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. The company was renamed the Vivi-Tone company in 1936. Loar died in 1943. Famous Loar mandolins The F5 model was made famous by the founder of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. Monroe played a Gibson F5 model serial number 73987 signed by Loar on July 9, 1923, for most of his career. This mandolin can be viewed in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, where it now resides in their collections. Loar also signed a rare subset of F5 mandolins called Ferns, of which approximately twenty are known to exist. The name refers to the distinctive fern inlay design of the peghead. The earliest documented Fern bears the serial number 73755, dated July 9, 1923, the same signing date as Bill Monroe's famous Loar. This is the only known Fern built without the "Virzi" Tone Producer, a secondary sound board suspended underneath the mandolin's top inside the sound chamber. This particular instrument is the only known Fern dated on 9 July. In 2007, mandolinist Chris Thile acquired a 1924 Loar-signed F5 serial # 75316 that was an exceedingly rare find, as it was in virtually new condition. It reportedly cost him around $200,000. 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, and the late Joe Val serial #72207. Only one A-style mandolin, a Gibson A5, is known to have been signed by Loar. It has been widely copied, originally by mandolin maker Bob Givens. The Loar A5 was found by Tut Taylor and sold to a Southern California bluegrass musician in 1974. Mr. Taylor originally acquired the A5 from the sister of Dr. William B. Griffith, of the Griffith School of Music in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Griffith's wife, also a teacher at the school, reportedly requested an F5 in a body style without points. Her request resulted in the production of the Loar A5 in 1923. Collectability As of January 2010, Loar-signed mandolins in fine condition are valued in the $175,000 to $200,000 range, and are highly sought after by musicians and collectors. The average value reached a 2008 peak of around $225,000, then backed