My "Coa" Parlor

[silvertone62]

  Hard to believe, but this is the first forum I've joined, first post I've ever logged. Hope I brought the donut.  In the past 4.5 decades I've  owned 70+ acoustics, Martins, Gibsons, Guilds, Taylors, plus many lesser headstock headline grabbers. Never a Larrivee. Two months ago I was in need of a travel O-sized
and literally minutes before pulling the trigger on an A & L  Ami, a new listing popped up on CL for a Larrivee "Coa"b&s, spruce topped Parlor, satin finish, clear pick guard. Yeah, the ad read "coa" not "koa", and when I called the sellers #, it turned out the guitar was only three miles away. There's not much of anything three miles from my cabin in these moonshine hills of TN! So i climbed into my truck with the wife's blessing and a pocketful of legal tender and 15 minutes later located
the double-wide tucked up a creek hollow, dismounted and hopped aboard the rickety deck greeted by the seller and his flame "coa"/ heavily bear clawed spruce parlor. His story: he bought the guitar "10 or 11 years ago" at a GC in Santa Ana CA for his son who never really played it much, never even changed the strings.  My story: He was telling the gospel truth-the strings seemed original and the guitar was in sore need of a setup. The parlor's condition was pristine, no nicks or visible wear anywhere. So I sat down and coaxed and conjured on the tiny jewel and after an hour, I stood up, handed the guitar back to its owner  and took my leave by telling him that although his price of $ 600 was fair, it was far too rich for my wallet. We settled on $ 375. Plus the original gig bag. What a sweet, surprising little package. My first Larrivee, not my last.

[GA-ME]

That there is a pretty good score! Congratulations!!!

[Queequeg]

Welcome to the Larrivee Forum, silvertone62.
Great story and great guitar.
You know, it's a good thing you found that "coa" because a Koa would have cost you a lot more than that. 

[OutWithTheBlue]

AWESOME 

[hatofthecat]

Sounds like a you got a real steal there silvertone62 at that price    ...and doubly lucky being able to try it out so close by

Now sit out on your porch and ENJOY !!! 

Pete

[guitom]

Welcome!  You tell a good story.  I hope you stick around.

[Strings4Him]

 

My first Larrivee is my P-09.   

[ryler]

Agreed that you tell a great story.  Welcome to your first guitar forum and to your first Larrivee.  It sounds like you couldn't have lucked out better than you did with proximity and quality.

[cke]

Congrats! 

[silvertone62]

Hey Larrivee aficionados. Thanks for the welcome. Someday I'll have pics, for now just typing a post was challenging enough  I've been reading your forum for the past 3 months, you've got a real nice place here. Loads of info, and a view into the World of Larrivee. My quick impression of Larrrivee build, playability and tone is that they are indeed unique, a great feel and wonderful sound of their own. The koa parlor has been great companion in my travels. Unlike the 3 vintage ladder braced bluesy parlors I once owned, it has a sweet, well balanced tone, and is plenty loud. I've tried both 80/20 and PB light gauge and prefer PB lights.(I'm a recovering mediums player) Koa is an interesting tone wood.

Maybe I'll post again in the future  and recant the tale of the OM-01 that just now fell into my lap, and fits very well there, too. A real tale of
Kismet , Karma and all that. I've not yet replaced  the rusted and somewhat dead strings it came with and I've played it for about 6 hours. Tone? Man alive, I am actually a wee bit nervous to install fresh strings 'cause honestly how great can a guitar sound?

So now I've got two Larrivees and won't be needing anymore...wait...the ground seems to be tilting...the surface feels....slippery...someone hand me me an L model
so I can regain my balance!

[L07 Shooting Star]

  To the forum.  I enjoyed your first post also. Interesting forum name you have.

Kurt in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

[ryler]

"Man alive"...I haven't heard that term in a long, long time!

[abalone at last]

Sivertone....a rosewood L model and you should have all bases covered....

[carruth]

Thought you were going to say you bought that OMO1 from Dolly Partons third cousin that lived right next door.  I love all my Larrivees, and have sold off my Martins, Taylor and Santa Cruz to get them.

[silvertone62]

My handle, silvertone62, was inspired by my 1962 Silvertone (Danelectro) 1482 amp that I acquired, re-boxed and Weber-speakered, and absolutely dig. Tube tremolo that even surpasses in depth and undulation that of my '66 blackface Princeton Reverb, and volume knob in increments 1-10, but it doesn't get louder past 5, just gets  "sustain-ier ". I use it to record guitar, and take it out when I'm blowing harp.

No, the OM-01 was not acquired from Dolly Parton, but yes, several of my "neighbors "(out here anyone in a two mile radius is a neighbor)are country music celebrities, but I'm not one of them. Thank God, 'cause I can still shop at Walmart and not get mobbed. I will confess that I was in the Nashville Music Biz for about
20 years, wearing various hats,(pun so well intended), and left the table $100 ahead of the game and still dabble in it. I was a rhythm guitar session player (B team level) for awhile, my playing skills 4-5 Nashville Scale, a solid 7 on the Ames, Iowa Scale.

I like this forum. The members have a passion for an instrument maker that is more than worthy. These guitars have soul.

[abalone at last]

Danelectros are great......I would love to get one of their amps...I had a Rumour Bass with built in chorus and dual out jacks...that I sold...and just picked up a U-3 from the pawn shop last week...Three lipstick pickups and a selectomatic dial ....yee haw!!!

[SMan]

  silvertone   and thanks for the  

Sit a spell

[L07 Shooting Star]

My handle, silvertone62, was inspired by my 1962 Silvertone (Danelectro) 1482 amp that I acquired, re-boxed and Weber-speakered, and absolutely dig. Tube tremolo that even surpasses in depth and undulation that of my '66 blackface Princeton Reverb, and volume knob in increments 1-10, but it doesn't get louder past 5, just gets  "sustain-ier ". I use it to record guitar, and take it out when I'm blowing harp. .............................................

I suspected there was an old Silvertone guitar or amp connection somewhere in that name.

Kurt