User:Jacqke/Lloyd Loar

Lloyd Loar
Lloyd Loar, with Gibson F2 mandolin c. 1908, from the brochure of the Fisher Shipp Concert Company. The caption read in part, "Mr. Lloyd A. Loar mandolin soloist and pianist is a thorough-going musician. He studied harmony and counterpoint at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and for two years was leader of the Oberlin Mandolin Club. He is not only a performer but a composer." He is better known today as a designer of musical instruments for Gibson.
Born	Lloyd Allayre Loar January 9, 1886 Cropsey, Illinois
Died	September 14, 1943 Chicago
Education	Oberlin Conservatory of Music, undergraduate work 1903-1905 National Conservatory, Paris, France c. 1919 Opéra-Comique, Paris c. 1919 Chicago Musical College 1919-1920 American Conservatory of Music Master's degree, 1921
Occupations	musician, composer, acoustics engineer, musical-instrument designer, educator Known for music on mandolin, mandoviola, viola alta, piano musical instruments invented or perfected Notable work F-5 mandolin L-5 guitar H-5 mandola K-5 mandocello A-5 mandolin.
Years active	c. 1906-1943 The Columbia Entertainers (c Oct. 1906-1907) Fisher Shipp Concert Company 1908, c. 1909 - c. 1920 YMCA (entertain troops in Europe during WWI) c. Feb 1918 - May 1919 Gibson 1919-1924 Gulbranson Piano Company, Chicago Vivi-Tone c.1933 Northwestern University c. 1931-1943
Spouses	Fisher Shipp (1878-1954), married 1916-c.1935 Bertha Snyder (1904-1999), married 1939-1943

Lloyd Allayre Loar (1886 – 1943) was an early 20th-century musician who performed in the American Chautauqua and Lyceum performance venues, playing mandolin, viola alta, mando-viola, musical saw, and piano, and composing music and writing songs for his concert company. Although these activities took up about half of his working life from 1906 through about 1923, he is better known for his accomplishments in the five year period from 1919-1924 when he worked for the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company as a musical-instrument designer and sound engineer. Today the Gibson Master Mandolins (style F-5) and Master Guitars (style L-5) that he signed can cost hundreds-of-thousands of dollars. While at Gibson, he became a pioneer in electrifying instruments and this work continued at the Gulbranson Piano Company and Vivi-Tone. He created early examples of the electric guitar, electric mandolin, electric viola, electric harpsichord, and electric keyboard instruments resembling the piano (with metal reeds instead of strings). In his final years, Loar was an educator at Northwestern University in Illinois, teaching vocal composition, advanced music theory and "The Physics of Music".

A performer from the first

Education

The Oberlin College Mandolin Club, 1905. Lloyd Loar, back row far left, holding a Martin mandolin.

Lloyd attended the Conservatory at Oberlin College in Ohio when he was 17, studying harmony and counterpoint. In the college's 75th anniversary catalog (1908), Loar was listed as having been enrolled in the conservatory from 1903 through 1905. In the 1905 and 1906 yearbooks he was on the track team. Musically he showed up in a photo in the music section of the 1906 yearbook, the Mandolin Club, of which he was president for 2 years. The photo shows 4 mandolinists, 2 guitarists and 1 flutist. Unlike the photos of himself later, in which he played Gibson archtop instruments, in 1905 he held a Martin round-back mandolin. The photo was inserted into the yearbook without identifying its members.

Columbia Entertainers

By October 1906 at age 20, he had joined the Columbia Entertainers, which played around the country in the Chataquah and Lyceum circuits. His fellow performers in the Columbia Entertainers, Fisher Shipp and Etta Goode Heacock, were both experienced performers. Shipp, eight years his senior, had been playing the Chautauqua circuit for four years. Heacock had been appearing in the newspapers as a performer since the turn of the century and had spent years in training her contralto voice. What Loar brought to the group was his recent education at Oberlin; already he had applied it to his mandolin, tuning it "to play the full harmony, giving a strength and a compass to his playing which is seldom attained on the mandolin." The three performed together as the Columbia Entertainers through at least March 1907. The group didn't stay together; by June 1907, Fisher Shipp was appearing with a group called the Chautauqua Favorites. By January 1908, she was performing with the Apollo Quintette and Bell Ringers and performed with them until September 1908 when the newly created Fisher Shipp Concert Company started performing.

