03r questions

[mikey007]

hey, i have a few questions about the 03r larrivee's.  I don't have the luxury of playing them, considering i live 3 hours away from the nearest dealer, and i listened to the soundclips, but it didn't help me much.  I was wondering if someone could give me a little bit of contrast between the L, OM, and D style larrivee's, just the diferences in sound and such, just for the rosewood models, not mahogany.
Thanks!

Mike

[whiskeyjack]

I'll give it a shot....   You've already figured out that the body sizes are different.  Small guitars are not as loud as 'most' larger guitars.  So the main differences among the guitars you've mentioned will be in volume, projection and sustain.  After that, it's a subjective thing and the usual tonewood folk knowledge applies.  Rosewood will have more overtones and a deeper,darker more chocolate texture.  Mahogany is more balanced, brighter. 

I own three Larrivee OM's so I'm a little biased here.   They're very articulate, intimate, warm-sounding guitars given especially to fingerstyle (although fingerstyle on any guitar can sound good).  They are not loud like a dread is loud but do have plenty of projection and sustain for such a small box. 

If you're into picking AND fingerstyle I'd go with the L.  It's as versatile as a guitar can get. 

If most of what you do is strum, a dread OR an L will suit you fine.

You can't lose with any of them.  Just decide what you want to do with it and what kind of music you intend to play.

Lots of comments coming I'm sure....   

[imwjl]

Hi,

I wanted a dreadnought in general, but I tried the smaller sized models, and my local dealer had a superb inventory so I tried walnut, maple, sapele and rosewood guitars. All were super and I give some credit to the way the shop does prep before they sell products (below) because each brand and model they sold was consistently decent. Unfortunately they do not have a shopping cart web site, but they and others I've heard mentioned here seem to be credible merchants for mail order.

http://www.sprucetreemusic.com/settingup.html

I liked the sound of the rosewood and walnut in the smaller sized guitars and the brightness of the sapele and mahogany in larger sized guitars, but it is personal preference. It seemed the larger bodies had plenty of volume and the large Larrivees had what I would call the higher bright sounds of the Taylors and lower sounds of the better Martins I tried. Maybe it's just really strong mid-tones, but I thought the D and L Larrivees got me sounds that were not present in Taylors and Martins.

I do not think you can go wrong with any of them. I think the nut size made the D feel more right to me because it's what I had exclusively for 30 years prior. My surprises were 1, discovering the brand, 2, going for the sapele because I wanted a rosewood dreadnought for looks alone and surprise 3 was how much the instruments varied between different stores.

If you're not close to a dealer you can search and read on this site because people have certainly mentioned being happy with their purchases. If you're within 1-2 hour drive and can have the services I got/get it could be worth it. My dealer requests a return visit after 1-2 months of playing the guitar to check setup, if the owner is caring for it right etc...... I'm guessing others do the same.

One more observation the Cleartone strings sure lasted long and helped the retail wares to play well, but my guitar got even better when I switched to D'Adarrios. Low E was much better, they were less sticky, and E and A all play more blended and loud while D, G and B have the same bark that attracted me to the guitar. Maybe some of this is the guitar "opening up" or "breaking in" or a better job of installing the low E with the pin. I think I will try the popular Elixirs next, and I got some webstrings.com to try too.

Bottom line: I think it will be an exception if you get a bad copy of the guitar or wood and sound that you do not like, and the Larrivees seem to be a super value.

Have fun shopping.

[mikey007]

Thanks guys!  How does the OM03r handle strumming?

Mike

[tuffythepug]

Some people claim that the OM-03 style guitars don't stand up well to heavy strumming.  That's probably pretty subjective.  I have a lefty OM-03R and I admit that it really shines when played fingerstyle but I'm more of a flatpicker and strummer and I have to say that it responsds very well to anything I've thrown at it so far.
Choice of string types, gauges etc. as well as the individual set-up of the guitar also have a lot to do with the sound / playablity.  I have dreadnaughts, and a Jumbo from othe Gibson and Guild which are louder but not better with strumming than my OM-03R in my opinion.    I love the sound of that thing.  I don't think you can go wrong with one of these.    I have no experience with the mahogany version but I read in this forum all the time how great they are.    It's a matter of personal preference as to which sound you prefer.

tuffythepug

[jeremy3220]

Thanks guys!  How does the OM03r handle strumming?

Mike

I had one and thought it was a poor strummer. It broke up very easy and sounded blunt when you didn't hold back. I think Larrivee OMs are too midrangy to handle full strumming. However I will say my OM-03MT works very well for some niche strumming, like some blues stuff or soft folky stuff.

Here's some examples so you know what I'm talking about when I say...

Full strumming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxQIV74kEiE

Not full strumming or niche: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxAI6Yd6diI

[whiskeyjack]

. . . .and to add to Jeremy's helpful links and post. . .   OM's do fine strumming but so much depends on the set up and string gauge.  My OM's are set up for fingerstyle folk with custom light strings (.011).  That means the strings are very close to the frets to accommodate a light touch, smooth transitions, seamless  (ya, right) pull-offs and hammer-ons.  This 'tight' action removes 'head room' for strumming.  If my attack gets too aggressive with this combination of strings and setup, the strings will buzz and snap against the frets and produce a dissonant sound on the low end. 

[bluesman67]

I used to think that I had to strum my OM-03R gently to for it to sound good.  But, after settling in with the strings I liked, and the pick I liked, it sounds very good strumming...even aggressively at times.  To me, a heavy thickness pick sounds great for strumming.  All that being said, strumming an L-03R is better than an OM.  So, if strumming is your "thang" , look to the L or D.  The main thing that you don't have to worry about with an OM, if you've never played one, is the quality of the tone.  The tone is rich and full and the rosewood complements the guitar size very well.