Lancaster

[wadehaskell]

Hi all.
I recently got this used Lancaster; the only one I've ever seen. It had been modified to a VTT but Matt's pickups and the pots had been changed out were nowhere to be found. It had some decent but uninspiring Seymore Duncans, so I switched the whole harness to JWP SR and WOW! This is an amazing guitar that has really come alive and is definitely a keeper (my tech raved about the construction and even offered to buy it).
I have looked all over and can find surprisingly little information about the Lancaster except the basic build specs and date of manufacture. Does anyone know how many were made or for how long... or any other information? They seem to have been well received by Larrivee fans but for a very short period of time.
Thanks! 

[JOYCEfromNS]

I have a couple

[JOYCEfromNS]

And the other 

[JOYCEfromNS]

From my notes and should our friend Cybercanyon be around, he likely could expand as his knowledge of Larrivee electrics would be deeper than mine

The core body design is based off of the "S" style guitars made in the 1980's.

The name Lancaster following Larrivee decision to continue naming after Californian cities

The official release date was - 2012-Jul-12 in Nashville - Summer NAMM but I have yet to meet anyone who had one prior to early 2013

Its makeup was

- Lightweight Swamp Ash body
- Quarter-sawn Eastern Maple neck
- Rosewood Fretboard with 1 5/8' nut width
- Forearm contour and tummy cut
- Hipshot brand "Contour" Tremolo (Made in USA)
- Kluson "Single-Line"  tuners
- Seymour Duncan Potentiometers
- Custom "MVP" wiring
-  SSS, or splitable SSH (Via push pull)
- Larrivée pickups (made by Larrivée for Larrivée)
- Vintage paper-in-oil capacitors
- 22 Frets to the body
- Dual Action Truss rod



Per Matt Larrivée: "All Larrivée pickups are designed and built in the Oxnard shop. Single coils  built using the same methods used in the 1950's and 1960's. The Alnico 5 magnets provide the signature sound were carefully crafted to duplicate vintage 1950's magnets. The bridge pickup is wound 43 gauge plain enamel wire and features a "tele style" steel elevator plate to balance the pickup and create a touch of "twang". The neck and middle pickups are wound with 42 gauge plain enamel wire. Very unique to these pickups is their individual pole spacing. Unlike a standard "S" style guitar; each pickup is designed with a custom pole spacing to perfectly fall under the string – This translates into extremely well balanced pickups without dead areas and hotspots, particularly on large string bends"

Have other info on pots & wiring but that's deep into the weeds

The Lancaster at some point I'm not sure when (likely Cybercanyon would) morphed (with little fanfare) into the Santa Monica with subtle changes to the Lancaster in its rename which I'm thinking yours might be.

Hope this helps some

[wadehaskell]

Thanks Joyce. This does seem to be in the "morphing" stage because everything is mounted to the pickguard rather than the body.

[headsup]

I have a couple older models, from the eighties.

lovely instruments , typical top shelf components and workmanship.

[Silence Dogood]

Man, these are cool guitars.  I'd love to run across one of the old 80s Larrivee shredder guitars someday at a good price.  I'm going to a big guitar show this weekend and am always on the lookout for such oddball pieces.