Fisher Shipp Concert Company

Fisher Shipp and Lloyd Loar

Fisher Shipp with her husband Lloyd Loar and his oval-hole Gibson mandoviola, 1918.

Newspaper advertisements show that Fisher began the process of starting a new concert company in the beginning of 1908; in newspapers in April, May and June, the Fisher-Shipp Concert Company was listed as having been scheduled for future performances. By September 1908, Loar, Fisher Shipp and Etta Goode Heacock were performing together again as the Fisher Shipp Concert Company, along with Louis G. Karnes. By November 1908, Loar appears in newspapers as sometimes performing separately from the Fisher Ship Concert Company, but still playing in the same towns and venues alongside them. This pattern continued until about October 1909, when he was again listed regularly in the newspapers as being part of the company. In January 1909 he appeared with the Fisher Shipp Concert Company in Neodesha, Kansas, playing his "new instrument", a mandoviola.

The performances of Fisher's company bore some resemblance to a college glee club's acts, with a variety of acts, from singing to instrumental numbers, dramatic readings and acted out skits. In one of the company's acts they presented "character songs", with Fisher performing in costume to resemble the characters presented, American, Dutch, Irish, Scottish, Native American, and Japanese. Lloyd accompanied with music, piano, viola, mandolin, mando-viola. He also got into costume and performed in the skits. The company got some of its material from Fisher's sister, Augusta Easton Rusk. Lloyd himself took a hand composing, and the Lyceum magazine noted in 1917 that "the company is fortunate in having its own composer and arranger," to create their new material.

The company performed steadily, traveling more than 400,000 miles and giving more than 3000 concerts by 1917. Fisher's company had a substantial turnover of its staff, with a parade of young women (and the occasional man) rotating in and out. Lloyd, who joined in 1906 ended up staying on and managing. Fisher, herself, was also complimented in the press on her skills managing and arranging the acted material. Lloyd married Fisher in 1916.

While working with the Fisher Ship Concert Company, Loar developed a reputation as an instrumentalist. In earlier newspaper articles, Fisher was usually the focus of the beginning of the article and Lloyd presented later, giving more depth or content. In later years, articles started their focus on him and his accomplishments; news promotions talked about his abilities on his instruments, awards he won and prestigious performances. He developed a reputation has endorsing Gibson instruments as well. As early as 1908 he began to appear in his concert company's brochures sporting a Gibson F-2 mandolin. Gibson itself used the same photo of him with the instrument in its 1908 catalog as is 1911 magazine, The Sounding Board.

Part of his growing reputation was the awareness of his growing virtuosity, not only with playing mandolins but designing them. His mando-viola performances stayed in the news promotions for the Fisher Shipp concert company for years. His mando-viola was a larger member of the mandolin family, mandola-sized, but with an extra course of strings on the base side. This gave the instrument a range of tones not previously available on mandolins or mandolas. Not only did he design the new instrument himself, but the papers also mentioned he had his own way of tuning the it, to "bring out the full harmony".

In addition to mandolin-family instruments, he also played a full-sized viola, which was rare in its size and for not having been altered. He accompanied the girls in their acts with the piano as well, and was credited with composing some of their music and songs. He began calling himself a composer, and this was reflected in the newspapers. Composition was part of his education as well. He won an award in 1921 for his composition Nocturne, and afterward he was called an "award winning composer".

He may have been a prolific composer, but many if not most of his works have been lost today. Roger Simioff was able to get a peek at his manuscript compositions around 1995. He reported that they filled a cabinet in the home of Loar's second wife, Bertha Snyder Loar. She had kept them safe for more than 50 years in her home, after he died in 1943. When Bertha went into a nursing home, those liquidating her house and possessions for her did not recognize the value of the cabinet full of paper, and the manuscript compositions were disposed of. Not all his works have been lost, but they are not currently collected together. Possible copies may exist in the Library of Congress, if Loar ever published any as sheet music (such as Nocturn which was performed by orchestras around the country). Other possibilities for surviving may include works published in music magazines. Lloyd also wrote some banjo methods, and these may contain some of his arrangements.

