Forum III impressions and discussion

Started by Randy_R, March 25, 2009, 04:57:45 PM

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David, you'll love yours..

I hardly have any time to spend on the forum anymore...

all my spare time goes to my F3
Jeffrey


Don't have my Italian Spruce FIII yet, but when I do, I'm sure I'll be wondering if I should have gotten a hogtop.  The grass is always greener, or in this case browner.  I think we all secretly (or publicly) want 2 FIIIs.  :cheers
bluesman67
HOGTOP CHARLOTTE

www.reverbnation.com/hogtopcharlotte

Jim sent me some pictures and it has some flame on the front and the back has all types of character.  I had Jim put in pick-up, cuz  I am planning on this being my main guitar. If it all goes as I hope, I will be selling a few guitars shortly.

Little guitar, big sound, with warm and soul..... that's what I want.  
Larrivee Forum-III all hog

Well, I put some photos in the picture section, but here are a couple. 

Here is the link to my picture section thread
Picture Thread Link

I finally made it home after my guitar had 4 days to warm up while I was out of Town.

Here are some quick photos I did this afternoon.  I love the sound, but more on that later.

Jim Did a fantastic job setting this up, and it plays so smooth and easily.  Thank you , Jim




I will post more after I play it some more.

Matt
FIII M/IS
L-80 Presentation 12-String

Great camera work as usual Matt.     What a fine looking guitar that is.   I'm glad you finally have yours home and can fully appreciate it.   You got just a teasing taste of it in Vancouver.  Hmmmm   could we be seeing a preview of the next GOTM here ????

Matt,

The guitar looks awesome and as usual, your pictures are outstanding.  Glad to see your guitar finally made it's way home.  You were in a unique situation in that you got to see your guitar and then had to wait another few weeks to get it.  It must have been a painful wait.  But that's now water under the bridge.

Enjoy and play it in the best of health!!!

:+1: :+1: :nice guitar: :+1: :+1:

Jordan.

LS-03MTHB Forum III (#19), RS-2 Sunburst

Congratulations Matt - and great photos. Hope we get a chance to play our FIII's together soon....Mike

Quote from: es-335 on April 07, 2009, 11:57:51 PM

there is a little bump on the neck from finishing.. that bugs me a little.. but I guess I'll have to get used to it..

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but some superfine (the kind at the hardware store for refinishing wood furniture) steel wool should rub that right out.
Three Larries and a Guild and an A&L...and electrics...and a mando

"Your lack of technique can be part of your style. The thing about style is that it's more entertaining, more important and hopefully more intellectual than technique."
Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)


OK, 5 days with the FIII hogtop and I'm ready for comment.  Its "looks" have been discussed and pics have been posted elsewhere.  Sound is dreamy.  As (I think) Tuffy (or someone else said), these hog tops are a bit brighter with longer sustain than might be expected.  I've only played a handful of hogtops, but that seems to be the case.  I plan to swap out the strings to a mellower set (Martin Marquis PB) or in the extreme some silk and steels.

To me the bass response is surprisingly deep (for a lil' git).  Probably the 12 fret/bracing combo, lots of folks know more about this than me.  It's not over the top in volume but the tone of that open E is just mesmorizing.  Nice and deep and woody.  I'm a bass heavy player (kinda Neil Young-ish) so I'm tickled pink.  I will record some simple ditties to showcase various aspects of its tone and put them up on reverbnation soon.

The other thing I've noticed is that the strings are more "slack" since you are strumming/picking a few inches further from the bridge (more toward the center of the string lengthwise).  Not that there is any buzz or anything, just that they really give way when you attack them.  I'll need to brush up on guitar physics before I make sense out of the impact on tone.  This is my first 12 fretter, so it's all new to me.

I also had it set up with moderately low action.  All my dreads and my L are medium action so's I can really honk on 'em.  The combination of the brand new satin finish, low action, and stock coated strings make this thing play like lightning (even though I'm not good enough to play like lightning, it is really noticeable.)

It seems to me that this particular guitar also has a more pronounced midrange (probably the mahogany taking a rosewood guy by surprise...but also compared to silver oak).

I'm looking forward to breaking it in and having it mellow with age.
Enjoy,
Penner
Three Larries and a Guild and an A&L...and electrics...and a mando

"Your lack of technique can be part of your style. The thing about style is that it's more entertaining, more important and hopefully more intellectual than technique."
Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)


Quote from: Jagadis on April 08, 2009, 04:16:42 PM
Matt,

The guitar looks awesome and as usual, your pictures are outstanding.  Glad to see your guitar finally made it's way home.  You were in a unique situation in that you got to see your guitar and then had to wait another few weeks to get it.  It must have been a painful wait.  But that's now water under the bridge.

Enjoy and play it in the best of health!!!

:+1: :+1: :nice guitar: :+1: :+1:

Jordan.

Thanks Tuffy and Jordan.

It was a bit of a wait, but I will tell you, it was worth it.  I asked Jim to set it up for flesh (no nail) finger picking, and it is so smooth and your hardly have to put any pressure on the strings for the notes to ring.

