Introduction and question on neck size

[murrare]

I'm new here and loving this forum.  I live in a town nowhere close to any Larrivee dealers so this is my main outlet for questions. 

I own a Larrivee D-09E with B-Band electronics.  I've had it for 6 years and it's been a great guitar.  However, anytime I pick up another guitar, like a Martin or Taylor with a smaller neck size, it leaves me wanting to switch to something with a smaller neck.  I don't have giant hands so a smaller neck helps me especially on soloing.  I like the nut "width" on mine of 1 &11/16, but I'm talking about the neck "depth" per se.  I have a friend who owns 3 other models of Larrivees, but they all have similar neck "depth".

Do any of you know if Larrivee manufacturers something in the dreadnought arena with a smaller neck?

[lyric_girl]

Just wanted to say welcome to the forum, but I can't answer your question, so I'll leave that to the gurus here. 

[unclrob]

I don't believe that Larrivee makes a thinner neck.Hand size shouldn't matter what should matter is comfort.If its not comfy then you should change guitars.

[tadol]

  for unclrob -  although there is a small amount of variation since the necks are hand sanded, it isn't very much. You can try playing lots of Larrivees and hope you find one that feels right, but you should also play other makers and see if you find what your looking for elsewhere.

Tad

[lw216316]

 



The necks on my Larrivee L-03R and SD-50 felt slim to me -
I don't know about the D.

The V neck or mod-v on some Martins (and others) can be uncomfortable to some people.

If you have no shops nearby with Larrivee's you could ask someone here or email Larrivee and get the
actual thickness measurement of the neck and the profile type
and then compare it to some guitars you do have access to.

- Larry

[petesmithguitarist]

The Larrivee D shape has the narrowest neck of all Larrivees but the profiles are all very similar throught the range...if it feels too big to you but love the guitar you could always have the neck reprofiled, it was a common practise on Les Pauls and Strats in the early 80`s...that and adding Seymour Duncan JBs. Cheers, Pete

[lw216316]

have the neck reprofiled

Please tell me more !
Is this something most guitar builders/repair persons would do ?

Is this something that could be done in an hour or two ...under a $100 maybe ?

So if you had a guitar with a V or mod-v shape ,
you could have it reprofiled to be smooth - like oval or whatever ?

I'm thinking this would be reprofiling PLUS re-finishing-
maybe that would be the tricky part -
getting the finish to match the original guitar ?

- Larry

[dmcginnis]

Also - I wonder how removing any of the wood might impact on the truss rod action...does the truss rod keep everything straight and handle the force of the string tension, or does the wood also play a role?  Curious...

Dave

[tadol]

Definitely not a job that I would  expect to come in under $100 - at least if your expectations on the refinishing were somewhat high. You could just sand the back of the neck until it was the feel you liked, and wipe some oil on the raw wood to keep it sealed, but aesthetically, it may leave a little to be desired. Not unreasonable on a rock-n-roller electric with one of the old finishes, but on a nice new acoustic with a UV-cured poly - I'd be very cautious.

Ideally, the finish would get stripped off the entire neck and then resprayed after the alterations are finished. More likely a few hundred dollar job. And lets not talk about the loss of warranty and resale issues - Plus this is only the back of the neck - no alterations on width at all.

But check with your tech to be sure!

Tad

[fongie]

This may give some idea.......
http://randyrick.us/guitars/LarriveeSpecs.htm
cheers
fongie

[petesmithguitarist]

Having a neck re-profiled is a fairly easy job for a luthier although I`ve seen it done by amateurs with varying results, it won`t affect the truss rod unless you remove so much wood that it leaves the neck unstable. The biggest problem is the refinishing, you really need a pro to do that. I`ve seen it done with nothing more than sandpaper and can be done in a couple of hours, if you fancy trying it yourself go and buy a really cheap guitar from a (UK) Car boot sale or (US) garage sale, you can get one for under £10 and then experiment on it, get a large piece of fairly coarse sand paper and use it as would to shine shoes. Once the profile is more to your liking use finer grades of sand paper untill the scratches are gone and it`s polished...if it goes wrong it`s not the end of the world and for £10 a time you can practise untill you get it right. let me know if you`d like more info, cheers, Pete

[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

Just compared a 2002 D09E and a 2009 D09E and the neck profiles are identical. In fact, every Larrivee in the store has the same neck profile. Honestly there isn't much difference between the Larrivee neck and the Martin low profile neck, and Martins other necks will be even beefier. If you want a Taylor neck without the Taylor sound then you will need to look in to having your neck re-shaped.

Sorry I'm not more help.