One work that was published was Nocturn, his award winning song, for cello, although he himself performed it on his viola alta. Nocturne (in D major) won first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs' 7th Biennial Prize Competition for American Composers, in the category of cello solos. The piece was described as "a dignified andante moderato," that is a work played at about 92-112 beats-per-minute, "which lays on the best part of the instrument." Cellist Vera Poppe, an international performer from South Africa who performed like Loar on the Chautaqua circuit, was mentioned as being a prominent artist playing it publicly. Loar himself performed it on his viola alta before the Saint Cecilia Society, who sponsored the prize in the competition. The article reported he "produced a beautiful tone on his unusual instrument."

American Expeditionary Forces, YMCA

During World War 1, the American Expeditionary Forces used the Young Men's Christian Association to provide entertainment to troops. The Report on the activities of the Y.M.C.A. with the A.E.F said, "From February 1, 1918, to March 27, 1919, the Y.M.C.A. had 702 American entertainers and 220 French entertainers. The number estimated in attendance at the French Y.M.C.A. vaudeville shows alone was 800,000 men. In March 1919, there were 95 American troupes playing in different parts of France under the direct management of the Y.M.C.A. These troupes gave approximately 4,350 performances during that month.

Lloyd Loar had gotten a "contract assignment at Gibson as acoustical engineer" in the beginning of 1918. However, he left Gibson temporarily in November 1918 to be a concert entertainer with the Y.M.C.A in Europe. Before he could do the work he signed up for, the armistice was signed and the war over. He stayed in Europe 6 months out of his original 12-month contract and attended two schools in Paris during this time, the National Conservatory of Music and the National Institute of Radio Engineering. He studied under Paul Vidal at the National Conservatory; Vidal was also Music Director of the Opéra-Comique from 1914–19 and that opera was listed in Loar's obituary as part of his education. When he finished, he returned to the United States in May 1919 to his work at Gibson as a "contractor working as credit manager, design consultant, and again as acoustical engineer."

Gibsonian String Orchestra

While working for Gibson as a designer and engineer, Loar and Fisher Ship continued to perform, as part of the Gibsonians or Gibsonian String Orchestra, a band associated with the Gibson Mandolin and Guitar Manfufacturing Company.

He performed with singer Fisher Shipp from 1906 through about 1922. The exact dates are blurred, because in the early stages they performed separately at times, and later when he performed as part of the Gibson String Orchestra, Fisher Shipp's Concert Company was also given credit for the performances.

Personal Instruments

Lloyd Loar with his oval-hole Gibson mando-viola, c. 1911. Ailene Pettit below.

Loar playing the viola alta, c. 1916.

Lloyd Loar in 1918 with Gibson F-4 mandolin

Mandolins

Lloyd Loar is known as a designer of some important Gibson instruments. His relationship with Gibson predates his design work for them, however. While the earliest known photograph of him with a mandolin (Oberlin Conservatory, 1905) shows him holding a Martin mandolin, photos after that show him with Gibson-built instruments. As early as 1908, Loar was pictured in the Fisher Shipp Concert Company's brochures holding a Gibson F-2 mandolin, and the same photo was used in 1911 in a Gibson company magazine, the Sounding Board. In a 1918 brochure, he held a newer Gibson F-4 mandolin. While working at Gibson, playing as part of the Gibsonian String Orchestra, he was pictured with one of his F-5 mandolins.

Roger Siminoff found many of Lloyd Loar's instruments in storage in 1994, where Loar's wife Bertha had kept them for 50 years, not knowing what was in her dead husband's crates.

Lloyd's personal F-5 mandolin was not among the instruments in storage, however. Bertha had kept it safe in her house.

Siminoff found that Loar had installed electric pickups in the instrument and a volume control and a place to plug it into a speaker converting his F-5 into an electric mandolin. Loar's F-5 had serial number 75315, as a virzi time producer numbered 10301. Unfortunately the mandolin was vandalized; Siminoff had allowed someone else access to Loar's mandolin, and while it was in their possession, the electronic additions disappeared. The holes in the instrument have been filed in since then.

Gibson custom-made mando-violas

In January 1909, Loar appeared in concert in Neodesha, Kansas, "with his new instrument, the mandoviola." The instrument, a tenor in the mandolin family like the mandola, was custom made by Gibson. It resembled their H-2 mandola, with an oval sound hole and fleur-de-lys on the headstock, but with an extra course of strings on the bass side.

This instrument would become an advertising focus in articles advertising the Fisher Ship Concert Company; one of the attractions for audiences was the opportunity to see Loar play the 10-stringed instrument that Loar invented or designed. A photo was printed of his instrument in 1911 in the company's brochure that featured included artists Fisher Shipp, Etta Goode Heacock, Ailene Pettit.

