I talked to a guitar salesmen at guitar center, and he pointed out to me that the main larrivee factory burned down taking all the woods, and guitar making tools down with it. He says that they were out of business for awhile but are now selling guitars again, but not making as good quality guitars because they lost all their aged woods or something. Any part of this true, or he's saying this cuz the store didn't carry any larrivees

Haha, the great things you hear at Guitar Center.  :D

He didn't point out anything to you, he made it up.  There was a small fire at the factory in Canada last year, but as far as I know, no wood or tools were lost.  It certainly didn't stop them from making guitars, or hurt the quality.

Yeah, come to think of it, I suspected my new D-03 and OM forum guitars are both made from popsicle sticks. Man, I had no idea such spectacular sound and playability could come from balsa wood!  ;)

That guy wants your money. All else is secondary.

Yes, Larrivee had a fire. Not sure what if any materials they lost. One way or another, they've still got their hands on first-class materials, as their guitars are still and always have been spectacular for the money you pay. They were not out of business. Not sure what happened between them and GC, but it's just as well IMHO since in my experience GC doesn't take very good care of the acoustic guitars in its showrooms, and the salespeople I've talked to there were not always particularly knowledgeable about acoustic guitars (the guy you talked to being a prime example).

I've been on this forum for some time ,and I would in a HEARTBEAT buy a Larrivee sight unseen from any of the various dealers on this forum over GC, as they'll help you more and in the end back up the deal to make sure you are happy with what you get.

Thats where blackwood came from. Its really koa that was charred in the fire.

:lol:  :D



ps. I really like my new bw parlor...

Randy :lol:  

:lol:  

By the way I can't wait Guitar Center is comin to Tally.That will make 8 music store here. :)  

I thought my guitar smelled a little "smokey".

Hmmmmm...

I'm starting to lose faith in music shops - even after taking lessons in one for most of my youth. I'm not quite as young anymore - and only marginally less naive - but I would think that that was definitely an uninformed ploy to steer you toward their "big sellers"! I was similarly warned against Larrivées once by a salesperson once recently - even after the tech at that very store raved about them. Believe it or not, but it wasn't even at Guitar Center!

It seems like most music stores I go into now are run like car dealerships! :(

BTW, I heard that the fire was only in the finishing section of the factory. Any way you look at it, that's an old story and they've since recovered and opened a second factory in California.  

They are always out to "burn" you at GC.  :blink:  

Oh yeah, the fire. Wasn't that just before Larrivee put out those limited edition ash guitars?

I live a few blocks from the local GC. All of the sales guys there have nothing but good things to say about Larrivee. The story they tell is likely the truth. Larrivee had a hard time supplying the minimum number of shipments required by a store like GC. In all honesty, we all realize that the brand recognition of Gibson, Martin and even Taylor, does cost Larrivee a lot of market share.  

Then there's the flip side. at the hoiti-toiti chi-chi guitar store I frequent (where most of the guys are really nice straight shooters) the manager looked at my OM-03

AS I WAS BUYING IT  :blink: ,

and commented that the 03's were Larrivee's "night shift" guitars. So, there's boneheads everywhere you go...

Must be the same guy that told me Taylor doesn't make a 210 series guitar. Oh well............I eneded up with a Larrivee from my local dealer. ;)  :D
charliep
ps: the excellent beautiful, rosewood on my OM is a little dark now that I think about it. A little smoky maybe?

I bought a thumb pick from guitar center a few weeks ago.  The sales guy picked up the pick and said he really wanted to try one of these.  He then looked at me and said "what do you use these for anyways?"  I preceded to explain to him what a thumb pick was used for.  He was disinterested after about two words. :)

Although I rarely go there, I have generally had pretty decent service at guitar center.  Every once and a while you run into a real piece of work.  Of course this can happen at any shop.
-josh

Guitar Center's (at least at the two in this area I've been to) not stocking -- and their sales staff's not even KNOWING about -- a partial capo tells me a lot about them. I mean, neither their stores nor staff can be ALL bad, but for a store with a name like that... ya know what I mean???

QuoteThats where blackwood came from. Its really koa that was charred in the fire.

:lol:  :D



ps. I really like my new bw parlor...