Everything made the trip safe and sound back east and back, and it was well packed.  I am so taken by the sound.  I have a taylor GS Mahogany Cedar that is so full and rich and loud.  This guitar is loud in a very clear and crisp way.  Very well balanced, and it adds just what I have been missing in my guitar closet.

Speaking of good health, we spent the weekend at a conference, and I got the worst of chest colds, so even though I joked earlier about calling in sick, I really am staying home from work tomorrow.  At least I know what I will be doing!
FIII M/IS
L-80 Presentation 12-String

Quote from: Vancouver Southpaw on April 08, 2009, 04:16:55 PM
Congratulations Matt - and great photos. Hope we get a chance to play our FIII's together soon....Mike

I hope so Mike.  I am looking at the 29th of May, and have yet to tell if I can make it.  It was so weird knowing my guitar was at the office, when I was not.  For some reason my cargo travel guitar was trying to fool me into thinking it was rare Italian Spruce..but NO!

Thanks again, and I will send you a line if I get up your way again.
FIII M/IS
L-80 Presentation 12-String

Penner,

Thank you for your review.  I could not even start to review mine, as I opened mine just today.  It is nice to read your comment after a few days.  There is such a unique voice to my Hog/IS compared to anything I own.  I can hardly wait to have DaveG play this alongside his OM03R to hear all the nuances of both models.

Thanks again for your review


matt
FIII M/IS
L-80 Presentation 12-String

I only read through a few pages of this thread and was bored to tears. All the glowing reviews and the wine connoisseur language. So, I'm just curious: Does anyone think his/her FIII is really no better than any other Larrivee? (And that wouldn't be a bad thing.)

Jesse Brace 00
'30s Slingerland Style #5
Breedlove C20 S/MYE
Loprinzi LR-15

Lookin' for some dirt eh? I guess that would have made the reading more interesting?   :smile:  Sorry to disappoint you, but this is my 3rd Larrivee and I have to say it's my favorite. Awesome guitar, in looks, feel and tone....sorry  :yawn
Taylor 310CE, Eastman E10D, Blueridge BR-160, Eastman T486

Quote from: pennerblue on April 08, 2009, 08:20:35 PM
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but some superfine (the kind at the hardware store for refinishing wood furniture) steel wool should rub that right out.
Don't use steel wool, get some Micro-Mesh. It's amazing.

danny

Quote from: tuffythepug on April 08, 2009, 03:21:48 PM
Great camera work as usual Matt.     What a fine looking guitar that is.   I'm glad you finally have yours home and can fully appreciate it.   You got just a teasing taste of it in Vancouver.  Hmmmm   could we be seeing a preview of the next GOTM here ????
What he said :-)   Matt it looks like the twin to mine, ENJOY

danny

Quote from: jojo on April 08, 2009, 10:30:28 PM
I only read through a few pages of this thread and was bored to tears. All the glowing reviews and the wine connoisseur language. So, I'm just curious: Does anyone think his/her FIII is really no better than any other Larrivee? (And that wouldn't be a bad thing.)


Not me. (and no apology)

danny

"No better than"? - I think in terms of "As good as" -

These are really sweet little guitars - But tonight, even though it is new, I put it down and played my old LS10, and then my LSV11, and even a little on the OM-MT12. And I realized that I feel pretty blessed, that all these are great guitars, and I would be very hard pressed to have to choose one over another. Each has its own strengths, and each its weaknesses. Right now the Forum3 is still too new, still has that "new guitar smell" and hasn't gotten its first ding yet, so it's hard to be objective -

But just as I've seen Parlors, and 00s, and OMs, and SDs, and whatever each catch the Forums imagination - eventually desires cool, and a new fancy catches peoples attention. The Forum3 has involved alot of waiting, and I think alot of peoples spare money, and still many people haven't recvd their guitars yet, so this is going to go on a while.

It will be interesting to see what comes next -

Tad
Bunch of Larrivees - all good -
and a wife that still puts up with me, which is the best -

Quote from: jojo on April 08, 2009, 10:30:28 PM
I only read through a few pages of this thread and was bored to tears. All the glowing reviews and the wine connoisseur language. So, I'm just curious: Does anyone think his/her FIII is really no better than any other Larrivee? (And that wouldn't be a bad thing.)


That's a valid question.  Despite the recent "confirmation bias" garbage, there's certainly a honeymoon period that many are experiencing.  I think that's very much to be expected and very much a good thing.  We'd all be in trouble if everyone got his guitar and they were all mediocre.  Be careful around here, though.  There are some that take these guitars just a bit too seriously.  :)

Looking forward to mine!  Haven't heard anything from Jim yet, so mine's in a future batch.

Adam

Quote from: Alpione on April 09, 2009, 09:18:42 AM
That's a valid question.  Despite the recent "confirmation bias" garbage, there's certainly a honeymoon period that many are experiencing.  I think that's very much to be expected and very much a good thing.  We'd all be in trouble if everyone got his guitar and they were all mediocre.  Be careful around here, though.  There are some that take these guitars just a bit too seriously.  :)

Looking forward to mine!  Haven't heard anything from Jim yet, so mine's in a future batch.

Adam
Yea, but we are learning to lighten up.

danny

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