Larrivee OOO40 MT

[superdave517]

Well I did complete course correction and decided to go with a spruce top ! Much more versatile than all mahogany in my opinion plus JR Larivee had one ready to go now ! It's a great songwriting tool ! I would love to post pictures but can't seem to be able to figure it out ?

[B0WIE]

When you go to post, there's a drag n' drop message right below the part that you type in.

[StringPicker6]

Congrats!! The spruce top must sound wonderful.

[superdave517]

It's amazing ! Just got done putting a set of Earthwood light gauge strings on it and it plays and sounds great !

[William2]

Congratulations! I am also rethinking my order since I have 8 months to wait. I'm thinking an Adi top. You just can't beat spruce.

[Koamon]

Congratulations superdave517 on your  new 000-40! Did it come with a Baggs Anthem that was included in your original order?

[BlueBowman]

It's amazing ! Just got done putting a set of Earthwood light gauge strings on it and it plays and sounds great !

Congrats! I'm sure the mahogany would've delivered, but I think you made the right call going with spruce. Hard to go wrong with it on a 000-40. I've been mostly playing mine lately. Great guitar 

Congratulations! I am also rethinking my order since I have 8 months to wait. I'm thinking an Adi top. You just can't beat spruce.

Is Adi a custom option? I don't believe I've ever seen a Larrivee with an Adi top before. Played a lot of them: cedar, mahogany, various euro spruces, koa, but never Adi.

[William2]

Congrats! I'm sure the mahogany would've delivered, but I think you made the right call going with spruce. Hard to go wrong with it on a 000-40. I've been mostly playing mine lately. Great guitar 

Is Adi a custom option? I don't believe I've ever seen a Larrivee with an Adi top before. Played a lot of them: cedar, mahogany, various euro spruces, koa, but never Adi.

Larrivee only makes the 24 series with an Adi top. I don't think I want a short scale with an Adi top. So, while I've bashed Eastman with their limited offerings for lefty players, and their resale value, I am considering one. Spruce / rosewood is my all-time favorite combo. I have 3 now. Maybe one with an Adi top. My dealer has a new lefty E-20 that he says has incredible sustain. He said he wants to keep it for himself and sell his Martin LOL. Maybe I can change his mind. I've heard the instrument.  While I want an all hogg instrument, I wonder if it will be a much played guitar.

[B0WIE]

FWIW, any time I bought a guitar for the wood and not the maker, I've ended up disappointed in the long run and sold the guitar. That's especially true when it's variations on a wood as I find they aren't nearly as important as the builder and woods vary a lot. YMMV, but it's the biggest acoustic buying mistake I've made.

[teh]

I've posted this before, but when Larrivee introduced the 24 series in early 2024, I loved the specs and the body styles available but I wanted a Mahogany top instead of Adirondack Spruce. I've read that Adirondack usually takes a while to open up. I don't know if that's true or not but generally, I prefer Sitka over other forms of spruce so I'll bet your 000-40 sounds great. Best of luck for many years of playing.

I ordered my 00-24 with a Mahogany top, back and sides, added a factory installed Anthem SL pickup and ordered an archtop case. I recently saw a custom 000-24 for sale on another website with a mahogany top and an archtop case but it had Schaller open gear tuners that looked really nice. Mine has the Tulip tuners which I also like but I may change them out. I ordered my 00 in May 2024 and took delivery in early October 2024 and it is one of my nicest guitars. This was my third Larrivee ordered sight unseen and I played it for the first time when i opened the box. I played an all Mahogany Martin 000-17 with a gloss finish that was really nice but not nice enough to unseat my 00-24. At the same shop, I played a Furch Grand Auditorium with an Englemann Spruce Top, EIR back and sides, open pore (Satin) finish and a Venetian cutaway that came home with me.

[William2]

FWIW, any time I bought a guitar for the wood and not the maker, I've ended up disappointed in the long run and sold the guitar. That's especially true when it's variations on a wood as I find they aren't nearly as important as the builder and woods vary a lot. YMMV, but it's the biggest acoustic buying mistake I've made.

Great advice Mr. BOWIE. I'm sticking with my Larrivee order. But I might need and L-03R in the future. I will say it was hard to decide between a D-03mh and the L-03mh. Of the martin hog instruments I've owned, the D-15 Street master was my favorite.

[BlueBowman]

Of course, the 24 series! Can't believe I blanked on that. Thanks, William.