NOT FUNNY, RANDY!  :angry:




Ok, yeah it is! :lol:  

Most salespeople at the GC in my area are idiots who enjoy throwing around made up jargon rather than telling customers useful info about instruments.  

Blackwood good! Man want barbeque! :D  

QuoteBy the way I can't wait Guitar Center is comin to Tally.That will make 8 music store here. :)

You need to move to Winter Haven bro!

Tom no more moving for me.Shop goes in in the next month or so.My wife tells me that the extra I've been paying on the mortgage means if I keep it up its paid for in 6 years.I now have 45 guitars I'd have to move.

sacredground  :lol: ,I BBQ all year round rain or shine.

I wouldn't worry Rob....if it is anything like the (very) few that I have been in, your business will probably increase from people running to get away from them :o  

QuoteThats where blackwood came from. Its really koa that was charred in the fire.

:lol:  :D

<_<  

Let me get this straight, a salesman at GC might make something up in order to make a sale?!?!?!  :o

I CANNOT beleive that!!!</sarcasm> <_<  

Ok, let's see how I do:

The hottest model for Larrivee right now is the blackwood, which has a kind of smoky sound.  They just put it out last year.

When I first started playing I heard that the same thing happened to Martin, and they lost all their "woodstock" (pun, guys!) in the '80s. I repeated the story to a luthier, and he set me straight. That was B/S (and I don't mean back and sides!!!)

Lets make an urban legend here....the best one we start spreading!!

My entry....um, The Seattle/Tacoma area sued some guitar company for using their name, and now all the........oh, heck....I just can't do this!!! :(  

My GC experience

"Taylor doesn't make a 210 or 310 just x14's"

"Martin no longer makes the D-16RGT"

"That top is designed that way with a dip behind the bridge (Taylor314)"

I can't wait for them to open here..My business in repair alone should jump 200%. :D  

GC can have it's advantages. I found a botique classical in there and had a gut feeling -talked them down to $800 from $899. They didn't know the name on the label. They couldn't find info on the internet is what it boiuled down to. I brought it home and contacted the maker, and he congratulated me and sent a brochure.

He sells them for $3,400.

They go used for $2,200.

I like GC in a way....

QuoteTom no more moving for me.Shop goes in in the next month or so.My wife tells me that the extra I've been paying on the mortgage means if I keep it up its paid for in 6 years.I now have 45 guitars I'd have to move.

sacredground  :lol: ,I BBQ all year round rain or shine.

Uncle Rob: rain or shine we got the 3 burner meat-cooker gassed up and ready!

Greg

My GC story - I was buying a humidifier and the salesman (salesboy?) asked me what it was for.  Then he told me how he had an "custom made Tacoma" but had never "used on of those."

Favorite GC story:

I walk into the acoustic room (I was buying some strings, but wandered in there) and a salesboy walks up to me and asks if I play guitar.  "Yes", I say.

"Really, what kind?" he asks with that genuine tone that you get from someone who is really trying to get to the bottom line fast.

"Blues", I reply.

"Dude - we can get those.  They are special order though."  

Yes, it did happen!!

:D  

Guitar Center?  I thought they were nice people.  I did find one odd thing:  a really, really bad new guitar up on the wall.  Satin finish.  Not totally inexpensive.  The neck was actually splintered in back so you could actually gouge your hand if you played the guitar.  Looked like a manufacturing defect.  I just wondered about that one...

Best to find a good, sole proprietorship locally, buy your guitar there if the price is fair, and build a relationship with that store.  Then we'll always have good guitar stores.

I heard a rumor that good old GC was coming to my neck of the woods as well.........Upstate South Carolina.    Wonder how that will affect our little shops?

acoustic mom in the long run they've helped to bring people in to the little store's,they've just got to hold on.

I have went to GC twice recently in my area just to buy strings. I was looking for Ernie Ball Earthwoods. Both times they didn't have Ernie Balls and the guy acted like I was from Mars.... :blink: Am I missing something here? Ernie Ball is a major player in strings am I right? Anyway I have started ordering my strings by mail and I bought my OM-03 from Dave at Guitar Adoptions. I couldn't have been happier with that transaction. If I can't buy something as simple as strings from GC, why would I go there for anything else?

Yup...that dang fire burned a HOLE RIGHT THROUGH MY L-09!!!

Oh yeah...that's the sound hole.  It's supposed to be there.

:lol: