The Loar LM-500 F-Style Mandolin

The Loar Mandolin's scooped fretboard helps players find a "sweet spot" for picking -- not that it's hard to get great tones from this spruce-topped beauty.

Overall User Ratings (based on 1 ratings)
  • Overall:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(1) (see rating details)
Submitted August 16, 2011 by a customer from aol.com

"The Loar LM500VS Golden Age reissue mandolin. 2nd time's the charm!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
All solid hand carved beautiful mandolin with all the high end features for a reasonable price.
Sound
Sounds amazing right out of the box!! Just received this yesterday and after a quick tune up the mandolin sounds incredible. This is the reissue model LM500VS which production date on/after May 2011 is now produced in the Loar design studio along with th LM600 and LM 700 using hand carved solid wood top, back and sides. See this builder news link for for the Loar LM500VS: http://www.mandolincafe.com/news/publish/mandolins_00478.shtml). It also does not have tone bars (becoming more common) which gives the mandolin immediate loud projection rather than over time from wood aging.
Features
All solid hand selected/hand carved tone woods. Spruce top with maple back, sides and neck. Ebony fretboard, ebony bridge, bone nut and a new feature scooped fretboard end to allow close to neck joint picking without hitting frets for that "sweet spot" sound. Quality grover tuners keep the mandolin in tune. Came equipped with D'Addario strings that were covered with a waxed paper to keep them from corrosion. It was also packaged very well from the factory as mine had no shipping damage. The mother of pearl and abalone inlay workmanship is also excellent. Nitro cellulose finish.
Ease of Use
Great set up, east to tune and play.
Quality
The factory set up was excellent, however comestic issues are clearly noticable typically around the scroll areas bottom of f holes , neck joint and under the fretboard extension likely due to the small spaces. The large areas including back, sides and top have an excellent finish. These cosmetic issues are only noticeable upon very close observation. This was not an issue for me and probably why this mandolin is not $2000.00
Value
Incredible all solid hand carved mandolin for this price. Looks and sounds like The Gibson F5 or The Flatiron for a fraction of the price!
Manufacturer Support
No experience but many reviewers I have read had very positive experience.
The Wow Factor
These Loar F style mandolins are not only beautiful to look at but they play and sound as good as they look. This new reissue LM500VS model is getting rave reviews and now I know why!

Musical Background:

45 years guitar and keyboards.

Musical Style:

Jazz, classic rock, blues
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