Forum III impressions and discussion

[strawintogold]

I'm convinced there's a score of you that keep scenic back drops on hand. It is a beauty, love the cutaway.

holly

[Dotneck]

I'm convinced there's a score of you that keep scenic back drops on hand. It is a beauty, love the cutaway.

yup...I keep this one out behind the parking lot!

[Mr_LV19E]

Shes a beauty Dotneck.  Mine got here about 9:00 this morning.
Here's a quick shot, more to follow once I can find some scenic backdrop 

The silking that is visible in the pic is all over the top, it's beautiful.



I am very happy so far. I would imagine that won't change unless it implodes or something. 

[strawintogold]

Jim didn't tell you about the imploding?

Love the light in the photo but, you are going to take it out of the case, right?

holly

[BluesMan1]

   Ben, the low "e" shouldn't take time to intonate properly, just maybe a day or two for the string to stretch. The saddle, if I recall your Colosi has the low "e" intonated also (might be wrong; might just be the "b"), you might want to look into an uncompensated saddle for @ least the "e" string. It shouldn't be drifting like yours sounds like it is. The saddle, if sharp ("e"), might have to have to be looked @ by a luthier & have a new saddle made. The saddle is normally compensated for being flat, normally the "b" string, which I'm still working on to figure out why it's always the "b" string. Good luck!
     Jeff

[photomat]

Another guitar found its way to North Carolina this afternoon...so far its a 

WOW, I love the look of the cutaway.  Great photos and congrats on getting your guitar!

[jeremy3220]

   Ben, the low "e" shouldn't take time to intonate properly, just maybe a day or two for the string to stretch. The saddle, if I recall your Colosi has the low "e" intonated also (might be wrong; might just be the "b"), you might want to look into an uncompensated saddle for @ least the "e" string.

If the string is going sharp up the neck the contact point needs to be moved away from the nut.

[kaos]

Number 8 arrived today, on Earth Day, an auspicious beginning if ever there was one.  Kudos to Jim for an impeccable set up and a big thanks to all the Larrivee folks who created my beautiful girl.  I've been playing all afternoon (got blisters on my fingers!) and couldn't be happier with my purchase.  Pictures soon in the picture area.

mary

[Mr_LV19E]

Jim didn't tell you about the imploding?

Love the light in the photo but, you are going to take it out of the case, right?

holly

I've been pretty busy today, had a stress test at 8:30am. Got home and my wife made me open the box right away, said she couldn't stand it anymore, had to see it. I played it a little bit, actually all over the neck and didn't find any intonation issues.  Then Ive been working on my neighbors kitchen cupboards changing out the hinges to concealed hinges.

I plan on going up north tomorrow or Friday and will take it with me so I can "play the snot out of it". I'm sure I can find some scenic back drop somewhere up there.

[lyric_girl]

Congratulations Roger. 

[rpm60912]

Haven't been around in a while. Just thought I'd post a few. I have not had much time to read the latest posts.

Congrats to BenF as his git is one of the ones that travelled the farthest distance and a few crossings (i.e. customs, couriers,...)

I feel for Tad and others who are still waiting? That must be quite a test of patience. To our friends still in waiting, I hope the satisfaction and happiness of new FG IIIs coming will be worth the wait (I had to wait a long time for my first ever Larrivee as some of you would recall - what with Thanksgiving and the November Election).

On another note, I picked up my FG III for the second time since returning home yesterday from Mexico. Put my nose in the sound hole for a whiff of .... aaahhhh - the smell of March 16, the smell of the Factory, which reminds me of all my friends here.

I played my LSV-03R, in spite of my injured left hand ( I slipped and had a bad spill at the Calgary Airport on April 13 - landing on my left chording hand ),  and still amazed at the sound that I heard.

Though a self-confessed Taylor fan, my FG III got me to a better position to resist:
The Fall and Spring Ltds and Build-To-Order guitars.

