:? :?

Lots of talk and pics over on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LarriveeGuitars) on Larrivee Mandolins but none round here since about July :?

Is a Larrivee Mandolin on your wish list or do you think they missed the mark :?

When did Larrivee start making mandolins? 

I'd love one but they're priced out of my range, seeing as I'm only a dabbler on the instrument. My Kentucky is a nice mandolin and will have to do until I win the lottery. Besides, the electrics call my name with more volume right now. 

ditto ducktrapper.  Mandolins are rarely a first choice instrument, and Larrivee must be rated in the boutique market, so they are likely to be out of reach for most Larrivee guitar nuts.  Now if they made an 'M-03' - I'm sure these pages would be awash with people raving about them. Are you listening Mr L?  basic woods, Larivee quality, satin finish mandolins.   :guitar

I love to listen to mandolins and my bandmate is beginning to play one rather nicely but I've never had the urge to pick up one myself.    Being a lefty of course makes it pretty difficult to even try one out.   So I don't have a lot of interest in this particular Larrivee offering.    I have my hands pretty full with my other stringed addictions

Quote from: BenF on October 24, 2012, 08:42:05 AM
ditto ducktrapper.  Mandolins are rarely a first choice instrument, and Larrivee must be rated in the boutique market, so they are likely to be out of reach for most Larrivee guitar nuts.  Now if they made an 'M-03' - I'm sure these pages would be awash with people raving about them. Are you listening Mr L?  basic woods, Larivee quality, satin finish mandolins.   :guitar

I just don't see anyone who plays a Mando wanting a satin model. Too many really good mandolins are available in the market today. Lots of competition out there and Larrivee is just not that well known. Sorry but that's the fact, as I see it.

Dan's correct. Especially if you're not foremost a mandolinist, there are a lot of mandolins that will do the trick. For $800.00, I got a shiny Kentucky KM-900 A Style and it's very nice. Really, since I've no one to impress, all the mandolin I'll ever need. I'm getting pretty good on it though. I can accompany a lot of different things now. I definitely recommend some kind of mando for guitarists who want to branch out a little.

http://www.sagamusic.com/catalog/details.aspx?ProductID=KM-900

If Larrivee made a mandolin for a $1,000 or under I would definitely be buying one! The problem with mando's seems to be Gibson. They seem to have set the price of mandolins way beyond what the majority of players can afford , and it has recently sent the price of Asian knock offs through the roof even. I remember when Eastmans were affordable 5 yrs ago , now they are getting the same price as nice North American guitars. I love to play the mandolin , but unfortunately I don't like playing the mandolin's I can afford. It's hard to play bad sounding instruments and be inspired when your ear has developed enough to know better. I play everything with strings passably well  but I am better on guitar than anything else because I love the sound of my guitar more than the cheap import instruments I can afford! lol!!!! I will have a gig worthy mandolin with in a year hell or high water , but I know i won't be able to afford a Larrivee :crying:.

A carved top&back mandolin is a completely different animal from a flattop guitar.  And there are comparatively few Larrivee mandolins in the world, and very few used ones come up.  I have sampled a few A-style mandolins when I visited the factory, and I thought they were quite good, but I couldn't say they stand above other good mandolins.   But I would grade them as much better than the best Eastmans I've heard, but there will be a major price difference between any North-American made carved mandolin and a good import.   A Larrivee mandolin costing $1000 new would have to be a flattop, and possibly a disappointment. 

There are plenty of good (A-style) mandolins swimming around that can be had for $1000-$1500, used.   There have been a handful of barely used A-style Larrivees turn up  on ebay for $1400 or so.  That is a good price for a well-made carved mandolin.  F-style mandolins cost roughly twice as much because of the extra labor involved shaping the scroll.  The guts of A- and F-styles are the same, and they sound the same. 

I would love to own a quality mandolin one day. I just know that I could never justify spending that much on one as it will never be my primary instrument. I love hearing them and looking at them though. I have no doubts that they are worth every penny.

My wife is just learning mandolin and I bought her a Kentucky which (for the money) is quite nice. When she gets a lot better and I get a lot richer I'll get her a LarriMando.

f

Still loving and playing my A-33.  In fact I hardly touch my '92 L-05 anymore since buying this mandolin almost 3 years ago.  My son has started guitar lessons (after 3 years of playing mandolin) and is using the guitar.  Given the choice, he will still pick up his mandolin before the guitar.

