Camping with Roger ... or ... "I got to HOLD a LOAR!!!!!!!!!"

Ok,  this is the first of what I expect to be 4 or 5 web log entries specifically about my experiences at the Roger Siminoff Lutherie Camp (Mandolin F construction) in October of 2009.  This "camp" is being hosted and taught by Roger Siminoff ... one of the de-facto world experts on F-style mandolin construction.  Roger literally "wrote THE BOOK on construction of this style of mandolin".  Roger was a working consultant at the Gibson Instrument factory and was the driving force in the 1970's that got Gibson to renew their commitment to the mandolin and re-start  building world class mandolins like they built in the 1920's and 1930's.

I could blather for many more paragraphs on Roger's contributions to lutherie and the current state of mandolin construction in the world but rather, suffice it to say he is "the man" when it comes to the history and construction of the  F5 style mandolin.  Lloyd Loar was the acoustic engineer working for Gibson in the 1920's and essentially defined the F5 mandolin characteristics we are familiar with today ... the sound or "voice" of these astounding instruments were a direct result of Loar's background in acoustical engineering and his "tuning" of these instruments during the build process.  It is a glimmer of that "tuning" process that I hope to gain as a part of this week long class.

Today, a "signed Lloyd Loar" from the 1920's ... IF you can find one on the market (and it won't be there long!!) ... will cost you OVER $200,000.00!!! ... Yep ... upwards of a quarter of a million dollars ,,, here's a link to one on the net ... 1923 Loar recently sold ... 
Kinda like a Stradivarius violin.

Tonight the 6 students in the class were invited to Roger's home/shop (where we will be working for the next 5 days) for a dinner and to meet everyone involved.

Roger's home is beautiful and his attached shop is exactly like you would expect ... many many machines, lots and lots and lots of wood in various stages of becoming mandolin and banjo parts and many many jigs, fixtures and tools all designed and constructed by Roger.  Roger's wife Rosemary and his daughter Kali are integral parts of the whole operation and were on hand to meet the campers, answer questions and serve a wonderful meal.  Roger's other shop hand Ken was also on hand ... these 4 people are Roger's complete operation ... they do all the work  of manufacture, design, marketing, shipping and whatever else needs to be done.   It is very much a "cottage industry" run on a VERY efficient  scale.  You can see all about his operation at Siminoff's website.

After everyone had arrived and had a few minutes to meet and greet we were invited to sit down to a meal and had a wonderful discussion with Roger and his team about what we could expect for the week, how the Gibson F5L model came into being in the 1970's and other general topics. 

At one point Roger brought out one of the 3 prototypes that Gibson (and Roger) produced to get the mandolin line going again in the 1970's ... and NOW ... I KNOW what a mandolin is supposed to sound like ... it didn't sound like the mandolin I built in 2006 ... but then that's why I'm at the camp!

And then ... Roger brought out the holy grail of mandolins ... not JUST a 1920's Lloyd Loar ... oh no ... it was Lloyd Loar's PERSONAL F5!!!!!  Loar's wife, who Roger knew well, has entrusted Roger to "look after" this basically priceless piece of musical instrument history ... and he graciously passed it around the table for each of us to hold, examine, gently play .... basically gush over ... and I did my part you may rest assured ...

So ... TOMORROW morning we begin the class ... tonight set great expectations in our minds and for all of us provided a moment of incredible mandolin bliss as we carefully cradled "the Loar".

More after a class or two!!