Lloyd was reported in the newspapers as having his own way of tuning the instrument, something that had also been said of his mandolin in 1906. Roger Siminoff reported that with his later F-holed mando-viola, Lloyd would tune the instrument from treble to bass Eb, C, F, Bb, Eb. The standard mandola tuning with an extra course of strings would normally be E, A, D, G, C (from treble to bass).

While working at Gibson, Loar had another mando-viola made, with F-holes and a virzi sound producer, just as his F-5 mandolins had. This F-hole mando-viola was found by Roger Siminoff and has been kept in his collection. He lent the instrument to David Grisman, who played it on his version of the song Wayfaring Stranger on the album Dawg Grass.

Viola alta

The viola alta, a tenor instrument in the violin family with deeper tones in the bass strings, developed some prominence in the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1876 a student in Germany named Hermann Ritter had been experimenting with alterations on the viola's design. He took his viola alta to Richard Wagner who approved of the instrument's tone over that of the common viola but warned him that its large size would make it an unpopular instrument. "You have a good thing there, but I must tell you one thing, you will meet with much opposition from viola players on account of the size of your instrument." Most of the "alt violas" that Wagner had seen prior to Ritter's "do not have the right dimensions. They are mostly big violins with viola strings and have neither the size nor the tone of the true alt violas."

Lloyd Loar played a viola alta, and rumors were published in the musical press about its excellence, origins and unusual size. One newspaper clipping claimed it had been owned by "Hans Wagner, [sic] one of the greatest musicians of all time." The paper said that Wagner used the instrument in creating his compositions and had given to the instrument to a friend on his deathbed, a "musician of rare talent" who handed it down to Loar. Another, the Lyceum magazine in 1917, called his instrument a "viola alt, or Ritter model viola." It was supposed to be "the oldest and most valuable viola alta...in existence," valued at $1200 in 1917 dollars. While a normal viola was 24-26 inches long, Loar's viola alta was 36 inches.

Whatever the rumors from Loar's lifetime, in October 2004 Patrick Tobin, principal violist for the Mt. Hood Pops Orchestra of Gresham, Oregon, played the instrument at the owner Roger Siminoff's wedding to his fiance Rosemary Wagner. Standing 6 feet, 4 inches tall, Tobin was able to play the Diel-Loar viola held in his arms like a violin; he was an experienced player and knew what he was looking for in a quality instrument. He examined the instrument, made in 1878 by August Diehl (1852-1922) and improved by Lloyd Loar with virzi tone producer (these also went into his F-5 mandolins) and a resonant soundpost (to "enhance bass response"). Tobin said Loar's improvements had made an instrument that could "easily be mistaken for a cello on the lower strings." That corresponds with accounts of Lloyd's performance with the instrument with his prizewinning tune, A Nocturne in D Major, which he composed for cello but which he played with his viola alt, producing "a beautiful tone on an unusual instrument".

Electric viola

In his later years he worked on electric amplification of stringed instruments, and demonstrated them around the country. One example, played in public in 1938 was an electric viola that used electric coils beneath the bridge, with no back, able to "drown out the loudest trumpet." This instrument was in the traveling case found by Roger Siminoff, with Loar's F-hole mando-viola and his musical saw.

Work at Gibson

In 1898 Orville Gibson had patented a new kind of mandolin that had its curved top and bottom carved out of blocks of wood. The sides too were carved out of a single block of wood, rather than being made of bent wood strips. These things made Gibson's instruments unique before Lloyd Loar arrived to redesign them. Both men's instruments had their effect in the musical-instrument market, displacing the round-backed mandolin from the American market and influenced mandolins worldwide. As unique as Gibson's instruments might have been, however, it is the Loar-designed instruments that became especially desirable.

Loar worked for the Gibson Mandolin and Guitar Manufacturing Company, Ltd. as a designer and acoustics engineer. Although he may have had some experience building instruments he wasn't a luthier himself. He approached musical instrument design from the view of a physicist and musician, his education providing him with a set of tools different but complimentary to the luthiers he worked with at Gibson. They built the instruments, carving, shaping, gluing, sanding finishing. Loar applied himself to tuning the sound box so that it would ring with particular tones and overtones, in a process he called "tap-tuning."

