The Lloyd Loar name is most commonly associated with the design of the Gibson F-5 mandolin, but Loar also helped develop the entire Gibson Master Series of instruments, including the F-5 mandolin, the H-5 mandola, the K-5 mandocello and the L-5 guitar. The H-5 mandola was officially referred to as “The Master Mandola H-5 Professional Special” in the 1924 catalog, and perhaps due to the declining popularity of mandolins, it clearly did not sell well, as there are only 24 Loar-signed examples to date popped up.
Mandola are generally tuned a fifth lower than the mandolin on CGDA, which gives them a very full, warm, throaty tone. This H-5 was signed by Lloyd Loar on March 31, 1924 – one of 14 H-5 mandolas signed by Lloyd Loar that day – and marked with the serial number 76497. It is a typical Florentine F-hole mandola with the large body roll on the upper bass side, two large body tips on the treble side, a triple-bound pickguard, a two-part adjustable ebony bridge and a gold-plated slide-on tailpiece cover with etched “The Gibson”. A Virzi Tone Producer is installed, on which a paper label with the Virzi serial number 10057 is noted. The headstock is set with pearls with the lettering “The Gibson” logo and a large abalone and mother-of-pearl “fern” inlay. The name “Vladimir” is engraved in the black, bell-shaped truss rod cover of the headstock. Who Vladimir was remains a mystery.
The fretboard journal We recently brought this mandola to Bainbridge Island, Washington’s Brickyard Studio, where we showed it to David Grisman. Since Dawg met Vlad for the first time, we decided to blow up our cameras.
Publisher’s Note: The fretboard journalThe 49th issue will be mailed next week. We hope you will join us as a subscriber.
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