The Loar LH-350

[beeswax]

Hey all.
I'm looking for a cheap guitar to play out at open mics around town.
Can anyone give me feedback on the guitar's neck? I don't bond well with V necks, so I'm curious if it's a pronounced V or a soft V? I read the neck is pretty huge, too. Is this accurate?

I'd be curious to hear of other options with Florentine cutouts if anyone knows some at a reasonable price.

Thanks!

[mr. beaumont]

The "50's" are a rounded neck profile (the 350/650)

[beeswax]

Interesting. Some sites say V neck.

Eg. The Loar LH-350 Archtop Cutaway Hollowbody Guitar Sunburst | Musician's Friend

[Woody Sound]

Here's an old listing from Reverb with some pretty good neck pics.

The Loar LH-350-VS Archtop Vintage Sunburst USED | Reverb

[cosmic gumbo]

Interesting. Some sites say V neck.

Eg. The Loar LH-350 Archtop Cutaway Hollowbody Guitar Sunburst | Musician's Friend

Mistake. Manufacturer's website describes it as a C profile neck.

LH-350 The Loar Archtop Guitar with Cutaway, Hand Carved Solid Top with Floating Humbucker

[mje]

I’ve owned two- it’s a C neck.

[beeswax]

Thanks. MJE, is the guitar any good?
I just ordered one for $400 used, so I guess I'll be finding out.

[mje]

If you get a good one, it’s good ;-). The first one I ordered had some neck alignment issues. The second was much better, but the pickup was thin sounding. I’d intended to replace it with a Bill Lawrence or something else you could get in a similar mount, but sold it before I got around to it.

I’ve owned five Loars, including 300s, 350, and a 302, and kept just one: My LH-700.

[beeswax]

Cool, thanks. The guy said it has a good neck and frets. I asked about that.
How hard would it be to install a tone pot on the guitar?

[mje]

Cool, thanks. The guy said it has a good neck and frets. I asked about that.
How hard would it be to install a tone pot on the guitar?

Not hard. I’d replace the existing pot with a smaller one, add the tone pot alongside, and use smaller knobs, too. If you’re handy with electronics it’s pretty easy.

if I still had one, I’d use under-pickguard controls, like this Schatten assembly:

Schatten Thumbwheel Controls | stewmac.com

I’d also replace the pick guard with a thicker material. Mine flexed to much, and I glued a block of hard felt under it to keep the controls from hitting the top of the guitar.

[beeswax]

Thank you.
If I like it, I will go ahead and install that.

Any other opinions on this guitar? I know it's not a 2k to 3k guitar, but I'm just looking for a couch guitar that I can gig at more acoustic open mics around town, and if it gets stolen I'm not heart broken. I read some horror stories about the necks being shallow and poor fret work. Eek.

[mje]

Earlier guitars did have a lot of QC issues, and I suspect some dealers were selling B stock without labeling it as such. Most of the issues had to do with neck angle and finish. Mine played well. I do think my Eastman AR371CE is a much better guitar, with a better pickup, although it does have a laminated top and sells for around 50% more. Of course once you change the pickup, pickguard, and controls, the difference narrows.

[archtopeddy]

I do think my Eastman AR371CE is a much better guitar, with a better pickup, although it does have a laminated top and sells for around 50% more.

For a laminated top, my AR371CE sounds great acoustically. Better acoustically than a mid-50's ES-175 I used to own.

[beeswax]

Aren't the mid 50s 175 laminated tops, too?
I like the sound of laminated tops. They seem a little more dull, and I'm sensitive to overly trebley sounds.

Regarding upgrading the tone pot -- can anyone recommend what size pot that would be? Also, would putting .12 80/20 strings on the Loar be fine? I want to play it acoustically mostly, but plug it in here and there at open mics.

The guitar comes today, so I'll report back.

[mr. beaumont]

80/20's will be tough to balance through the mag pickup. Try monels.

[beeswax]

The guitar arrived.
I really like it. Nice tone and it seems good for the price.

The issues with it are some of the frets are raised (it needs a level, crown) and the bridge is pinned all the way down and yet the action is still a bit high. The neck angle looks...well, I'm not sure -- using a straight edge and sliding it up the neck it hits about 2 to 3mm down on the saddle. It seems like the bridge base would have to be sanded down at least a half mm. But this will change the break angle of the strings. The action is at 2mm on both sides with the bridge pinned. I like 2mm bass side and 1.5mm treble side.

The neck is perfectly straight using a notched straight edge, so that's nice.

I'm not sure what to do, but I wrote the seller to explain this.