The ONE that got me hooked on Larrivee...

[George]

This is the story from a few years back about how I acquired my very fine D-03R Deluxe Special Edition made in Vancouver, BC and how it "hooked" me on Larrivee for life...

I was on my way home from a business trip in Houston when I decided to make a pit stop in a small local music store that I occasionally purchased "guitars and stuff" from.  I was jawing (that is what we call bs'ing in Texas) with my salesman friend there when we wandered into the acoustic section.  He proceeded to show me the new line of Lariveee (long e) guitars that had recently arrived.  They were being displayed on the highest hooks on the back wall, probably to prevent unwanted meddling, so we had to take them down one at a time to check them out.  Once we were done with the initial inspection, I went back to the one I liked the best and the salesman commented that he believed it was "the best guitar in the store".  I admired it and played it and cringed at the posted price.  These had to be in the same class as Martin and Taylor by the price tags.  The spruce and rosewood were solid wood and not laminated with very good grain, color and figure.  Anyway, hard as it is to believe, I left without it and went on home where I thought about that guitar for three straight days.  I emailed my salesman friend and had him take them all down and take pics of each one and email them back to me.  then, I spent a good bit of time doing research online learning all I could about Larriveee guitars.  I finally called the store, and talked to the manager because my friend was off that day, and to my great surprise he offered me a heck of a deal over the phone!  I promptly traveled to the store on Saturday morning and purchased that puppy.  It even came with a really nice hardshell case.  Definitely plays and sounds in the same class as many Martins and Taylors.  So here are a few pics with some more comments...

[George]

Really nice Spruce and Rosewood right?  Also has real herringbone rosette...  I eventually put in a bone saddle and bridge pins too.

[George]

I learned how to test all kinds of makes and models of acoustic pickups on this guitar, and how to accomplish some really accurate setups...  Then I put a set of Gotoh 22:1 tuning ratio machines on it...

[George]

Anyway, this one is a keeper, I cannot imagine ever selling it.  It rivals my L-09 for quality and tone.  Then I started collecting Larrivay guitars... yep, the Texan finally learned how to pronounce it.  (We even learned that Godin is really pronounced Godan!)