Bill Monroe's 1923 Gibson F5, master model mandolin signed by Lloyd Loar. The Kentucky-based group, Bill Monroe Bluegrass Music Foundation. had tried to purchase the instrument for $1.125 million. James Monroe, son of the late “father” of bluegrass music, argued it should remain with him. But the foundation claimed it still had a valid contract to buy the mandolin. As the ownership issue had been entangled in legal battles for two years, the mandolin sat in a vault at an undisclosed location. As part of a confidential settlement reached January 8, 2005 in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville, Monroe's son James will retain possession of the mandolin.

Bill's other mandolins: Loar | 50th Anniversery | A style | Montana Gibsons | F-5 Copys | Shoes
BIll's Smashed Llyod Loar Mandolin

Picture by:
Phil Zimmerman, Bluegrass Photographer
http://bluegrasstime.com

Bill's F-5, Llyod Loar Master Model style-5 series. Is one of approximately 200 F-5s signed and dated by Lloyd Loar himself. The Loar mandolins are in great demand, and today are often sold at astonishingly high prices. But Bill's old Loar has a special meaning to most of us, and may well be worth it's selling price of $1.25 million dollars.

The influence he and his legendary Loar F-5 has had on music as an instrumentalist, songwriter singer, bandleader, and showman, is unprecedented. No other individual is so closely identified within American music style as Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music. For more than a half a century he shaped bluegrass music with his forceful mandolin playing and is high lonesome singing and his master of his band the Bluegrass Boys.

The Grammy Winning Monroe Was the Only Person Ever to Be Inducted into Four Separate Hall Of Fame's, the International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Honor, the Rock-and-roll Hall Of Fame, Songwriter Hall Of Fame, and the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Was the Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and Honor That Placed Him in the Company of Louis Armstrong, Chet Atkins, Ray Charles, Paul McCartney and Other Legendary Artists