Bowie is quite right. Wood varies a lot, and many species overlap with each other in those variables -- density, stiffness, damping -- important to guitar building. But the way our brains inherently work (pattern seeking), we aim to put everything into neat little boxes. I'm as guilty as anyone, and not just with guitars. Learning that there very few, if any, absolutes in life can either drive a person mad...or set them free 

[B0WIE]

Of course, the 24 series! Can't believe I blanked on that. Thanks, William.

Bowie is quite right. Wood varies a lot, and many species overlap with each other in those variables -- density, stiffness, damping -- important to guitar building. But the way our brains inherently work (pattern seeking), we aim to put everything into neat little boxes. I'm as guilty as anyone, and not just with guitars. Learning that there very few, if any, absolutes in life can either drive a person mad...or set them free 

This was really hammered home for me with SCGC guitars. I played four 00s all in different woods. Their all mahogany was brighter than most other makers spruce guitars. Their sitka sounds the way I thought adi was supposed to sound. It really made me rethink the role woods play. I now understand that woods contribute certain overtones and can affect response to a degree but the tonal balance and overall character is really shaped by the maker and how the maker thins and braces the woods. As much as I love to talk about guitar woods, the woods are mostly relevant when you're comparing similar guitars from the same maker. A different maker will get their own sound.

[superdave517]

I'm still smitten with my new OOO40, Sitka top guitar. After putting the Ernie Ball Earthwood 11's on it I have to say it's one of the easiest playing guitars I've ever owned ! Looking forward to watching the top age ! And yes it came with the LR BAGGS Anthem pickup.

[BlueBowman]

This was really hammered home for me with SCGC guitars. I played four 00s all in different woods. Their all mahogany was brighter than most other makers spruce guitars. Their sitka sounds the way I thought adi was supposed to sound. It really made me rethink the role woods play. I now understand that woods contribute certain overtones and can affect response to a degree but the tonal balance and overall character is really shaped by the maker and how the maker thins and braces the woods. As much as I love to talk about guitar woods, the woods are mostly relevant when you're comparing similar guitars from the same maker. A different maker will get their own sound.

This is the stuff I find most interesting. We all have our own mental framework for what's going on, and that framework is shaped by the specific guitars we've had hands on followed by endless rumination (if you're anything like me!). I initially thought, like most uneducated players, it's all about the woods. "Mahogany does this; rosewood that." I then, after a little education, fell into "it's ALL the builder."

Currently, here's where I land: I agree with you that certain woods create more overtones, but I also think it's the woods themselves responsible for the character of the guitar's tone, and it's the builder who can control the EQ (more bass, less bass, etc) and the responsiveness (how light or heavy the top and back are).

I've arrived at this thinking by modding my cheaper guitars. Many over-braced. I've shaved braces on the top and back, shaved bridges, replaced bridges with different wood (rosewood or ebony), added weight to bridge, and even added a cross brace behind the bridge plate on one guitar (trying to raise the main tops resonant frequency).* Anyway, with each of these changes, the tone stays relatively the same. It's the responsiveness and EQ that do the changing. The tone doesn't seem to change, but how much you get in volume/sustain and in what balance/EQ does.

In my mind, picking out those woods for the guitar, a real luxury the luthiers and small shops have, is insanely important for the type of tonal character the guitar will have.

I don't know how accurate my thinking is, but that's the way it seems to me currently. I'm sure I'll learn something else one day that will alter my thinking. But in the meantime, I do love discussing the topic!


* I hope this doesn't make me sound like a mad man. I don't haphazardly start taking off wood. I put a lot of thought into what I'm trying to achieve and I go VERY slowly, removing small amounts of wood at a time and then play the guitar for awhile before proceeding. Using Audacity has helped me in finding a road map for the resonances. I also use deflection and bridge rotation measurements to make sure I'm not putting the guitar in danger. Books on lutherie have been a big help. I even got a membership to the GAL! All that to say, I'm not a butcher 

I'm still smitten with my new OOO40, Sitka top guitar. After putting the Ernie Ball Earthwood 11's on it I have to say it's one of the easiest playing guitars I've ever owned ! Looking forward to watching the top age ! And yes it came with the LR BAGGS Anthem pickup.

Sweet, Dave! Hope you get many years of enjoyment out of it.

[William2]

I was watching this Alamo Music video comparing two dreadnoughts. The only difference was the tone wood used. In my mind Taylor makes cookie cutter instruments. I was amazed at how different EIR compared to Honduran Rosewood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIg9ZP8UYMk