Serious students of the mandolin have long revered the name of Lloyd Loar, the Gibson luthier from the 1920s whose design innovations during his brief 5 year tenure are widely credited with revolutionizing their fretted instruments. Gibson’s most prized mandolins are still built to his specs, and vintage F-5s signed by Lloyd Loar command astronomical prices in the secondary market.

Bill Graham has written a lengthy piece for Mandolin Cafe detailing his visit to the site of Gibson’s old shop in Kalamazoo, MI, where Loar once roamed the halls. The facility is now the home of the Heritage Guitar Company and Graham interviewed Ren Wall, who had worked there for Gibson for more than 20 years. Like a number of other Gibson employees, when the company moved to Nashville in 1984, Wall remained in Kalamazoo to ply his trade with Heritage.

The article is full of details that will of interest to any fan of the vintage Gibson instruments, and the “old school” methods of manufacture still is use at Heritage. Graham also has a number of photos from his visit.

Here’s a taste of the article, describing his first arriving at the shop…

Loar had formal ties to Gibson starting in 1911 as a music composer, arranger and performer, Siminoff said. He may have visited Kalamazoo when the Gibson Co. made instruments at previous factory sites on East Exchange Place and East Harrison Court.

But by 1919 when Loar began his longest stint as a designer for Gibson, 225 Parsons Street was a modern, state-of-the-art factory building. By the early 1920s he was working at the plant fulltime in various roles, according to Siminoff. The F5 mandolin and other refined carved-top instruments that he helped design and build until his departure late in 1924 would change the musical world forever.

I came looking for what is and shadows of what was.

A worker was having a smoke break outside an arched entryway with a wooden door that says Heritage Guitar Inc. with a cutout of an F5 mandolin underneath. I told him I was looking for Ren Wall. Former Gibson employees started Heritage in 1985 in what Siminoff says “they always kindly referred to as the old building,” a place where Gibson built mandolins and banjos right up until they left in 1984.

“Ren’s here,” the gentleman said. “Go on in. Go down through this door, down the stairs and through the next door and look for him on the left.”

I did, and stepped into a large room with offices on my left, a guy gluing binding on a guitar on my right, sawdust and wood and instrument part shapes and equipment in front of me for a long ways.

Read the full piece at Mandolin Cafe.

It’s been ten years since the Sam Bush model Gibson mandolin was introduced to market.

During that time, it has been a strong seller for Gibson, and the impetus for them to create limited edition artist models for a number of other prominent bluegrass mandolinists, Alan Bibey, Wayne Benson, Doyle Lawson and Adam Steffey among them. The Bush, however, has been the only artist model to remain as a stock item in the catalog.

Reflecting on this ten year run, Sam and Gibson have created a new, limited edition model, inspired by a drawing in a 1934 Gibson catalog. It will called the Sam Bush Limited Edition Inspired By ‘34 Fern, with only 25 made before the model is retired.

Sam tells us how it came to be…

“It is a collaboration between David Harvey at Gibson and me, to revive interest in the Bush model after ten years time.

I’ve always been fascinated by that 1934 Gibson catalog, especially the way the Fern F-5 was drawn. This catalog didn’t have photos – it was artist renderings of the instruments – and the headstock on this Fern must have come from the artist’s imagination.

The logo was shown at an odd angle, with large script lettering, and there was no ‘The’ – just ‘Gibson.’

I always thought it was the neatest looking mandolin, and I had never seen one built that way.”

Research by Gibson verifies Sam’s recollection. They have no records of a mandolin built with this headstock design.

Other appointments also mimic the ‘34 catalog drawing. The mandolin has pearl block inlays in the radiused, ebony fingerboard and a lighter finish, which Gibson describes as an Iced Tea burst.

“The block inlay was a tie in with the existing Bush model. We rounded off the fingerboard extension like an L-5, like John Monteleone did on the board for Hoss, my old mandolin.  Can you believe I’m on my 4th fingerboard now!

I had asked for a lighter sunburst – finishes will often darken over the years, so we wanted one that looked different from a regular F-5.” (more…)

The March 2009 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited is their annual Instrument Issue, and this year’s cover story is on Gibson.

The story, by Dave McCarty, is titled When Only A Gibson Is Good Enough. It focuses not on the company’s storied history – largely well known to the bluegrass audience – but on Gibson’s current bluegrass manufacturing facility, known officially within the company as the Original Acoustic Instruments division.

This is where the Gibson banjos, mandolins and Dobro instruments are built, located in the Opry Mills shopping center near the home of the Grand Ole Opry.

McCarty interviews Gibson master luthier (and notable mandolinist) Dave Harvey about the products they produce in Nashville, the challenges the company faces from US and international competition, and building high end stringed instruments in the face of the current economic downturn.

The March issue also has features on Red Diamond Mandolins, Homespun Tapes, Laurie Grundy’s ornate banjos from Australia, and the evolution of the resophonic guitar.

Of course, you’ll also find the BU radio chart, live show calendar and plenty of CD reviews for recent releases.

Find more info on Bluegrass Unlimited – including subscription details – at www.bluegrassmusic.com. They are extending their ‘09 subscription special through March, offering a free CD sampler of your choice for new or renewal subscriptions to the magazine.

A number of prominent bluegrass instrument manufacturers are exhibiting this weekend at the annual convention and trade show of the National Association of Music Merchandisers, known as The NAMM Show. Held in January of each year in Anaheim, CA, it is where new products are unveiled to the retail market, and by extension, to consumers via the media.

Gibson’s bluegrass division has introduced a new banjo, a limited edition Style 1 Custom model. Unlike the vintage 1s – which were “budget” instruments with simple inlays and a rolled hoop ring – this new banjo will have a Mastertone tone ring and a new inlay pattern completing the seagull pattern all the way down the neck. This will be a mahogany and nickel banjo.

The new Style 1 Custom will also be made with the more common one piece flange, again in contrast with the originals. Only 15 of these banjos will be made and carry a suggested retail price of $5110. They are available to dealers now.

C.F. Martin has a number of new models being introduced at NAMM. Not all will be of immediate interest to bluegrass guitarists, but several most certainly will.

Martin is celebrating 2009 as the 75th anniversary of the dreadnaught body style with a pair of limited edition guitars. Both the D-18 and D-28 will have 75th Anniversary models, limited to orders placed during 2009.

The 28 is made of Madagascar rosewood, while the 18 uses mahogany. They both have an Adirondack spruce top with scalloped, Golden Era style bracing, and an ebony fingerboard and bridge. The headstocks have a special 75th anniversary decal. The paper soundhole labels likewise denote the anniversary, and are signed by C.F. Martin IV.

The D-18 75th retails for $5199, and the D-28 for $7599.

Martin is also debuting a D-28 Museum Edition 1941 guitar with a number of special vintage construction specs. These guitars are assembled using hide glue and have the same barrel and heel neck dimensions as the ‘41 D-28s. The body is Madagascar rosewood with a Adirondack spruce top. The top bracing is scalloped, using the 1941 placement. The neck uses the narrow nut width (1 11/16”) and the top features herringbone binding.

This Museum Edition 1941 D-28 retails for $14,999.