New Larrivee....top?

[Danny]

        Show some full pics of this guitar in natural light. These pics look more like sitka spruce to me than Italian. I have been playing my F-III and it's right next to me, the color is much lighter than yours.

[Danny]

  I put this pic up in another topic but take a look at the older sitka and the new F-III with the Italian Spruce. This is with a flash, but you can see the lighter color of the IS so well.

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[Pickering_Picker]

Yeah! Mine. Been a carpenter for near 30 years so I can read a rule.(wearing bifocals) Only about 10-15% of the grain is that wide and the rest is not much tighter. Yep, a full 1/8". It's a oo-03RSS. Wish some of you could play it and tell me what you think.

[Pickering_Picker]

(Sorry: hit the wrong button)

Yeah! Mine. Been a carpenter for near 30 years so I can read a rule.(wearing bifocals) Only about 10-15% of the grain is that wide and the rest is not much tighter. Yep, a full 1/8". It's a oo-03RSS. Wish some of you could play it and tell me what you think.

Thanks for posting that! Interesting you should feel the wider spacing is not as attractive to the eye. My Larrivee has a dark stripe right down the centre line, as well as some pretty wide grain in some areas. My own take is that if a builder uses a top that pushes the visual envelope, that means he felt it's tonal characteristics were impressive enough that it was worth using in spite the visual "handicap".

[broKen]

(Sorry: hit the wrong button)

Thanks for posting that! Interesting you should feel the wider spacing is not as attractive to the eye. My Larrivee has a dark stripe right down the centre line, as well as some pretty wide grain in some areas. My own take is that if a builder uses a top that pushes the visual envelope, that means he felt it's tonal characteristics were impressive enough that it was worth using in spite the visual "handicap".

It's not that the wide grain makes it plain or blah, the entire top is simply not nice looking. The guitar is sounding better every day, so the tone is not missing. I just close my eyes and enjoy.

[broKen]

Here it is next to my Norman, under incandescent lights.

[BenF]

Personally, I love it.

It's wood, not paint.  There is no such thing as perfection.

[Danny]

   It does look like "IS" in the comparison picture. When I first got my F-III I was disappointed at first that the top had some darker lines. I had seen a totally light colored top in the build thread and wanted that type of top. Now I can really say I like my top as is and the rippling cross grain in the mahogany as well. Also the lighter marks on the ebony fretboard, which really do look like a galaxy, the moon and a dark sky.
   I found it to be a very nice looking guitar with all these unique aspects to the woods used on it. Everyone who has ever seen it only says how nice it looks. I think yours is fine myself.
   
     How do you like the Norman? And are they all solid wood as well? I have a 12 string here that is a D size and I never play it. Don't know much about them.

[broKen]

Dan, I've been looking around at other IS tops. I'm concinced it is Alpine; European; Italian; or whatever you like.

I think folks have gotten the wrong idea about the statements I made. I don't dislike the top, only that it isn't as nice looking as most spruce tops I have seen. The sound it produces is quite pleasing.

The Norman is the Folk model. The dimensions are much the same as an LS. I think the shoulders are a tiny bit bigger than the LS. The top is very tight grain, thus it requires a bit more energy to resonate. The sound is what I describe as very clean, distinct and separate. Not much overtones going on. Doesn't sound messy when strummed, and that is where this guitar shines. The body is three layers of cherry. Here's a better pic of the two; (sorry about venturing off the topic here)

[L07 Shooting Star]

Just for snickers and to add to the discussion, I just had a good look at the top on my '83 L-07.  Actually the grain spacing is quite variable from the centre to the edge.  I would say it is quite tight grained on average.  The pattern alternates between narrow and narrower all across the sound board giving the effect of vertical stripes.  The widest spacing of all is actually at the centre-line where it is just over 3/32 for the first 3/4" or so.  It quickly transitions to tight grain as you go across.  3/4" from the centre line, there is another 3/4" section where they are 1/32" or less and some grain lines are almost as close as 1/64"!  Next is another wider section, etc.  Once you get about halfway across, the lines even out and are wider again, averaging about 1/16" or so.  I will take a pic and post it so you can see what the heck I'm talking about.
Also, there are seven or eight obvious "knots" on each half the sound board, if that is the right term.  These knots more or less match, but not as close as you might think for a closely bookmatched top.  And the grain gets a bit wavy in a few places, too.  Is that what is known as "bear claw"?  I never did quite understand that term.
Anyways, all I know is that it sounds great.  The frequency balance is incredible.  Of course, it is over 25 years old now so it has supposedly opened up over the years.  I can't even remember how different it sounded when young, so don't know how much it has changed.  All I know is, I seem to enjoy the sound more and more as the years go by.

Kurt

Here are pics as promised.  End of ruler is on centerline,  Metric scale to .5mm on top.  Inches to 1/32" on botom.  Maybe should have zoomed in, but wanted to show one side across entire top.

Kurt

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[broKen]

Nice lookin guit there Kurt. Very uniform grain spacing too. Sounds good AAyy?

[L07 Shooting Star]

Nice lookin guit there Kurt. Very uniform grain spacing too. Sounds good AAyy?

Thanks for the compliment.     Yup, it sounds good indeed, at least to me.

Kurt