Roger Siminoff who published his very comprenhesive lists in Pickin' Magazine in June 1975. #I had never heard of him at this point, and presumably he had not heard of my efforts either. #Mr. Siminoff picked up the Mr. Loar research in some fashion during that period, and obviously followed it to fruition.

At this point Benny Cain had published lists in Bluegrass Unlimited and Roger in Pickin' and Frets.

I had also contact Julius Bellson and he provided me with the shipping date information. #I contacted Roger S about doing a Journal, or publication of sorts that would combine all information. #This was received somewhat lukewarmly at the time. #This makes sence as Roger had no idea how much info I had nor really who I was. #Remember this was before real computers and we lived on opposite coasts.

My information was obtained through my travels with my Dad to festivals, and then later through my travels with a professional band. #Individuals started seeking me out and often visited the house for mini LoarFest's. #I need to add that Tom Isenhour also provided significant entries in the Journal through his travels too.

At this point, I combined all that I had, with that of Roger and Benny and published the first Volume of the F5 Journal. #This was in about 1987. # #Everyone is credited as a contributor and I essentially consider the information somewhat public domain. #This is why it is now a portion and part of the

mandolinarchive.com

project of Dans.

The first Volume of the Journal did contain owners names. #Yes, I tried to get implicit permission to publish names, but a mistake or two was made by way of assumption, so I discontinued it altogether and only provide names in the description for those mandolins like Monroes and Wm. Place ect.

The original Volume was a printing from a hand typed version. #Wordperfect, and Microsoft were not household names yet.

The first electronic version of the Journal was in IBM Writing Assistant, then DBase III, then MS Word and then MS Excel. #The Excel version contains only the discrete mandolin info in one file, and only a fraction is formatted to print. #The remainder of the Journal is in MS Word.

The plan (which I partially carried out) was to convert or link to MS Access in order to link to digital pictures of the instruments and do more powerful sorts. #I subsequenly did macros for Excel and Dan Beimborn got involved Internetwise which negated the real need to continue trying to link the pictures.

The future of the printed version is somewhat in limbo, it needs to contain significantly more info than the web site. #Dan and I and a few others have been discussing options. #Your input is welcome

[f5loar]

I was expecting the next issue to be unvailed at the LoarFest West. Better get to work!

[Bill Van Liere]

Glad to hear the update Darryl. For some time I have been meaning to ask how the hardcopy version is coming along. I have looked through my copy of Acoustic Guitars (can't think of the author at this moment) hundreds of times and would like a great mandolin book to digest.
Anyone else got good suggestions on good mandolin books?

[f5loar]

Maybe if Darryl had the funds to get started on a nice coffee table sized color slick paper book he could get going on it. I'll kick in the first $1000. Anybody else?

[Bill Van Liere]

Well as much as I would like to kick $1000, I just pruchased another mandolin. Seems to me like a good built in market here on the cafe and I'm hoping that would be a hugh help to Darryl My .02, yeah I know $1000 would be more helpful.
Happy Holidays anyway.

[Michael Gowell]

Not exactly a book, but for someone with a strong interest in mandolins Scott Hambly's thesis [actually a dissertation, mentioned by Darryl in his post above] is very interesting. #'Mandolins in the United States since 1880. #An Industrial and Sociocultural History of Form.' #1977, University of Pennsylvania PhD, Folklore. About 600 pages, counting all the footnotes and the bibliography. #Like all dissertations, the academic expectation is that the work will be original and groundbreaking. #In addition to the instruments themselves Hambly covers advertising, historic musical publications, mandolin clubs and orchestras, makers (including a chapter on Gibson) - a really complete overview, with emphasis on the {first!}heyday of the mandolin, 1880-1920. #Your local university library may have it to loan or you can buy a copy from an academic services outfit - ProQuest, in Ann Arbor MI - on the web at proquest.com or call them at 800-521-0600. #I bought a softcover version for about $50, but you can get loose photocopied pages for about $20 less or a hardcover for about $20 more. #It seems costly, but they reproduce these things one at a time as the orders come in by a process they call "digital xerography" - it's clearly a smaller-print copy of Scott's original typescript.