I remember awhile back asking to see a mandolin on the channel and then some bozo was like "It's called Norm's Rare GUITARS." Now look at you. What's it called now buddy
My first real instrument was a mandolin. I still have it. An heirloom, because it belonged to my grandpa, who I lost to a tornado, when I was only five years old. It only had five strings on it when I first got it!
That mandolin was made/signed by Lloyd Loar in the 1920's. Charlie Derrington was at Gibson in the 1990's and very early 2000's just before he passed away. Charlie repaired that mandolin.
Great to see Norm is still going strong. That IS THE ONE everybody wants, yet I have tried out many Gibson Mandolins, and the ones with the Birch backs sound a bit richer. I just restored a (cheap) old Harmony from 1954, and with Adirondack Spruce and Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard and bridge - the volume and richness are HUGE! Worth about 50 bucks.
I knew there had to be a family connection between him and Bill! Love the Monroe’s so much talent & history with that group! Brought some bluegrass to Norman’s along with Billy Strings!
Carters Vintage Guitars in Nashville has several Loars. Nicest people ever work there. They want you to play their good stuff One of tbe Loars looks like its made of leather
Actually, Monroe found his famous F5 for sale at a barbershop in Florida, not in a pawnshop. The credit for the restoration of the vandalized mandolin should go solely to Charlie Derrington, at the time a Gibson employee, who no doubt had to convince the corporate heads of Gibson that it would be good publicity to offer to do the work. Without a restoration artist like Derrington, Gibson would not have been involved. Gibson does not give a crap about anything but $$$.
That is an interesting story about how Gibson reassembled the smashed violin. I can't help but wonder how all of that gluing affected the sound. It would be interesting to listen to recordings made with the instrument before and after the restoration . Still if it was good enough for Bill Monroe I am sure it must have been fine.
Just think about a fireplace poker going through the middle of the instrument. It just doesn't make sense that it played fine again. I've heard damaged guitars that have been fixed and they just don't sound or look the same. I think they made a lookalike and gave that to him. I would love to see Bill's mando in person.
This guy playing Michael Monroe is great, he responded to a Instagram post saying my playing was Fierce, and he also did a Broadway play where he was Jerry Lee Lewis which was great. Great music and guy.
Is this the one Paul Via Piano played 5yrs ago?... Why not get it setup?? I know a lady that only charged me $10 plus the price of new strings!... granted its no Loar lol just a Kentucky KM250 and it was night and day difference when she was done, only took 30 minutes... come on Norman get that ol'girl setup and have David Grisman come in to wake her back up....Please..... unless it's just gonna be a museum piece 😢😢
It was barber shop. Not a pawn shop. Well I suppose it was maybe BOTH, but it was a barbershop first and foremost. Used to take trades in lieu of payments, lots of places did back in the day.
Cool story and lovely instrument but if y’all want to see a beautiful representation of how this instrument should be played, I beg you, please please search “Steve Smith plays Mariners Ward on his 1914 Gibson K2 Mandocello” on RU-vid. this is not self promotion or an advertisement. I am genuinely trying to make a point here and shed some light on a legendary subject.
I thought Bill bought his F5 in a barber shop not a pawn shop, also you said someone broke in his house and destroyed his mandolin, but all the stories I've heard has it as an ex girlfriend that was the culprit .. so what's the deal ??
Although Bill Monroe himself has often said he bought the mandolin in 1941, he has also been quoted as saying he bought it in 1946. Based on other things he said, I would opine that the 1946 date is the correct one. He had supposedly mentioned that once he got the F5, he threw his F7 under the bed and never played it again. Since there are photos of him playing the F7 with Stringbean and Lester Flatt in the band, that would lend more credence to the later date. Regarding the broken peghead scroll, Bill originally attached his shoulder strap through the scroll on the peghead something which was quite common for mandolin players like Curly Seckler and Jesse McReynolds to do at the time. I suspect that it was the tension on the peghead that eventually caused the scroll to break off at which point, he moved the strap attachment to the body scroll which is how most mandolin players do it to this day.
I ve also had bad dealings with Gibson. pre ordered a custom F5 mandolin. delivered 18 months later after a 2 G deposit. nothing was done as requested. never again support this company. there are better luthiers around .even in Canada.
It’s unfortunate that you had bad experiences with Gibson although a friend of mine also had a weird experience with the company in the 1980s. He had purchased a genuine Lloyd Loar and wanted Gibson to custom make him an exact duplicate so he sent the Loar to Gibson so they could get the exact specs. He told me it took the company 3 tries before they got all the details right. On the other hand I had the exact opposite experience. I had a 1950s F12 which I had had customized with prewar F7 style inlays on the fretboard and peghead. At some point, the neck block actually cracked and although I tried, I was unable to repair it myself although I have done some instrument repairs myself successfully. I sent it to Gibson and shortly after I got a phone call from Danny Roberts who was the head of Gibson’s restoration department. He said the instrument was in such bad shape he wanted to just pack it up and send it back. He mentioned, however that one of the repair people felt he could restore it so I authorized it. While the repair job was about as much as a brand new F5 would cost, i went for it since a few years earlier I was backstage at one of Bill Monroe’s shows and he played a few tunes on it and signed the label so I wanted to be able to play it when I performed and not just hang it on a wall. About that time Gibson was reissuing prewar style F7s and F12s but rather than have a new fretboard installed, I requested that the luthier built fretboard that was on it be kept. I also wanted an F7 style fleur di lis inlaid in the peghead instead of the 2 handled teapot inlay that the F12s had. It took a few months, but when I got the mandolin back from Gibson I was extremely delighted. In addition to replacing the neck block, they gave me an entirely new neck with the exact proportions of a mid 1930s F12 and the F7 style fretboard that was on the instrument when I sent it. I have to say that Gibson really outdid itself when it restored that mandolin and I continue to play it to this day.
