"[7] In 1898 Orville Gibson had patented a new kind of mandolin that followed violin design, with its curved top and bottom carved into shape, rather than pressed.

[9] Among the changes that Loar introduced was the f-hole instead of a round or oval sound-hole, another violin-family feature imported to the mandolin.

Another change that Loar introduced to the Gibson line was a tone-producer, a circle of wood inside the instrument on the underside of the sound board that produced "overtones."

[10] A surviving playbill shows that Loar performed in a chatauqua that also included a speech by William Jennings Bryan.

He also pioneered the use of the Virzi Tone Producer, a spruce disc suspended from the instrument top that acts as a supplemental soundboard.

Loar's views on the importance of the development of electric instruments were supported by Lewis A Williams, one of the founders and major stockholders of Gibson as well as its secretary and general manager.

He claimed that Loar's electrics had electrostatic pickups, but because they exhibited very high impedance they were extremely susceptible to humidity.

According to Fuller, the pickups were round, about the size of a silver dollar and had a piece of cork on the back, by which they were glued to the underside of the top of the instrument.

According to Duchossoir, Lewis Williams was replaced as general manager, and a lack of amicable relations with the new manager—an accountant named Guy Hart—led to the termination of Loar's contract.

After leaving Gibson, Loar created and patented an electric instrument with a coil pickup, and co-founded the Acousti-Lectric company with Lewis Williams in 1934.

Monroe played a Gibson F5 model serial number 73987[13] signed by Loar on July 9, 1923, for most of his career.

Loar also signed a rare subset of F5 mandolins called Ferns, of which approximately twenty are known to exist.

In 2007, mandolinist Chris Thile acquired a 1924 Loar-signed F5 serial # 75316[15] that was an exceedingly rare find, as it was in virtually new condition.

Other well-known musicians who have owned Loar-signed F5's include John Paul Jones serial # 75317, Mike Marshall, David McLaughlin, Herschel Sizemore, Alan Bibey, Tony Williamson, David Grisman, John Reischman, Tom Rozum, Frank Wakefield, Ricky Skaggs and the late Joe Val serial #72207.

These two master-built acoustic guitars are Gibson's top-of-the-line carved wood and highly ornate archtop instruments.