If Orville Gibson might have found inspiration in violins for carving tops and bottoms from wood, Lloyd Loar took the inspiration even further and added even more violin attributes into the Gibson instruments.<sparks 157: "applying the principle of Stradivarius construction to mandolin construction> The single most obvious Loar-addition was the use of an F-hole instead of a round or oval sound-hole. Another difference was the angle of the neck pitch, set by Loar at 6 degrees, rather than the 3 degrees that Orville had used. The neck was elevated, like the violin's, getting it off the sound board. Loar also innovated with the F-5 with an adjustable bridge let the instrument be set up at different locations on the soundboard more easily, with the strings at the correct height over the fingerboard. He changed the neck making it longer, which affected placement of the bridge, putting it closer to the center of the soundboard. He also "tuned" the tops of the instrument and the sound chamber (by removing bits of wood from tone bars and from the edges of the sound holes) so that the instrument's sound chamber was resonant to a particular note. The tone bars themselves were a change, too, as Orville had used cross braces. Under Loar's influence, Gibson customers had the option of having a Virzi tone producer installed, which Loar would include in the process of tuning the instrument's sound chamber.

Classical versus popular sounds

The Virzi tone-producer offered as an add-on to a Gibson instrument was a thin oval of wood that was glued to the the underside of the sound board and produced overtones inside an instrument by vibrating with the sound board. Loar had originally had one installed by Virzi on his viola alta and liked the change in his instrument. By including the Virzi as an option in his carved top instrument, mandolinists could have a more complete set of overtones. Roger Siminoff felt that, with the addition of the Virzi, Loar intended for the sound to be rich and sweet, the kind of sound desired for classical instruments.

The overtones were important to Loar, who was himself a master of using his instrument to bring out harmony. Loar tried to educate consumers in a Gibson flyer from 1923 for the Gibson Master Mandolin Style F-5, in the section, A talk about tone. He tried to show users that with every fundamental (the note played) there was a series of overtones that should also be heard. Loar felt that with most non-Gibson mandolins in the American market, the fundamental was too great a percentage of the total tone; the result being "tone that is dull and hollow, thin and colorless." His solution was the Virzi tone producer, which produced overtones "favorably in number and proportion with those of the violin, trumpet, clarinet, French horn, and any of the other orchestral instruments noted for their rich, full tones."

Historian Paul Sparks analyzed public reaction to the Gibson instruments. He said that the carved-top instruments without the Virzi, with their "more guitar-like sound" became more popular for ragtime and dance music and later bluegrass than for classical music, because of the instruments' "punchy, powerful attack."<sparks 132> Later, as the mandolin went out of style in the modern lifestyle of post-World War 1, Bill Monroe took up the mandolin, first a round-back, and later a Gibson F-7 and then an F-5 mandolin. Recordings of Bill Monroe's Gibson mandolins, with their more aggressive sound, were played widely. The F-5 was especially noticed in his hands, louder for not having a Virzi; it "barked," as some have described the Monroe mandolin-sound.

In the 21st century, Loar's mandolins have been played by virtuosi Mike Marshall and Chris Thile, both of whom have experience with bluegrass and with classical music. Marshall desired the Monroe sound and had the Virzi removed from his mandolin in an attempt to get closer to that sound. Thile's mandolin never had a Virzi installed.

Experiments in electric

According to A. R. Duchossoir, Loar designed experimental electric instruments while at Gibson. Loar's views on the importance of the development of electric instruments were supported by Lewis A Williams, one of the founders and major stockholders of Gibson as well as its secretary and general manager.

None of Loar's original electric instruments appear to have been preserved—but Walter A Fuller, who joined Gibson in 1933 and later became Gibson's chief electronic engineer, found some of Loar's original devices when he first set up his R&D lab in the mid-1930s. He claimed that Loar's electrics had electrostatic pickups, but because they exhibited very high impedance they were extremely susceptible to humidity. According to Fuller, the pickups were round, about the size of a silver dollar and had a piece of cork on the back, by which they were glued to the underside of the top of the instrument.

Duchossior's book, Gibson Electrics, The Classic Years, features a photo of a Gibson L5, serial number 88258 of 1929 (after Loar left Gibson), one of the original Loar-designed L5s, with fitted electrostatic pickup and factory-fitted jack socket in the tailpiece.

