First time posting, and we thought you guys might be interested in this. Hopefully it's not too spammy:

July 25: ON! The Lore of Loar
http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/index.php?option=com_con tent&task=view&id=224&Itemid=3

On Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 2 PM, the Museum of Making Music invites you to participate in a historical exploration led by author and music historian Roger Siminoff. Siminoff will give the presentation The Lore of Loar and will discuss 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 will detail 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.

Museum of Making Music
5790 Armada Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008

http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org
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[Edited on 7/23/2009 by MuseumMaknMusic]