Lloyd A. Loar

On Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 2 PM, the Museum presented a historical exploration led by author and music historian Roger Siminoff.  Siminoff's presentation, The Lore of Loar, that looked deep into the life and work of Lloyd A. Loar. 

Lloyd A. Loar was a prominent musician and acoustical engineer who arguably developed the most successful arch-top F- hole guitar.  Electronic Wiz, professor, and designer Loar pioneered and influenced the development of electrical musical instruments in the 1920s through 1950s.  At the dawn of the electric pickup technology, he came up with inventive ideas about electric pickups in removable drawers, slid in the pockets of skeletal instruments, acoustic-electric instruments from the mandolin and guitar family, and electric keyboards and speaker cabinets with Leslie and vibrato effects.  Loar significantly contributed to the concept of a non-vibrating solid body guitar.  Many of his developments and innovations pre-dated the mainstream technology and contributed to the creative swirl of ideas that essentially shifted our concepts of electronic sound and tone.

Siminoff detailed Mr. Loar’s accomplishments, starting with his early years at Gibson Company, and then working independently as the founder and owner of Vivi-Tone Company, where he was responsible for the invention of several systems for electrical amplification of string and keyboard instruments, piano-key actions, and the implementation of tap tuning in acoustical string instruments.

Roger Siminoff

Roger Siminoff has been designing, building, playing, researching, manufacturing, and writing about acoustic string musical instruments for more than five decades. Siminoff founded Pickin' Magazine and Frets Magazine, has consulted to major music manufacturers, holds six domestic and two foreign music-related patents, has authored hundreds of articles, and written eight books on luthierie topics. A major focus of Roger's research has been related to the life and work of Lloyd Loar, a prominent musician, professor, and acoustical engineer of the early 20th Century.  For more information about Roger, please visit: http://www.siminoff.net