Duchossoir also claims that Loar spent time at Gibson working on a 'quasi-solid body' electric double bass, and that according to this instrument and several patents filed by Loar between the mid-1920s and the mid-1930s, he worked on pickups that were electromagnetic in nature.

According to Duchossoir, Lewis Williams was replaced as general manager, and a lack of amicable relations with the new manager—an accountant named Guy Hart—led to the termination of Loar's contract. After leaving Gibson, Loar created and patented an electric instrument with a coil pickup, and co-founded the Acousti-Lectric company with Lewis Williams in 1934. The company was renamed the Vivi-Tone company in 1936. Loar died in 1943.

Famous Loar mandolins

1923 Gibson F-5 mandolin (played by Bill Monroe)

1924 Gibson F-5
(serial #75846)

The F5 model was made famous by the founder of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. Monroe played a Gibson F5 model serial number 73987 signed by Loar on July 9, 1923 for most of his career. This mandolin can be viewed in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee, where it now resides in their collections.

Loar also signed a rare subset of F5 mandolins called Ferns, of which approximately twenty are known to exist. The name refers to the distinctive fern inlay design of the peghead. The earliest documented Fern bears the serial number 73755, dated July 9, 1923, the same signing date as Bill Monroe's famous Loar [1]. This is the only known Fern built without the "Virzi" Tone Producer, a secondary sound board suspended underneath the mandolin's top inside the sound chamber. This particular instrument is the only known Fern dated on 9 July.

In 2007, mandolinist Chris Thile acquired 1924 Loar-signed F5 serial # 75316 that was an exceedingly rare find, as it was in virtually new condition. It reportedly cost him around $200,000. Other well-known musicians who have owned Loar-signed F5's include John Paul Jones serial # 75317, Mike Marshall, David McLaughlin, Herschel Sizemore, Alan Bibey, Tony Williamson, David Grisman, John Reischman, Tom Rozum, Frank Wakefield, and the late Joe Val serial #72207.

Only one A-style mandolin, a Gibson A5, is known to have been signed by Loar. It has been widely copied, originally by mandolin maker Bob Givens. The Loar A5 was found by Tut Taylor and sold to a Southern California bluegrass musician in 1974.

Collectability

As of January 2010, Loar-signed mandolins in fine condition are valued in the $175,000 to $200,000 range, and are highly sought after by musicians and collectors. The average value reached a 2008 peak of around $225,000, then backed off somewhat from 2008 to 2010.

Loar expert Darryl Wolfe maintains an F5 historical journal. As of January, 2010 he has documented 228 Loar-signed F5 mandolins of the 326 that are believed to have been made.

L-5 Guitar

Gibson L-5 guitar (played by Maybelle Carter). There is controversy about its date. Commonly said to be a 1928 instrument, but researcher Joe Span concluded, it couldn't have left the factory earlier than April 1929, and was shipped January, 1930.

The Gibson L-5 guitar was first produced in 1922 under the direction of acoustical engineer Lloyd Loar, and versions of it have been in production ever since. It was considered the premier guitar of the company during the big band era. It was originally offered as an acoustic instrument, with electric models not made available until the 1940s.

Design and construction

Worldwide, the L-5 was the first guitar to feature f-holes. Then as well as today, the construction of the L-5 is similar in construction, carving, bracing and tap-tuning, to building a cello. This guitar as well as the cello are similarly designed in order to amplify and project the acoustic vibration of strings throughout carved and tuned woods, using f-holes as the projection points. From 1922 to 1934 the L-5 was produced with a 16" lower bout width. In 1934 the lower bout was increased to 17" - and this width is still used today. Also released in 1934 was the one-inch larger 18" archtop guitar named the "L5 Super" which a couple of years later was renamed the Gibson Super 400. These two master-built acoustic guitars are Gibson's top-of-the-line carved wood and highly ornate archtop instruments. These guitars cannot be constructed quickly and require unusual attention to detail, resulting in a higher price. The time, skilled workmanship and materials used in these builds has been delivered non-stop for the past 90+ years. Since the 1930s there have been several other 17" archtops designed by Gibson, including variations introduced as more affordable, less ornately decorated models - these were introduced to consider the budgets of musicians.

Gulbranson Piano Company, Vivitone and research at Northwestern University

Loar had been working on electronic instruments when he left Gibson. It appears that none of the instruments designed there have survived. Gibson did not market his electric guitar or mandolin.

