Bruce Cockburn's cutaway...

[J M Larrivée]

Pictures of Bruce's 1975 C-09 Brazilian have been posted to Facebook and Twitter.  This guitar was Jean's first cutaway in response to Bruce's need to access the upper register. No one else at the time was making flat top cutaways. Before that, Bruce was playing what would now be an LS-09 12 fret. A guitar that Jean made for him to take to Europe and perform.  Jean believes Bruce gave him a D-18 as well as some cash for the purchase of the C-09.

The guitar ended up back in the Larrivée family five years ago after a phone call from long time friend David Wren of the Twelfth Fret, Toronto. David mentioned a customer had just walked in with a guitar claiming it was the first Larrivée cutaway and wanted to sell it. Dave a little suspicious of the gentlemen's claim asked him where he got it from. The customer responded "I bought it from my neighbour". As it turns out the neighbour happened to be Eugene Martynec. Eugene was Bruce's good friend, musician and producer. Bruce had given Eugene the guitar sometime around 1980 when Jean made a second cutaway for Bruce... an Ebony C-09.

One could assume that given Bruce's relationship to forestry politics he was not comfortable owning a guitar made from Brazilian Rosewood any longer.

John Jr.

[Mikeymac]

John,

Thanks for the history lesson! Very interesting to those of us who are Cockburn fans (of his music, at least...).

So the 2nd guitar - a C-09 - had EBONY back/sides? I've heard of this from time to time, but there aren't too many makers using ebony for standard models, I don't believe...

...anyway, appreciate you jumping into the conversation here and giving us the first person account, as it were! 

[johnny37]

Love Cockburn's music.  His C-09 was one of the reasons I got a C-19.  Really liked the florentine cutaway that no other makers were really doing at the time.  And a friend had (and still has) a '78 Larrivee L-09 that turned me onto the brand in the first place.