All Mahogany 00

[Corndog]

I've seen a few all mahogany Larrivees with the beautiful tobacco burst finish, but that was a while ago. I'm presuming these were limited run custom shop guitars. My questions are why aren't we seeing more of these, and is there a reason that Larrivee doesn't have such a thing in their catalog?

Personally I'd like a 00-44 (yes gloss) but with a 24 3/4" scale. Satin finish would be OK as a second choice. Rosewood binding in lieu of maple would look great IMO.

[Rockysdad]

You can order one. 

[B0WIE]

There's a lot of them out there, relatively speaking. As to why there's not more, acoustic buyers aren't very adventurous. For decades, the only acoustic was the dreadnought. In recent years they've finally started to discover the virtues of other body sizes but getting them to try something other than spruce is another challenge. It's a shame as woods like mahogany are more interesting than spruce, IMO.

I think Larrivee makes a fantastic mahogany 00 and, as mentioned, you can have one made. There's no special charges for custom. They do quite a lot of customs and special runs.

[teh]

First, welcome to the Larrivee Forum.

As stated, you can order a guitar with your specs (within reason). Do not underestimate the benefits of Larrivee's satin finish. You mentioned a 24.5" scale in your initial post so that odd scale length may be a challenge.

My four Acoustic Larrivees with a satin finish include a Special Edition Sitka/maple parlor, a Special Order All Mahogany 12 string, a Forum VI Moonwood Spruce/Walnut LSV-03 (one of 19) and a Special Order All Mahogany 00-24 with a 24.9" scale. The satin finish on my four Larrivees is both durable and produces a crystal clear tone. At the same time, a satin finish highlights the quality and grain of the wood. Three of my four Larrivees have a 12 fret neck and none of them have a pick guard to highlight the top woods. I'd also recommend upgrading to an arch top case.

[Corndog]

There's a lot of them out there, relatively speaking. As to why there's not more, acoustic buyers aren't very adventurous. For decades, the only acoustic was the dreadnought. In recent years they've finally started to discover the virtues of other body sizes but getting them to try something other than spruce is another challenge. It's a shame as woods like mahogany are more interesting than spruce, IMO.

I think Larrivee makes a fantastic mahogany 00 and, as mentioned, you can have one made. There's no special charges for custom. They do quite a lot of customs and special runs.

Do I contact Larrivee directly? Or is this done through a dealer?

[Corndog]

First, welcome to the Larrivee Forum.

As stated, you can order a guitar with your specs (within reason). Do not underestimate the benefits of Larrivee's satin finish. You mentioned a 24.5" scale in your initial post so that odd scale length may be a challenge.

My four Acoustic Larrivees with a satin finish include a Special Edition Sitka/maple parlor, a Special Order All Mahogany 12 string, a Forum VI Moonwood Spruce/Walnut LSV-03 (one of 19) and a Special Order All Mahogany 00-24 with a 24.9" scale. The satin finish on my four Larrivees is both durable and produces a crystal clear tone. At the same time, a satin finish highlights the quality and grain of the wood. Three of my four Larrivees have a 12 fret neck and none of them have a pick guard to highlight the top woods. I'd also recommend upgrading to an arch top case.

I don't see that I wrote 24.5" scale. I wrote 24 3/4" scale, though 24.9" would be fine. I guess what I'm probably looking for is the 00-24, with a tobacco burst finish mahogany top, possibly but not married to a gloss finish, with rosewood binding, and the pick guard left in the case. I also don't care about the arch top case and in fact would see if I can order it w/o a case as I'm quite flush with guitar cases now and the case for my 00-40m would fit it perfectly, no doubt. My guitars don't travel much.

In any case, it reads like Larrivee is amenable to custom orders 

[teh]

Sorry, I misread your quote and was multi-tasking when I wrote this. I have three 12 fret Larrivees with three different scale lengths (24" Parlor, 25.5" LSV and 24.9" 00) and am happy with all three of them. The guitar specs you suggested would be both unique and cool. I can say that the radial wood rosette and purfling that Larrivee created for the 24 series looks really nice with a mahogany top.

Here's my nickels worth of advice on your ordering question.

I ordered the 12 string through my dealer (who since retired and closed up shop), the 00 I ordered directly from Larrivee after ordering my Forum VI (2021) through this forum. This is not an endorsement of any specific dealer but Tune Up Guitars, Heartbreaker Guitars and Sweetwater have some really nice Larrivees. Over the years I have found the secret to buying a custom or special order guitar requires three things:

1) Be informed: Do not order a guitar until you know exactly what you want. Second guessing or special requests should be addressed before you place an order, not after.
2) Be patient: Once you submit your order, don't go back and try to make changes and then let your dealer and/or Larrivee build your guitar. Also make sure you let the guitar acclimate to your house before you open the box.
3) Be flexible: Play your guitar for a few weeks or months before making any changes. With my most recent guitar (00-24), I played it for 60 days before changing strings and tweaking the set up.

When I ordered my last two guitars, I also added factory installed "no cut" pickups in both and ordered new bridge pins when they went on sale from Larrivee's Pro Shop. I also paid to upgrade to an archtop case and have found that Larrivee uses some of the finest archtop cases available. Finally, a stable environment is key. Others may or will disagree but all of my guitars are kept in their cases when they aren't being played in a humidified guitar room.