Larrivee mandolins aren't voiced the same as a classic bluegrass mandolin will sound.  That is why I love it.  I can play bluegrass on it and still sound good as well as pick traditional fiddle and irish tunes.  It's a very versatile mandolin.  In the price range that the A's are in, there are a lot of good mandolins out there.  When you get into the price range of the F-33 ~ well, you can get a mighty fine mandolin and it comes down to personal choice in what you want out of a mandolin.  Names are very big in mandolin land and you will pay a lot for certain names on the headstock (more so than guitars, I think).  Those names command a very high price compared to the guitar world.  There are also a lot of great lesser known builders putting out mandolins that are amazing, without the huge price tag hanging off the headstock.  Get out and play as many as you can and see what speaks to you.  The difficult part is finding a place that carries more than a couple of mandolins at a time, but there are shops out there.  Also check out the Mandolin Cafe (http://www.mandolincafe.com) ~ more mando info than you can imagine!  Go used if you can.

I bought mine used, so I got a break on the price, but I don't think the original owner played it.  It was in perfect, showroom condition.  It sounded tight when I first got it, but it has really opened up over the past 3 years.  I was never a believer of instruments "opening up", but it definitely happened with this mandolin.  I would be very hard pressed to sell or trade it, and it would cost me a lot of money to get something 'better'.

If you get a chance, definitely check them out.  If it's new, it might sound/feel tight, but with some hammering on it, it will open up beautifully!

John

Quote from: BenF on October 24, 2012, 08:42:05 AM
  Mandolins are rarely a first choice instrument,

except for about a bazillion mandolin players...

I've been thinking of getting a mandolin to pluck with...but something a bit less pricey would be better. I just saw some Kentucky mandos like Duck mentioned...and they looked good for under a grand. I'd really like a Weber but don't think that will happen unless I sell a guitar or two....

Quote from: Dotneck on November 27, 2012, 04:14:11 PM
except for about a bazillion mandolin players...

I've been thinking of getting a mandolin to pluck with...but something a bit less pricey would be better. I just saw some Kentucky mandos like Duck mentioned...and they looked good for under a grand. I'd really like a Weber but don't think that will happen unless I sell a guitar or two....

My buddy that sold me the OM-21 has a Weber that he found used. I've done a little work on it and its a beauty.
   Anyway he ordered an expensive Mando and may sell the Weber. He also has a cheaper Michael Kelly so I'm sure there will be a sale soon.  That Weber is nice. I can let you know  if  he makes a move soon.

From my own experience, I wouldn't feel too terrible for not spending the pretty penny on a Weber. I guess a lot of folk, myself included, need to get their respective Weber "Ya-Ya's" out.  :+1:

I went through 7, or 8 of them and really only remember one worthy of being considered a keeper. Unfortunately, it was in the middle somewhere and I traded it for another one that wasn't a keeper.

Bruce and his folks make a really nice looking mandolin, but if you do the research I think you'll see that they don't usually stay in one place for very long. You will see a whole bunch of people like me that laud them to all-get-out, swearing up and down they'll never part with them... but, those same folk quite often have them listed in the classifieds a few months down the line.

I guess my main issue with the Weber's I have owned, and the multiple numbers of them I have had my hands on, is they are consistently overbuilt. Either the tops are too thick, the necks are clubby, and/or the finish is way too heavy the wood doesn't stand a chance at opening up to any kind of decent tone.

I think I may have even posted a few pics on this site of the last Weber I owned. It was a beauty to look at, but after a year of playing it in quite exstensively it never showed any signs of opening up.

There are a few other brands out there in the same price range that seem to be better instruments. Gibson, Arches, even a used Will Kimble may fall into the price range of a new Weber and I would put a handsome amount of $$$ down on the barrel head it would be a much better instrument.

I just got to handle and play a Larrivee mandolin this weekend. F-Model. It was very ... dark. Very warm, round tone. Probably why BG players aren't lining up to play them. And lets admit it - for die hard  BG'ers, the Larrivee $$ tag isn't out of line. But as mentioned, it doesn't carry "the" name or have the history behind it. And probably doesn't have the "bite" most BG'ers (that I know) are looking for.

