The Loar LH-309-VS

Amazing guitar really nice and playable out of the box , action was good and no dents from delivery very impressed with guitar , New set of strings needed however going to try and wear them in , sounds great plugged in and has a range of different sounds you are able to achieve using the tone and volume control , lots of fun playing on it , love the head stock deceration , 10/10

Sound - Acoustic it sounds bright and colourful and balanced which is very nice , also it is fairly loud unlike many other similar guitars , Plugged in it gives a nice warm texture and provides lots of tonal options which all sound incredible

Looks - This thing looks amazing , was a bit worried about the sunburst finish on it when I saw it online but in the flesh it looks dazzling the spruce top gives a massive different to the tone and sound of this guitar

Thanks Thomann for awesome delivery and keeping me updated which was very nice

I did a lot of research before purchasing this guitar, reading reviews and watching videos on youtube etc, and every review I read / saw, made me want this guitar more and more. All I can say is this review will add to the already good reviews I have read.
This is a fantastic sounding guitar, both acoustically and electric. the playability, as previous reviews state can take a while to get used to, due to its fairly large neck. however i have quite small hands and I use my thumb on the bass stings a lot and I still have no problems. took about 2 days of playing to get used to but it plays like a dream. I replaced the strings with medium gauge phosphor bronze acoustic strings and it really brings out the natural sound of the guitar acoustically.
I highly recommend this guitar. As an arch top guitar it is associated mainly with jazz playing, but I play blues, country and rockabilly and it sounds great for these styles.

Ordered the guitar and tried it out. Was dissatisfied and had to return it. If you decide to keep this instrument then expect to put in extra money for a decent set up.

The factory fretwork is unbearable. After playing with it for a few hours, my hand was so scratched I just couldn't continue. The fret ends were so sharp they cut the skin off my hand and fingers. Also, the strings sound very raspy against the frets when bending.

The neck itself has a quite pronounced V-shape. This might be uncomfortable at first but nothing one couldn't get used to. In fact it's one of the unique characteristics of this instrument.

The pickup was quiet as a mouse in a clean setting. On the other hand the tone control wasn't very smooth. I noticed the most change from about 3-1.

Another thing I noticed was that there was lots of sawdust and such inside the guitar.

Other than that It's a decent enough instrument for the money. Especially considering there aren't many P90 archtops available in this price range.

I wanted an acoustic I could play at electric jams and be a bit different. This is my first archtop and so far The Loar exceeded my hopes.
It is beautiful to look at with the inlay, binding and colour being much better than a midrange guitar should be. I was concerned the sunburst would be very brash and orange but it is lovely.
When I got it the action was very high and my luthier had to cut down the bridge but it has turned out to have as low an action as you could want with level, well finished frets. It has a very comfortable neck, wide enough for long fingers and the V shape is good for me. The body is fairly large but well waisted so it sits comfortably when sitting. I find the scale and neck extremely comfortable to play.
Acoustically it sounded fairly muted and mellow but the solid top has already changed and is becoming louder and clearer. Plugged in the P90 is clear but not thin and has a lovely growl when you dig in or turn up the gain. It will feed back but even in a room with three other loud guitars it is very controllable and not a problem. I fitted Pyramid flatwounds and it sounds fairly dark which is great for jazz but I will try some other strings otherwise the bass player complains he is redundant ;)
Overall it is a lovely guitar to look at, comfortable to play sounds awesome plugged in and I'm looking forward to hearing the sound develop acoustically. I recently played some The Loar acoustics and was also very impressed at the feel and surprisingly good sound.

Since purchasing this guitar I have played it extensively at home and used it on a handful of gigs. I have also been to the luthier twice for a set-up and for further refinement. In general, I'm pleased with it. The sound is very good with a nod towards the Charlie Christian era of early amplified guitars. It seems well balanced although the high E-string is not quite as present as it might be which requires me to compensate for this slightly in my playing. (A higher gauge of string might be called for; at the moment I'm using D'Addario half-round 11s.) It is very feedback-resistant for an archtop guitar. The jury is still out as far as the tuning is concerned: I tried fitting an acoustic strap tied onto the headstock but this pulled it out of tune quite badly and even with a strap button fitted the tuning does not yet seem quite stable. As far as the workmanship goes the volume and tone pots were very poorly fitted but everything else seems okay. I would recommend this guitar for its price but I would advise buyers to exercise caution and be prepared to have to play around with it to make it work properly.

I was eagerly anticipating this beautiful looking arch top with what seemed to be all the vibe of the 1930's in a very affordable instrument.
Read and viewed quite a bit before I ordered it...
When it arrived, right out of the box I could see that I was going to need to put in another 50 to 75 bucks to have worked on this to get it playable by professional standards.
Very poor fret work (like strings against a rusty fence).
Totally unbalanced and uneven floating bridge work.
Essentially no kind of set up whatso ever...
Then when I tried to put a guitar strap on, the wooden end pin/strap button literally crumbled and broke in a bunch of pieces the moment I touched it (could have been affected in shipping process).
When I shook the guitar, ther was a very large amount of wood scraps and sawdust inside (looked like a snow storm when I tried to get most of it out).
Suddenly on closer inspection I noticed and realized that the carved top, which was supposed to be solid was in fact in two pieces BUT the back was a solid one piece.
This must have been a big manufacture error and they cut the F-holes on the wrong side.
Does it feel good to play and sound good? It's pretty fair, especially for this price.
But you get what you pay for, and that means practically a step up from a "do it yourself" guitar building kit.
The problem is; it is so cheap that what I complained and set in motion to order/replace the new end pin that was broken, it turns out to be much more or a hassle than the guitar is probably worth to even send back!
I am a professional working/touring musician and I was looking for an inexpensive guitar with a good vibe and acoustic/electric crossover possibilities for workshops and smaller gigs.
This was a bit too good to be true...
I would have actually paid a little more if someone had put a bit more of a personal touch Into this guitar before sending off to the distributor.
I will keep this LH 309 VS for now and dump some more money into a proper set up and to fix the bugs.
Maybe pass on to a student.
It's a good entry level guitar to the world of arch tops that get closer to the sound and feel of anything in this rock bottom price range.
But not a whole lot more...