Best of luck if you decide to move forward.

[StringPicker6]

Yes, go to the website and there is a home number and email to contact them.

[Queequeg]

Sorry, I misread your quote and was multi-tasking when I wrote this. I have three 12 fret Larrivees with three different scale lengths (24" Parlor, 25.5" LSV and 24.9" 00) and am happy with all three of them. The guitar specs you suggested would be both unique and cool. I can say that the radial wood rosette and purfling that Larrivee created for the 24 series looks really nice with a mahogany top.

Here's my nickels worth of advice on your ordering question.

I ordered the 12 string through my dealer (who since retired and closed up shop), the 00 I ordered directly from Larrivee after ordering my Forum VI (2021) through this forum. This is not an endorsement of any specific dealer but Tune Up Guitars, Heartbreaker Guitars and Sweetwater have some really nice Larrivees. Over the years I have found the secret to buying a custom or special order guitar requires three things:

1) Be informed: Do not order a guitar until you know exactly what you want. Second guessing or special requests should be addressed before you place an order, not after.
2) Be patient: Once you submit your order, don't go back and try to make changes and then let your dealer and/or Larrivee build your guitar. Also make sure you let the guitar acclimate to your house before you open the box.
3) Be flexible: Play your guitar for a few weeks or months before making any changes. With my most recent guitar (00-24), I played it for 60 days before changing strings and tweaking the set up.

When I ordered my last two guitars, I also added factory installed "no cut" pickups in both and ordered new bridge pins when they went on sale from Larrivee's Pro Shop. I also paid to upgrade to an archtop case and have found that Larrivee uses some of the finest archtop cases available. Finally, a stable environment is key. Others may or will disagree but all of my guitars are kept in their cases when they aren't being played in a humidified guitar room.

Best of luck if you decide to move forward.

Great advice, teh! Thank you for posting.

[jpmist]

Welp, you've given me the excuse to post a link to my custom OOV-03 all hog sunburst pic for the 100th time. This was a special order that took longer than I expected and I tried hard for over two years to bond with it but simply couldn't. After 15 years of spruce/mahogany I simply couldn't get used to the lack of resonance and overtones I got from a spruce top. Beautiful guitar, though.

A few years after I got mine I noticed Larrivee showing some limited runs of sunburst OO's on FB. Why Larrivee doesn't offer "fill in the blank here" I think simply boils down to what they think will sell in numbers justifying working it into their factory process and then marketing it. They already have at least 40 distinct offerings covering 7-8 body shapes. It seems to add more risks marketing expense as well as an inherent inefficiency and increased expense of offering too many different shaped wooden boxes. Just my humble opinion, I've never worked at a guitar factory, of course. . . 

https://imgur.com/YOBixEZ

[William2]

I think there is something about the looks of mahogany as a soundboard that attracts the instrument to people. I know that has happened to me. I love the plain finish Larrivee mahogany guitar. I've always got tired of burst instruments over time. And while I've always liked the sound of mahogany guitars, I have always gone back to a spruce top instrument. Even now I have an urge to get a Larrivee mahogany dreadnought, but. The poster said he was interested in a 00-44. This begs a question I've never got an answer to, does scalloped bracing work better on a top like mahogany?

[teh]

Reviewing Larrivee's website, they are using scalloped hybrid bracing on the spec sheets for their mahogany topped 40 and 44 series 000 models. I would rely on their expertise, knowledge and skills to make the right choices. I see no reason why that same logic wouldn't apply to the larger D and L body shapes too.

My mahogany topped 12 string has parabolic non-scalloped X bracing while my mahogany topped 00-24 has scalloped hybrid bracing. My Moonwood Spruce/Walnut Forum VI (LSV-03) also has scalloped bracing. All three of these guitars were ordered sight unseen and required both a leap of faith and trust on my part that Larrivee would build me three unique and quality instruments. Before I ordered my all mahogany 12 string from Larrivee, I played a bunch of different 12 string guitars and mahogany topped 6 string models. This guitar is now almost 20 years old and well worth the leap of faith I took. My first guitar with scalloped bracing was my Martin 14 fret spruce/rosewood OM-35. My second was my 12 fret spruce/mahogany 000 followed by the Larrivee Forum VI and 00-24. All four guitars also have different body shapes and wood combinations.

Over the years I've spent on this forum and others, I've read that some players love mahogany tops and others don't. The same holds true with wood choices, body shapes, scalloped vs. non-scalloped, satin vs. gloss finish, sunburst vs. natural, cutaway vs. non-cutaway and slotted vs. solid headstocks.

I've got a little bit of almost everything in my collection but I would love to try an old Larrivee nylon string guitar.

[B0WIE]

Do I contact Larrivee directly? Or is this done through a dealer?

This may have been covered in other posts but you can do either. My experience is, with a dealer, they will add up the list prices for the various options and then subtract a discount at the end to reach a more normal price (otherwise, it's expensive paying list for everything). I don't know if Larrivee calculates at discount at the end. You can always get quotes from both though.