[leftync]

The neck on the older D-50 I've been discussing in other threads is both wider at the nut and thinner in depth (profile) than the D-03R I used to have. It's the same width (1 3/4") at the nut as the L-03RE I sold recently, but again, with a thinner profile. Larrivee appears to have gone to a medium profile, probably to accommodate the most people with a single neck approach. The one on the D-50 is more like the thinner profiles I used to find on Taylors--which seem thicker as well these days. The D-50 is a lower profile than Martin's standard dreads too, but I haven't seen one of Martin's low profiles. Probably about the same. I'm a fairly big guy, but with relatively small hands and clumsy fingers, so I need a thinner profile but a wider, more forgiving, fretboard.
I'd be very reluctant to sand a neck, and would only allow a really skilled pro to do it. Although I prefer Larrivees, you might prefer the feel of a Taylor that's a few years old.

[DaveyO]

I have the same problem, I cant play an Om because of the width of the neck,
that said ,even the Larrivee has a slighty wider neck ,even if the say its a 11/16 size
and someone said the Taylors lately seem a bit thicker, I agree.
Martin seems to be the best for me, but I still own a Do3r that is exquiste
My Martin is more comfy, but I still love the larry.
Dave

[murrare]

Dang, thanks for all the replies!  Sounds like all Larrivee's have basically the same neck "thickness".  As I said, I have a friend who owns 3 other models and they all feel like the same "thickness", although his are all 1 and 3/4 and mine is 1 and 11/16, so I gather from your replies that I might have the "skinniest" neck that Larrivee makes (that seems to be the general consensus on most dreadnoughts).  I'm making a trip to Nashville sometime soon so I can try out a lot of different models hopefully.  Seems like the skinny Taylor or Martin necks are going to be most comfy for me, though. 

Reprofiling the neck might be an option, but then again I am also looking for a cutaway since I play mostly lead stuff, so that leads me to believe I might just need to totally change guitars.  Sad!!!!!!!!  I wish I had the budget to keep my Larrivee and just buy another guitar!

[murrare]

Also, I apologize, but I have NO IDEA what "donuts" are!

[lw216316]

Also, I apologize, but I have NO IDEA what "donuts" are!

they are in the list of icons above the text box you type into

If you click on one it will be inserted into your text where your current cursor is located.

like so...
however, homebaked doughnuts are even better-
here, try one-

Larry

[attachment deleted by admin]

[killerkelly]

I just traded a Taylor 310 with a 1 3/4 nut width, for a D-03R with a 1 11/16 nut. Besides the smaller nut width, the neck profile also feels a tad smaller. The narrower nut is the main reason I trade the guitar, and I am very happy with the results. No regrets!

[ducktrapper]

It shouldn't be that big a deal. Just something you need to get used to especially if you ever want a serous guitar collection. As a matter of fact, however, my 1975 L0? had it's neck reprofiled by its original owner way back in its first year of life, which is why it went to Oxnard a couple of years ago. How could he and why would he do that to a brand new Larrivée? He had three and he drank a bit. It was the reason he sold it, too. After he sobered up. Anyway, the refinish that he put on the neck had all worn off. I don't really know how much he changed the profile. Not much I'd say but other than the finish he did a pretty good job. It is a joy to play.

[Danny]

Dang, thanks for all the replies!  Sounds like all Larrivee's have basically the same neck "thickness".  As I said, I have a friend who owns 3 other models and they all feel like the same "thickness", although his are all 1 and 3/4 and mine is 1 and 11/16, so I gather from your replies that I might have the "skinniest" neck that Larrivee makes (that seems to be the general consensus on most dreadnoughts).  I'm making a trip to Nashville sometime soon so I can try out a lot of different models hopefully.  Seems like the skinny Taylor or Martin necks are going to be most comfy for me, though. 

Reprofiling the neck might be an option, but then again I am also looking for a cutaway since I play mostly lead stuff, so that leads me to believe I might just need to totally change guitars.  Sad!!!!!!!!  I wish I had the budget to keep my Larrivee and just buy another guitar!

I disagree with my fellow forumites on this one, I had a D-09 and many other Larrivees. 8 in all. And I have a Martin and gibsons and others.
                While my OM-21 Martin is a low profile neck there is a Larrivee with a neck as thin. It is the LSV-11. Also our Forum III LS models have thin necks. So there are two Larrivees with thinner necks that I know of for sure.
                 btw I did some sanding on my D-09 neck, then polished it out. No one could have told that it had ever been worked on. (One of my little successes) It was a gloss neck model and they are easier for me to refinish.