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Mandolin

The Loar LM-520

Name: The Loar LM-520
Brand: The Loar

The Loar · LM-520 Performer F-Style Mandolin

Price: 682 EUR – 682 EUR

Price history

Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

Availability: 0/10 (Very rare)

A mid-tier F-style between the LM-590 and the flagship LM-600: fully graduated (thickness-tuned) hand-carved spruce top and maple back, Grover tuners with pearloid buttons, and a bound rosewood rather than ebony fingerboard.

Where available? Go to the best price – 700 EUR About this instrument

About the The Loar LM-520

The LM-520 uses solid, hand-carved, fully graduated spruce for the top and solid hand-carved, fully graduated maple for the back - "graduated" meaning the wood thickness is carved to vary across the plate rather than staying uniform, tuning the top's flexibility and resonance rather than just carving a fixed dome shape. That's a more labor-intensive process than a simple arched carve, positioning the LM-520 as a genuine step up from The Loar's entry mandolins in build technique, not just cosmetics.

It sits below the LM-600 in appointments: a bound rosewood fingerboard rather than ebony, Grover tuners with pearloid buttons rather than Gotoh with ivory-colored buttons, and a simple mother-of-pearl logo rather than the flowerpot peghead inlay. Scale length is a shorter 13.75 inches against the LM-600's 13.91, with a 1 1/8-inch nut, maple neck in a rounded V profile, and compensated adjustable ebony bridge - finished in gloss vintage sunburst.

Where to buy

Reverb 700 EUR Best price View details

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Source: https://reverb.com/item/39788941-brand-new-the-loar-lm-520-hand-carved-f-style-performer-mandolin-vintage-sunburst

Sound character of the The Loar LM-520

Full graduation - carving the top and back to a varying rather than uniform thickness - tunes the plates' flexibility the way a violin maker would, giving a more even, resonant response across the fretboard and richer sustain than a simple fixed-dome carve. The bound rosewood fingerboard also reads slightly warmer than the ebony on The Loar's flagship LM-600.

Resonant Warm Full-bodied

Technical data for the The Loar LM-520

Top	Solid hand-carved, fully graduated spruce
Back/Sides	Solid hand-carved, fully graduated maple
Fretboard	Bound rosewood
Scale length	13.75"
Nut width	1 1/8"
Tuners	Grover, pearloid buttons

Price history for the The Loar LM-520

Cheapest seen: 682 EUR · Most expensive seen: 682 EUR

Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

The history of the The Loar LM-520

The LM-520 fills The Loar's range between its entry-tier and flagship-vintage-replica F-styles, aimed at intermediate players who want fully-graduated hand-carved tone woods without paying for the LM-600's ebony binding and flowerpot ornamentation.