LARRIVÉE PLAYER SURVEY

[StringPicker6]

A Larrivee similiar to Willie Nelson's Martin would be amazing. Sort of a 40 series in nylon?

[teh]

Herman,

Thanks for the links.

Ironically, the second guitar is located in a shop right next door to Lay's Guitar Repair in Akron, OH which is about two hours from my house. That guitar was listed 9 months ago and I'm planning a bike ride on the canal trail that runs through Akron when I return from Florida in early April. If it's still there, I'll stop by and check it out.

I do agree that classical guitar building is a specialized niche that major steel string companies have had a hard time cracking into. It's interesting that both Jean Larrivee and Martin got their start building Nylon string guitars and gravitated over to steel strings. Willie Nelson's Trigger notwithstanding, sales of their N-20 classical rosewood model never really took off. Maybe a second soundhole on the top or a relic'd version would appeal to more buyers.

[BlueBowman]

I suggested a hand-voiced line of guitars. With Larrivee, the sound quality doesn't change a lot between $2k and $5k, you're mostly spending more on cosmetics. A lot of us won't spend on cosmetics but there's a growing market of players now who will pay more for an instrument built in the boutique shop style of hand voiced lutherie (often called "tap tuning").

This is a wonderful idea, and I'm here for it.

[William2]

I suggested a hand-voiced line of guitars. With Larrivee, the sound quality doesn't change a lot between $2k and $5k, you're mostly spending more on cosmetics. A lot of us won't spend on cosmetics but there's a growing market of players now who will pay more for an instrument built in the boutique shop style of hand voiced lutherie (often called "tap tuning").

I like this idea. However, I have seen two videos of Larrivee vs Furch instruments and the Larrivee was the clear winner. I know Furch supposedly voices their instruments, but it didn't work in these two videos. I will say I did see a video of a tour of the Furch facility and the only part of the tour they wouldn't allow was the voicing part. Strange!

[B0WIE]

I like this idea. However, I have seen two videos of Larrivee vs Furch instruments and the Larrivee was the clear winner. I know Furch supposedly voices their instruments, but it didn't work in these two videos. I will say I did see a video of a tour of the Furch facility and the only part of the tour they wouldn't allow was the voicing part. Strange!

I don't know what Furch claims or does but voicing a top properly simply optimizes that individual set of woods and compensates for natural variances in wood. The result is a more harmonious response. When strumming big chords, the overtones line up and there's less dissonance. The voice becomes more of a chorus and even single strings gain a reverberant quality as the other strings ring from sympathetic resonance. If a company does it on more budget minded guitars I'd expect budget level results. It's not the most time consuming thing but it does involve paying a master luthier so it doesn't come cheap. I really think that Larrivee makes as nice an instrument as a factory can and that's why I'd love to see them take it to the next level. Larrivee may not feel it's a profitable venture though, so I understand why they wouldn't.

[William2]

I don't know what Furch claims or does but voicing a top properly simply optimizes that individual set of woods and compensates for natural variances in wood. The result is a more harmonious response. When strumming big chords, the overtones line up and there's less dissonance. The voice becomes more of a chorus and even single strings gain a reverberant quality as the other strings ring from sympathetic resonance. If a company does it on more budget minded guitars I'd expect budget level results. It's not the most time consuming thing but it does involve paying a master luthier so it doesn't come cheap. I really think that Larrivee makes as nice an instrument as a factory can and that's why I'd love to see them take it to the next level. Larrivee may not feel it's a profitable venture though, so I understand why they wouldn't.

There may be more to this top tuning. The attached video has a Furch take on a Martin HD-28. For me, it wasn't even close, Furch all the way. Furch tunes their instruments and with this model they even tune the back. These are the same two that weren't allowed to see how Furch does their instrument tuning at a factory tour. They are speculating that Furch instead of tap tuning their instruments, they take a top with the braces on and have another to tune the tops enabling them to tune all their instruments where tap tuning would be too time consuming. While I had mentioned that there are to videos out there with Furch vs Larrivee and i thought Larrivee won, On this video it was Furch all the way and not even close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v750QW-8ik