Bee Be - Posted - 05/29/2011:  09:08:44

I ordered The Loar Vintage L M 500 f hole.  When it arrived it looked totally different from what the picture showed me.  No Pick guard, no special tailpiece, and I don't know what else.  I was very dissappointed to say the least.  I sent it back to the dealer who was suprized also.  Come to find out the Loar Factory changed production, no more pick guard and a cheaper looking tailpiece.  The Loar Factory said they no longer put that on.  changed factory and are saving money by eleminating those things.  I am now purchasing a Morgan Monroe MMS-7 from Paul at The Mandolin Hut, It will be here on Wed.  I purchased my Mastercraft Banjo from Mandolin Hut also and am extreamly happy with it and the service. Also if you find a good dealer, stick with him.  I checked a lot of Web sites and they all had the same picture I saw when ordering.  Well just do your homework.  Bee Be

mandovoodoo - Posted - 05/29/2011:  11:15:33

Also, no pressed top, no junk backs, plus graduation.  Overall a great upgrade from what I see.  The original supplier of the rather marginal LM500 was eliminated and now they're made in the same place as the LM600, and probably about equivalent.

Still, not entirely right for someone not to tell you they'd been improved and some features dropped.

Bee Be - Posted - 05/29/2011:  19:00:51

Just to say, My dealer had no idea they had changed, as for the place he gets them I just don't know what they knew at the time. They got  50 in their shipment and all were the same.  I hope 50 people weren't  disappointed.  As I live 55 miles from the nearest music store I buy a lot on line with the price of gas and all.  Thank you for your reply.

mandovoodoo - Posted - 05/29/2011:  19:42:26

The place your dealer gets them would be "The Music Link" see themusiclink.net  Good sized company out of California, well known in the trade.  I was one of the people who complained about the original LM500.  Now that line has been replaced with a better mandolin.

I heard about the change from GK, who works in Knoxville at The Music Link warehouse.  He was pleased, so I let myself get talked into accepting another, since it's different from the rather lackluster one I got before, that had horrible fretwork and really did at most "OK" after too much time spent on setup.

In my opinion, the current LM500 is about 5x the mandolin of the previous one, and will not be missed at all.  This one is worth working with.  If different tailpiece and so on are important, then certainly mandolins and accessories exist and can be put on by any decent shop.  I'll post a video once I go through this one and have time.

I end up doing a good deal of custom work. I just took an LM700, put on a good Cumberland bridge, cut off the extension of the fingerboard, and went through an entire optimization.  Went from an OK somewhat tubby sounding instrument to a sparkling, rich, smooth sounding instrument with rapid response and lots of brilliance.  Nice boxes, set up right.