Loar LH-700 String/bridge recommendations

[stevo58]

I recently got very lucky and was the only bidder on a LH-700. So for half of new price, i got a guitar that had already had the fret and setup work done, and has a K&K definity and preamp. I’m happy with the guitar - it’s replacing a 5th Avenue with which I was never really satisfied.

I have two questions for the more experienced, one petty and trivial, the other less so.

Trivial: the Loar bridge is an asthetic abomination in my eyes. It hurts me every time I look at it. On the other hand it does it’s job and replacing it would involve fitting it, which I can do but don’t want to. So this isn’t really a question; in the spirit of “if it ain’t broke ...” I will learn to live with it, and avert my eyes. Unless someone can give me a valid functional reason to replace it with the usual StewMac (or other) bridge.

Non-trivial: My experience with the Godin suggests that string choice has an even greater effect upon tone than on a flat top. Chromes, for example, were terrible - all midrange honk, very painful. I finally settled on Martin Retros on that guitar. The Loar came with TI J112s, and they are fine, but possibly not ideal. So before I set out on the search for the right strings, I thought I would ask the more experienced here for suggestions.

Stylistically, this will be a pure rhythm box. Think Dan Hicks. I started by raising the action, as it was so low as to be uncomfortable for me.

Steven

[archtopeddy]

Hi Steven. Congrats on your Loar LH-700. -- I have one and I love it -- and itounds like yours has a great setup and great "innards" installed.

Funny about what appalls our sense of aesthetics. For me it was the long tabs on the tailpiece that holds down the bar. I like the short ones like on the vintage guitars and the long ones just say "wrong" parts to me. As for the bridge, change it if you want, but for me I think it's pretty cool. If yours is the original LH-700 bridge with the rounded edges, I think it was designed this way to look like the bridges on the Lloyd Loar-era Gibson archtops.

As for strings... I think phosphor bronze works well. I'm in Colorado and many local players like Curt Mangan Strings, a company from Cortez, Colo. Curt Mangan Strings - Home | Facebook

However, Martin, D'Addario, and the usual cats all work well too.

Enjoy your guitar man!

[mwcarr]

I have an Eastman 810, purely acoustic and have been down the road and back trying strings. I finally settled on Daddario bronze/ monel. Love them. Good luck.

[daverepair]

The Loar 700, nice guitar!

String choice: on my vintage Epiphones, I use plain ol' phospher bronze, medium gauge(brand not so important). I'm guessing they'd work well on your Loar.

[stevo58]

Thanks for the replies; I’ll learn to stop worrying and love the bridge.

I have enough string sets to try out - I was expecting TI responses or similar, but I have bronze and monel sets here.

I’m loving the guitar. Of course it’s our honeymoon. The guitar is very clean. With all you read about Loars I was worried what might show up, but other than the expected rough work under the fingerboard extension and in the f-holes, there is really nothing to object to, it’s all clean, orderly work. I may reseat the saddle, and I will definitely touch up the string slots on the bridge. I’m going to do some test recordings this weekend, using a Beyer MC930, the K&K direct, and an AT Pro 70 simultaneously to see how well it records.

Steven

[stevo58]

Funny about what appalls our sense of aesthetics. For me it was the long tabs on the tailpiece that holds down the bar. I like the short ones like on the vintage guitars and the long ones just say "wrong" parts to me.

Great, I hadn't noticed that - I compared it to the tailpiece on my ES-125, and I don't know how I could have missed that. Now it bothers me, too.

When I bought my Martin OM-21 ten years ago, it had a printed, pixellated pickguard, which I never noticed until someone pointed it out to me. Then it immediately started bugging me until I finally bought a Greven and replaced it. There was nothing wrong with the original other than it looked a bit cheap, but it kept gnawing at me. I replaced the plastic bridge pins with buffalo horn pins too, because that also offended my delicate aesthetic sensibility.

On the other hand, I've noticed I only do that sort of thing to keepers.

steven

[Woody Sound]

How do you like the neck profile?

