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Thread: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

  1. #51

    Default Re: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

    bill monroe's influence is there but the F-5's popularity has more to do with its unique design. scroll ... nice

  2. #52

    Default Re: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by f5loar View Post
    Comparing an F7 to a Loar F5 would be like comparing a Volkswagon Beetle to a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. Big, big difference.
    I bet it only took one B chop to hand over the barber that hard earned $150. Bill got the F7 new in 1934 and kept playing it until early 1945 when he got the Loar. That's a pretty long stretch for one mandolin. I guess Big Mon never got the MAS. He was too busy inventing a new sound of American music to be bothered with MAS. However it was in the mid 50's that many other new mandolin pickers caught the "Monroe Fever" which would lead to full blown MAS in trying to find a mandolin that would sound "just like Bills".
    ...would like to get it straight about the purchase date of the '23 Loar,...you say '45,...how come it says in BM documentary bio that it was bought in '41 ?

  3. #53

    Default Re: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by f5loar View Post
    Sounds like the photo taken when Big Mon borrowed Lonzo's old 50's Gibson A50 while the Loar was out for repairs. Lonzo Sullivan of Lonzo & Oscar Opry comedy team fame were good friends of Monroe. There was also some photos of when he borrowed Connie Gately's old A50 too. Connie was a Bluegrass Boy that played guitar with Monroe in the mid 50's.
    ...you mean,...he "borrowed (Oscar's) old A-50",...Lonzo played guitar !

    ...at one time he borrowed a '53 F-12 from a guy named Bill Thomas, who lived in my neck of the woods,..Dickson co. Tenn.

  4. #54
    Registered User Hendrik Ahrend's Avatar
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    Default Re: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by mando-tech View Post
    ...would like to get it straight about the purchase date of the '23 Loar,...you say '45,...how come it says in BM documentary bio that it was bought in '41 ?
    Several times BM himself had the dates wrong. Tom Ewing did extensive research on Monroe and found out that Bill - around the period in question - was in Florida only in January '45.

  5. #55

    Default Re: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

    I doubt if Monroe or anyone else was calling a "Loar" a Loar back then. Certainly the term vintage was not yet in use, as far as describing instruments. Doubtful anyone considered a 22-year old "used" Gibson a "classic" at that time. Monroe was forging new ground and needed an instrument that could do the job. Regardless of terminology, Monroe heard something in the sound of his Loar that the others lacked, IMHO.

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  7. #56
    Registered User f5loar's Avatar
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    Default Re: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

    Right, Monroe could have found any year Gibson F5 before 1945. Not sure why he waited so long, but when he had to have known brother Charlie bought a new '41 F5 when Lester Flatt played mandolin and sung tenor for Charlie. It didn't take long before others knew it was a Loar Monroe had bought. And then when they found one with a Virzi in it, they would take it out because they knew Monroe's didn't have a Virzi. I'd say if Monroe had found the Fern Bobby Osborne or Earl Taylor had found, he would have been just as happy after coming off his short neck F7. There are many interviews of Monroe in which he recalls finding the Loar and he has said 1941 or 1943. He never said 1945, because he forgot the exact year. Heck I can't remember the year of my last Dodge truck I owned. I guess if Monroe had a cell phone in 1945 there would have been a selfie with the barber holding the Loar and it would have a date on it.

  8. #57

    Default Re: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Ivan Kelsall View Post
    Thanks for the info.re.the F-7 's. Would the longer scale length of the F-5 be the main feature affecting the tone & volume of that style of instrument,or were the Mandolin bodies much different as well ?.
    If there was as much a difference as f5loar suggests,i bet BM thought he'd died & gone to Mandolin heaven when he played the Loar for the first time - i wish i could have been there to hear what he said,probably not much, knowing of his reticence,but i bet he was more than a tad excited by his purchase,
    Ivan
    ...the f-5 didn't have a "longer scale" than the F-7,...just more frets free of body ! ..all mandolins should have a scale length of 13-7/8 inches, or there about !

  9. #58

    Default Re: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by DrEugeneStrickland View Post
    Has anyone really listened to The Monroe Brothers?
    I can't for the life of me find anything deficient in Mr. Monroe's tone or volume?....
    In fact his playing on these sessions is what I would consider the "Big Bang' of modern mandolin playing period!
    No, Bill didn't have to chop his F7 since he had Charlie playing with the best timing of any country guitar player up until that time!!... so what do we hear then?
    incredible fast and articulate fills all played at lightening speed while the brothers sang complex harmonies at times switching parts... Myths die hard!
    ...Bill's early playing (with Charlie) should be considered somewhat elementary compared to REAL bluegrass standards !..We can be thankful that the two parted ways when they did !...Bill's talent and capability far exceeded Char
    lie's !

  10. #59

    Default Re: bill monroe's pre-loar mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by f5loar View Post
    Sounds like the photo taken when Big Mon borrowed Lonzo's old 50's Gibson A50 while the Loar was out for repairs. Lonzo Sullivan of Lonzo & Oscar Opry comedy team fame were good friends of Monroe. There was also some photos of when he borrowed Connie Gately's old A50 too. Connie was a Bluegrass Boy that played guitar with Monroe in the mid 50's.
    ...I have mentioned before that, on one occasion, Bill borrowed a '53 F-12 from a guy named Bill Thomas, who lived around Dickson, Tenn.,...while his Loar was being worked on
    !

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