After leaving Gibson, Loar worked to design electronic instruments based on the organ, piano or harpsichord model, experimenting with different ways of creating and amplifying sound. He created an electric harpsichord, an instrument with piano keyboard that played steel "reeds" and wouldn't go out of tune (perhaps equivalent in terms of modern instruments to a limited keyboard synthesizer). He also created an ammplified piano that was portable.

Preservation of Lloyd Loar's legacy

Lloyd and his wife Fisher Shipp divorced between the 1930 U.S. census (they were still listed together) and 1939. They had no children. He remarried a few years later on April 30, 1939 to Bertha Snyder. She had been a student at the same university where he taught. He died four years later in 1943 at age 53, childless, and his wife Bertha Loar was left with everything that he left behind. He had, unknown to his wife Bertha, packed his instruments in storage. He kept his manuscript compositions in a cabinet. When Bertha moved to California, she brought both along, the unknown crates in storage to new storage, the cabinet manuscripts in her house. The instruments in storage were moved to storage in California. She maintained both sets of artifacts for 50 years and through a second marriage. For some reason, she never investigated what she was paying to store.

In 1974(?), a historian in the life and work of Lloyd Allayre Loar approached Bertha. Roger Siminoff had spent much of his lifetime researching, writing about and building musical instruments and had researched Lloyd's techniques for building his F-5 mandolins. A known authority on musical instruments, he was instrumental in Gibson being able to reintroduce its F-5 mandolin, called the F-5L (L for Loar). The model was made liked those produced while Loar worked there, with his technique of tuning the sound chamber. Siminoff had also and written the book, The Ultimate Bluegrass Mandolin Construction Handbook to help others build F-5 mandolins of their own.

In approaching Bertha, Siminoff hoped to find more of Loar and his legacy of instruments and compositions. He found a new friend, someone who became like family, who he would talk to on the phone daily. His son, who lived near Bertha, would stop and help when she needed something. They talked about Loar, and Roger said that the love between Bertha and Loar was still evident in her house decades after Loar's death.

Bertha showed Roger Lloyd's handwritten works in the cabinet and played some of them for him. She showed him Loar's viola alta, safe in the house.

In 1994, Bertha broke her hip. She ended up in a nursing home and Roger was helping with everything, paying bills, making sure she was getting care. In helping her in these later stages, he made discoveries which startled him and touched him.

He was shocked when his son found Lloyd Loar's ashes in Bertha's house. She had never been able to get them back to the Chicago Park where Lloyd had wanted his ashes spread.

Another shock was finding Lloyds F-5 mandolin. He had always avoided bringing it up, knowing that Bertha had been pressured by others for it. Roger had come to value their relationship, and realized the instrument was a taboo subject. It was emotional for him, taking the instrument to the nursing home, asking about it.

One day, after she was in the nursing home, Roger asked about a bill from Bekins storage. Bertha could not remember what was in it, but had been paying the bill because it came in the mail.

She had forgotten the contents of her storage, and if she ever knew her husband's possessions were there packed in crates, she had long forgotten. Roger was trying to understand a bill, and Lloyd's crates of instruments came to light after 50 years.

Mr. Siminoff discovered Loar's personal instruments, carefully packed away near the end of his life. In storage were Loar's 10-string F-hole mandoviola packed in a travel case with his electric viola and musical saw. There was a Gibson TB-5 banjo. Experimental instruments were packed as well, including a Loar-designed and patented electronic harpsichord, made by Frank Holton & Co. Eklhorn, Wisconsin, his electric ViviTone Clavier, and a keyboard prototype that used metal reeds and was electric.

Unfortunately, the conservators of Bertha's estate did not recognize the value of the cabinet full of manuscripts and threw it out. Roger Siminoff was able to save the instruments in storage.

Published works

Sheet music

• 1922 Nocturne, published by Carl Fischer & Co. for cello or viola alta

References

• Sparks, Paul (2003). The Classical Mandolin. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195173376.

External links

• Biography of Lloyd Loar by mandolin builder and author Roger Siminoff
• The F5 Journal A project to document all Loar F5 mandolins
• Loar-signed instruments documented at The Mandolin Archive
• short Gibson history of Lloyd Loar era
• FRETS.COM Museum F5 page
• Mandozine F5 page
• VintageMandolin.com Gibson history
• News photo of Loar playing electric viola.