[stevo58]

How do you like the neck profile?

I love it. But I like V-necks. Most of my guitars have V-necks. I have a custom T-style with a much more pronounced V. I can see how some people might not like it.

steven

[archtopeddy]

archtopeddy said: "Funny about what appalls our sense of aesthetics. For me it was the long tabs on the tailpiece that holds down the bar. I like the short ones like on the vintage guitars and the long ones just say "wrong" parts to me."

stevo58 said: "Great, I hadn't noticed that - I compared it to the tailpiece on my ES-125, and I don't know how I could have missed that. Now it bothers me, too."

Kind'a like finding a small stone in your hiking shoe that took 10 minutes to lace up. You just gotta fix it, huh?

Here's what I did: I went to ACE Hardware and bought a couple of gold "crown" top caps. I had to go through a few to find some that fit correctly. No need to pull an El Kabong and have your tailpiece snap away from your geetar!

Here's a picture...

[stevo58]

So, I made a couple of changes -

- I added an L5 pickguard (from Paul Fox). I considered mounting it with pins to the fretboard, but decided there were too many possibilities to screw that up, so into the soundboard it went. I couldn't unambiguously identify where the neck block ended, so it is mounted higher (15th fret) than it should be (between 16th and 17th) but there you go.

- Replaced the Asian pot metal tailpiece with an ABM. Ok, it's an ES tailpiece, but I can live with that. It's bell brass, and it has the proper size nuts. I had to drill out one of the mounting holes for the endpin jack, and was surprised at how hard it was - the Asian tailpieces I've drilled through were much softer. It took quite some time to drill. Because the jack isn't exactly centered over the hole, I had to drill two additional small holes, slowly enlarge them with jeweler's files; then with a Dremel, and when the diameter was correct, finished it off with a step bit. It took me a good hour to essentially drill one 1/2" hole in a piece of brass. The ABM is a different world than the normal tailpieces - machined rather than cast; the diamond is sharply defined; the plating is thick and perfect. I made some recordings at 192k before the change, and will make some more in a couple of days and compare to see if there is any effect on the tone, but really, I did this for aesthetic reasons.

- We can't have a nickel tailpiece and gold-plated tuning machines, so I replaced the Grovers with nickel Waverlies. There was nothing wrong with the Grovers, other than the plating; this is the obsessive-compulsive in me. And Waverlies do feel better than Grovers; much better, but not really enough better to justify the cost, unless you are an idiot like me.

I'm having a lot of fun with this guitar. I love the big V-neck. And I got used to the bridge. I have it strung with Martin MM13s and it's just right.

steven

[archtopeddy]

Nice job Steven on the upgrades and changes to the Loar LH-700. I too have a Paul Fox L-5 pickguard. In order to highlight the beautiful swirls in the pickguard, I put masking tape on the back of the pickguard where I wanted to bring out the swirls. (See picture. There's a bit of camera glare on the pickguard, but you can get the idea.)

[stevo58]

I’ll have to try the masking tape; the tortoise has such a deep 3-D swirl it’s a shame it can’t be seen.

I also thought about the hardness if bell brass, and of course something which is designed to be beaten by a heavy mallet, perhaps for centuries, will be hard and dense.

I have a vintage Rhythm Chief here, with the tailpiece mount and volume box - I’ll have to give that a try.

steven

[archtopeddy]

I’ll have to try the masking tape; the tortoise has such a deep 3-D swirl it’s a shame it can’t be seen.
steven

I think you'll like the masking tape trick and how it will bring out the swirls. Be sure to trim the shape of the tape so it highlights only the parts of the pickguard you want to bring out. Nice thing about the masking tape is that it's totally reversible change.

As for the DeArmond pickup on my Loar, that's an original vintage RC-1000. I run it to a Schatten Thumbwheel controls under the pickguard (marked with a "v" and "t"), and that is connected to a Tapastring ebony endpin Vintage Jack.