But I'll tell you this, if I could have managed the +$2k for it, it'd be at my house right now. It played SO easily. Very tight on the lower G course. Which in my non-expert experience is hard to obtain in most mandolins. Well, in the ones I can afford, anyway. And my working mando was not "inexpensive". Anyway, the Larrivee I got to play was just an awesome instrument. Would love to have it so we could be ALL LARRIVEE on stage. My singer plays an OMV-05E, I play an RS2 and LV03. It'd be pretty cool to have one of the mandolins on stage with us.

This is a great pic that was put up on the Larrivee facebook page. Great photo, I'd love to have any 1 of these mandolins.

Quote from: brandon on December 04, 2012, 05:58:18 PM
This is a great pic that was put up on the Larrivee facebook page. Great photo, I'd love to have any 1 of these mandolins.

The Oval Hole Larrivee 's just kinda do it for me!

Oh just stop it!!!   :crying:

That A style looks lovely.Make's me want one again and also makes me miss my 1921Gibson A1.If only I had money...... :drool:

I'd love to have the one laying in front...but I'd like to have it without the scrolling on the headstock, I like the plain jane headstocks like on the A-style mando's.
As I said though.....I'd gladly take any one of them if anyone at Larrivee is feeling generous this Christmas season!

I've only seen one Larrivee mando in person. A local shop that carries more mandos than anyone in the area had (prob still has) one of the F's...for a meager $3500.  This guy's prices are always over the top but that's just ridiculous. I've see the same model in te Mando Cafe classifieds sell for under 2000.  I played it and enjoyed it, but I much prefer the look and feel of an A-style over an F. I'm prob in the minority on that though.

I'm not a great mando player it enjoy my Eastman. A Collings is on my wish list though. 

So what happened to Larrivée mandolins? Did they stop the production?

Quote from: vates on October 06, 2015, 06:50:07 PM
So what happened to Larrivée mandolins? Did they stop the production?

Often wondered the same. Gone the way of the RS4  :?

Too bad. I've just started playing mandolin. Lot's of fun :) I now play a Fender 62sce. However, I would like to have a Larrivée as my next,  "serious", mandolin. Guess I'm a bit late to the party...

You just never know. Some day soon they may make 20 or 30 to meet a small demand. Have you noticed they do that from time to time?  :guitar

I'll keep my eyes open then. Cheers!  :cheers

Quote from: Caleb on December 07, 2012, 12:53:21 PM
I'm not a great mando player it enjoy my Eastman. A Collings is on my wish list though. 

Likewise I prefer A style mandos. And although Im happy with my Eastman, I'd really like a Collings MT one day too.

Great minds think alike.  :cheers

Cheers, Scott.

Larrivee mandolins are still out there, though for a pretty hefty price.  I saw this one recently at a music show.  Very odd make since it is an A-style but has a traditional F-style headstock.  This was in a very noisy convention hall with lots of "shredders" going full blast, so there was no way I could evaluate the mandolin. 

Quote from: obe-wan on October 17, 2015, 02:49:00 PM
Likewise I prefer A style mandos. And although Im happy with my Eastman, I'd really like a Collings MT one day too.

Great minds think alike.  :cheers

Cheers, Scott.

I did finally get my Collings a few months ago.  Been having a blast with it ever since. 

Quote from: Caleb on October 18, 2015, 10:35:29 AM
Larrivee mandolins are still out there, though for a pretty hefty price.  I saw this one recently at a music show.  Very odd make since it is an A-style but has a traditional F-style headstock.  This was in a very noisy convention hall with lots of "shredders" going full blast, so there was no way I could evaluate the mandolin. 

I wonder how many variations the had. The ones represented in that article at the 12th fret are by far the most beautiful I've seen.

http://www.12fret.com/2012/12/08/larrivee-a-33-mandolin-2/

Also, this thread needs more reviews of Larrivée mandolins ;)

Quote from: vates on October 18, 2015, 05:28:43 PM


Also, this thread needs more reviews of Larrivée mandolins ;)

Dabble only so unqualified to review but a few local Mando players around my locale required a bib be placed on them while given it a go!  :smile:

Marvelous. Thanks  :donut

Got something here  :nanadance

Gonna post more details and review as soon as I'll get some info from the builder (they provide manu dates once in 10 days now... pfff) and string her with the fresh set which is right on its way. The suspense is killing :)