Satisfied with my FG III - and wish the same for the rest of the ones who ordered.

ricky

[bluesman67]

I am loving the smell of vanilla that this Italian Spruce gives off.  It builds up in the case and then I open it up and WHAM!  It's so strong, I can't smell the rose scent of rosewood.

Ben - great looking guitar, the rosewood looks real nice.

Roger - I love the picture you have of your FIII.

Gary - Congrats man, you finally got your hogtop!

[jeremy3220]

I am loving the smell of vanilla that this Italian Spruce gives off.  It builds up in the case and then I open it up and WHAM!  It's so strong, I can't smell the rose scent of rosewood.

That's because East Indian doesn't smell like roses. It has an earthy smell. Some have said the vanilla smell is the case, but I don't know cause I haven't sniffed any FIII's.

[rpm60912]

jeremy is right. the vanilla scent comes from the 03 case.

the cases of my OM-40 and FG III are the same - both give off that vanilla smell.

Others have also mentioned that Silver Oak also gives off that vanilla smell.  I smelled an L-03 SO from the same store I bought my OM-40 and wondered why it did not smell like vanilla.  I guess, it has been on display and out of its vanilla-smelling case for a while.

ricky

[BluesMan1]

   Jeremy, if I'm correct, Ben has a Colosi saddle that has both the B & low E compensated. How's he suppossed to move the E string contact point any futher with the saddle? Wouldn't the nut have to be angled to change the contact point?
     Jeff

[flatlander]

Nut sure won't help. It'll be out of the picture on 9th fret. String needs to come back at saddle. If it's as far as it goes, either something drastic (I doubt it) or detune the string flat and reach a compromise. Good thing is that if you have to do hat, detune, flat sounds better to most people than sharp.
Ben, how often do you play the low E string 9th fret or above? Don't want to do something that might throw your intonation out lower down the neck, if your not gonna play up that high anyway. Also, are you hearing it off with your ears or just looking at tuner? Some tuners get funny with different overtones hitting them.
Like many will show high when you first pluck a string hard, then settle lower.

[BenF]

jeff, the colosi saddle is on my om-03, and isn't low E compensated, sorry for confusion. And matt, I think you are right, I think it may be a tuner issue.  I believe the tuner is reading the open E note poorly, hence why it gets worse up the neck. I need to trust my ear more!  The only times I play up there are capoed tunes, like here comes the sun, which sounds off, but then that is probably the capo pulling it sharp.

The saddle is quite high, and I belive the E string took extra time to develop a sharp enough kink over it, hence the early instability.  Logic tells me that this would be exagerated up the neck, causing poor intonation until it settles. This would explain also that it was worse with the slightly heavier string. (0.054)

My forum III was set up by jim holler, which indicates that it is something I have done for sure. It now seems fine, 3 days after restringing. The old strings certainly seem to have caused the tuning headaches. It stays in tune beautifully now. Boy does it play and sound good now these issues seem to be in the past.

[flatlander]

Sounds like you'll get it worked out. If saddle is high (not saying that's a bad thing) you have to push the string down further to fret which can run it high. Good to know you could sand saddle back for E if you choose.
Ok, when people in Europe start making thier morning posts, I think that's a pretty good indication that it's time for me to hit the sack!

[BenF]

  I'm up with the larks matt, it isn't that late! The saddle is tall, not necessarily high. Poor terminology, sorry. The neck angle must be shallow, because the string height is low. I guess that way allows for more adjustment in the future.

[Mr_LV19E]

Jim set my action low like my other guitars and the saddle is quite a bit higher than my other Larrivee's.  So I'm sure the neck angle is a little different, which is great for the way I play.
I think Larrivee picks a happy medium for most of their guitars so the saddle doesn't have to be too high for those that want high action for their heavy strumming or picking.  I think I sacrifice a little as far as volume with the shallow break angle on my other guitars, but I'm real happy with the F-III. It is very balanced, all strings everywhere on the neck.
Here is a comparison, both with the same action.
Top photo LS-03
Bottom photo LV-19