Do You Know Loring Guitars?

Subject: Review: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Jun 05 - 06:00 PM

My title is somewhat misleading, I realize. It might better be titled: Pawnshops and Stolen Goods. :)

This week I discovered a pawnshop in Juneau. Tuesday I was in the neighborhood so I went in and looked around. Lots of TVs and knickknacks and tape recorders and bassoons and electric guitars. They also had two acoustic guitars. One was obviously cheap and nondescript. The other one was heavily laminated, glossy black, mdedium sized but - it had the certificate pulled off on the inside, leaving only some glue patches, and on the headstock the brand name was fairly crudely scraped off. Inside- my mind has gone blank - on t'other end of the fretboard? - there was no stamp or any kind of marking.

I took the instrument to the counter person and asked, What can you tell me about this guitar? She said, tentatively, Well, it's black?

Anyway she looked it up on their database and said that it's a Loring. Just now I googled for Loring and found nothing.

I'm assuming it's a cheapie - they're asking $69.95 American for it - and I don't need another guitar and I won't be buying it - but wouldn't that lack of ID make you wonder whether it was a stolen instrument? I can't think of any other explanation.

This is a small community with an active police force and I imagine the pawnshop is routinely scrutinized.

Question: If you suspected it was "hot", would you buy it?
Question: If you knew it was a high quality instrument, would you buy it?
Hypothetical question: If you had heard that someone had lost an instrument to theft and you suspected that you had found it, what would be the proper procedure?

Subject: RE: Review: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: skipy
Date: 01 Jun 05 - 07:00 PM

Shout "hostages lie down" fire 42 rounds into the ceiling & sort it!

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Once Famous
Date: 01 Jun 05 - 10:10 PM

Ebbie, I guarantee you that it is probably worth $69.95 at the most.

Many cheapies like this were never serial numbered and were the types of guitars one could get from an S&H Green Stamp catalog in the mid 1960s.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Peace
Date: 01 Jun 05 - 10:16 PM

No to buying a stolen guitar. I had two ripped off at various times. One was a cheapie, but the other was a Favilla, and that was a guitar.

"If you had heard that someone had lost an instrument to theft and you suspected that you had found it, what would be the proper procedure?"

I'd put a down payment on it and ask the store to hold it for a week. Let my friend know and see where it went from there.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Once Famous
Date: 01 Jun 05 - 10:20 PM

Vintage Guitar magazine, very fine monthly periodical that I read cover to cover reports stolen gear in a section every month. The ads, which again from cover to cover features literally a couple thousand guitars for sale every issue including some cheapies.

I don't think I would worry about this being a stolen guitar. This is a garage sale special.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: number 6
Date: 01 Jun 05 - 11:58 PM

Never buy anything suspected of being stolen. Fredricton N.B just implemented a law where one has to have his name and address (and prove it) recorded when dumping anything at a pawn shop. This law should be mandatory everywhere. Having had our house broken into twice when we lived in Toronto, I know it can be a painful and humiliating experience. The rise in breakins is a direct result of the increase of drug use in todays society.

Sorry to have swayed off topic but I had to get my 2 cents worth in on this thread.

sIx

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Ebbie
Date: 02 Jun 05 - 01:28 AM

I agree with all you guys. Keep in mind that I'm not interested in buying that guitar. My question really is hypothetical but brucie answered it nicely- put a down on it and notify one's friend. (How do you put a down payment on $69.95! LOL) But I think the basic instruction is correct. Get them to hold it so that they don't sell it before one's friend has a chance to look at it.

Another way, if you felt that it was suspiciously close to the instrument that one's friend had lost but the friend was not available for consultation would be to go to the police. Small town police, in my experience, tend to be alert and helpful.

The other question is, Why would anyone go to the trouble of vandalizing it? It really was a pretty little guitar but I have no idea how one would get those scratch and scrape marks off the headstock.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 02 Jun 05 - 03:01 AM

Perhaps they removed the stickers and markings in the hope that people would think it was a more expensive guitar? Much in the same way as people take the 316 badges off a BMW to make people think it is a better model. I have heard dafter things!

