Cedar Rosewood Dreadnought?

[jrdavies]

I stumbled across this on Craigslist and though someone might be interested. It is listed as a D-09 made in Victoria.  I think the top may be Cedar.




It is not mine, nor to I know the seller.

[B0WIE]

I'd be surprised if it was cedar. Simply because it's quite flexible for such a large top and they can easily get muddy on bigger guitars. They exist but are rare.

If you notice that everything on the guitar is yellowed in the photo, I think it might be the photo itself that makes it look like cedar. Or, maybe a smoker owned it.

[jrdavies]

If the top is Cedar it is the first Larrivee Dread that I have seen with a Cedar top. So I agree Larrivee hasn't made many. It is the grain as much as the color that makes me think it is Cedar. There are few more pictures if you click through to the ad. 

Other manufactures like Lowden and Olson have been making guitars with Cedar tops for decades.  The original Lowden body shape is just over 16 inches wide. The MJ Olson, the model played by James Taylor, is just under 16 inches which is about the width of the lower bought of a typical Dread. Thirty year old Lowdens are still sought after based on the sold prices you see online.  If the guitar listed is a Cedar/EIR Larrivee it could be a very nice guitar at about two thirds of what you would pay for Lowden of the same age.

There is a lot of "folk wisdom" about Cedar tops lack of headroom, wears out, etc. If anyone is interested there have been a number of good discussions over at the AGF on the properties of Cedar tops with long time owners and luthiers contributing their experience.