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Ebbie
Date: 02 Jun 05 - 04:26 PM

That could be, DtG. It is so glossy and smooth to the touch that someone might want to pass it off as something better. However, the brand name was scraped off so crudely that anyone should know that would have an impact on any potential buyer.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 02:51 AM

I've never heard of the make, but there are all kinds of small time luthiers in business at the moment. It begs the obvious question = does it play like a good guitar. most half way decent guitar players can work that much out.

i wouldn't be too sure about it being rubbish, Martin - junk shop people don't have a clue. I can remember one old guy telling me he had a classic in his back room and proudly producing an Eko! he wanted twice what you could buy one for at the time.....

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Ned Ludd
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 04:56 AM

Never heard of that make. On the subject of should you buy if you think it's stolen...I had a shop for ten years buying secondhand guitars. I made every effort to ensure that I was buying off the owner. If I was suspicious I used delaying tactics and called the police. Caught a few, but still managed to inadvertantly buy stolen goods...Interesting, If you know it's stolen you're not allowed to sell it!

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 02:11 PM

Not only that, Ned, but if you buy it from the middleman you also have received stolen goods! Not too worrisome a thought because the pawnshop would be first in line as a target for litigation but if you/I bought it from him and damaged it or sold it to another person so that it was lost again I too could be in trouble. At the very least, I'd have to give it up. Without compensation.

And that doesn't even address the loss of the original owner. I've never had an instrument stolen but I would be devastated.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Once Famous
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 02:27 PM

weelittle drummer

trust me, it's a low end piece of plywood. As a collector of vintage instruments, it commands little attention. Sad to say, neither do Eko's though at least in isn't in the Stella category.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 05:47 PM

Stella's ..? werent they the ones used by Leadbelly? I've never seen one.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 06:03 PM

When I was young, there were a lot of Fenders and Gretshes in the bands that I knew. Didn't see many Martins but that may reflect the prosperity or lack of it in my crowd. I believe that Fender had a better reputation then than it does now.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 03 Jun 05 - 06:24 PM

Stellas are considered pretty cheap guitars, but many of the great classic Delta blues 78s were recorded using them because the record company reps/engineers provided them for the artists, and the company Stellas were often better than the bluesmen's own cheap and/or battered instruments.

And yes, Leadbelly owned and played a Stella 12-string. (I'm pretty sure about that, anyway).

Because of the historic factors, some people value old Stellas more highly than others. I have no first-hand knowledge, but my impression is that they're very heavy (that is, strongly constructed but not tremendously resonant) and fairly difficult to play (although a good luthier can probably improve the high action, if desired ~ but if the instrument is played primarily with a slide, of course, high action is not a bad thing at all).

I'm pretty sure there's a whole thread on Stellas, or maybe more than one, just as there are threads devoted to virtually every major brand of guitar. I wrote the above off the top of my head, without doing any research, and could well be wrong ~ anyone who's really curious about Stellas can find a lot of info on Mudcat. Probably not about Lorings, though!

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: number 6
Date: 04 Jun 05 - 03:03 PM

http://www.stellaguitars.com/

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Once Famous
Date: 05 Jun 05 - 11:54 AM

Number 6 found a web site I have seen before. The Stellas of Leadbelly's days were mid-range priced instruments and a brand name owned by Oscar Schmidt, who also owned the Sovereign brand. Harmony of Chicago bought the two brand names sometime in the late 1950s. The Stella name went on to become the very lowest end Harmony brand name. A student model price around $14.95-16.95 new.

The Sovereign went on to become Harmony's top of the line instrument. All solied wood spruce top with mahagony back and sides. They were quite fine instruments that sold for about $80.00 new.

Today, a Harmony Stella is still a Stella, selling for about $70-90 and a Sovereign can command in the $500 range.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Jun 05 - 11:59 AM

harmony sovereigns were around before the japs hit their stride in england. they sounded okay-ish but, they had a neck like a rowing oar as I remeber.

Subject: RE: Do You Know Loring Guitars?
From: Once Famous
Date: 05 Jun 05 - 12:23 PM

Yes, the necks are not exactly svelt, but not totally horrible, either.

The Haromny Sovereigns made in Chicago late 1950s to mid 1960s escpecially the H1260 model, are the most desirous today. I have one made in 1960 which I use for the beach, campfires, etc and it is a booming guitar with a full range.