Forum III impressions and discussion

[gusto5]

   1982...............Then you could say you were spoiled long ago.

Wasn't born yet! Guess you need to be older to be spoiled! 

[flatlander]

No, you can still be spoiled! All being older makes you is old. Glad to see we have some younger folks here gusto.

[Danny]

   What's this I hear about a forum guitar

[Jagadis]

   What's this I hear about a forum guitar

Welcome back old friend!!!!!!!

Honored to share your company again!

Jordan.

[Denis]

   What's this I hear about a forum guitar

Howdy stranger!

[Danny]

Welcome back old friend!!!!!!!

Honored to share your company again!

Jordan.

Ditto

Howdy stranger!

Howdy,    I sure did enjoy your "you tube" F-III video    nice playing Denis.

[Danny]

  Norm and I met in a dinky town in central Texas, had a nice lunch and pie. Then walked next door and sat on a porch and played tunes for an hour or so. It was too short. But we had a good time.
   People were walking by and some would come up, one lady walked right up next to me and joined in singing a lively southern gospel song "Jesus your alive".
   Those little F-III's punched out the sound and I have grown bolder in my singing so I let er rip on several tunes. Of course I had to fingerpick "For my Lady" and Norm strummed the Chords. We both have MH/IS models and they are lively little strummers, playing in the open air for the first time really showed off that they can dig in and push out some clear tones with nice bass. This was to both of our delights.

[GeeNorm]

Amen, brother.

Far from the big city, big covered front porch volunteered by a local real estate company, and surprise, free WiFi from the cafe!

Norman

I have a pic on my cell phone, will post it later tonight. Fun is over, time for some honey dos.

[Denis]

  Ditto  Howdy,    I sure did enjoy your "you tube" F-III video    nice playing Denis.

Cheers Danny.  Welcome back.

[GeeNorm]

Since we talked about the daring downhome duo I thought I would post this picture of Danny and #1 on the front porch of the Round Top Realty office. They wouldn't let us play inside, but offered us the sheltered exposure of their nice porch. We had a great time, didn't even draw the constable's attention. At one point a lady stepped up on the porch, asked where we were in the music, and sang the rest of the song with us.

Norman

Conveniently I took the picture and didn't have to show myself. 

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[Jagadis]

Hey guys...

Thats a totally cool picture of Danny.  I think they should have paid you guys given you were attracting potential customers to the real estate office front door...hehehehe.

Jordan.

[ryler]

I'm so happy to see Danny's face.  Welcome back.

Cathi

[Danny]

I'm so happy to see Danny's face.  Welcome back.

Cathi

Hi Cathi, thanks for the e-mails. I'd like to meet you someday and play some tunes. I think you are in Tadol's neck of the woods. Maybe next time Tad, Tuffy and I "git" together you could join in. We sure had a good time a few weeks ago at Tuffy's house.

[BenF]

I've said a few things in a few different thread lately that probably don't add up, and read on their own don't paint the right picture. 

When the guitar arrived, it blew me away how good it looked, and how loud and articulate it sounded.  Surpassed all my expectations.  However, during the first evening of playing it, I spent about half my time tuning and retuning it, with no success.  5 minutes playing, and it was all over the place.  This got no better over three days, so I changed strings.  It stayed in tune from the word go, but the intonation was weirdly now miles out on the A string, and even more noticably on the low E string.  Within three days this issue dissapeared, so I have no idea what the problem was with it.  It is now ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!  It plays so well for a mix of fingerstyle and light fingers only strumming.  An absolute joy.

This guitar just makes everything else I have played look inferior.  Granted I have never played any top end stuff, and expect that there is a big gulf in quality and playability, but compared to all the others I have played, this one takes the prize.  I seriously could not be happier.  It has given me a real boost to learn more too, which is great.

So what do I do now?  This guitar plays great in std tuning, and drop D and double drop D, which are the three main tunings I play songs in just now.  I want to learn more DADGAD, and it is great for that too.  Below that, this guitar just doesn't work for me.  It sounds dull, and the tuning is less than stable.  (I play Caledonia in CGCGCE, capoed up 3 frets - and it sounds pretty bad compared to my OM-03).  However, apart from these very low tunings, I have no reason to pick up my OM-03 at all.  The F-III does it all better.  I haven't found the 12 fret neck to hamper my playing.  For some songs I go as far as you can up the neck, but I have not found any songs that need me to go past it yet.

So my question really is, if I continue to try to learn more fingerstyle, is the F-III going to be all I need, or am I going to need dropped tunings and more clear frets in the future.  Is the OM-03 a waste sitting in my bedroom?  I am seriously toying with selling it, but have this niggling doubt that I will miss these factors in the future, even if they do not bother me now.

My other option is to save and trade the OM-03 for a used OMV-50, which will have all the bling and tick the boxes that the F-III doesn't.  But then am I wasting my time on a nice blingy guitar, when the F-III would sound and play better anyway?  What else is there out there that would be different enough from the F-III to warrant changing?

I love my OM-03, but I feel sorry for it sitting in its case without being played.  Someone else would probably love it.  I know a person looking for a good guitar, but he has played my F-III, so he probably will feel the same as me, lol.

[strawintogold]

Consider it being on vacation.  I don't think there's any shame in having more than one guitar, it's not like it's going to expire. Besides, you don't know where you will be in a few years music wise or if say, your boy decides he wants to play, stuff like that.

holly

[ryler]

Ben,

Personally, I would make no selling decisions for awhile.  Until the F-III is thoroughly explored..and time is needed for that.  Opinions change, needs from your guitar change, etc.  Oh, and what about keeping the OM-03 in CGCGCE tuning and making it a point to learn more songs in that tuning? 

Next year or 6 months down the road is when I would really evaluate if the ol' OM has a place in your music room or not.  Just trying to prevent "seller's remorse".

[Jagadis]

I've got the same issue with my D-03.  I haven't touched it since my FIII arrived and its just sitting there all lonely   

I know everyone is sick of all the gushing about the FIII guitars but there is something special about this guitar.  I wish I could put my finger on what that is.  Maybe its just so easy to play...regardless of what you want to play (which is what Ben said in his longer post).  Maybe thats the best way to sum it up.

I think I'm going to put my D-03 up in the For Sale section....

Jordan.

[prof_stack]

I've got the same issue with my D-03.  I haven't touched it since my FIII arrived and its just sitting there all lonely   

I know everyone is sick of all the gushing about the FIII guitars but there is something special about this guitar.  I wish I could put my finger on what that is.  Maybe its just so easy to play...regardless of what you want to play (which is what Ben said in his longer post).  Maybe thats the best way to sum it up.

I think I'm going to put my D-03 up in the For Sale section....Jordan.

Unless you are a collector of guitars, why not sell a guitar that you don't play as much, and let someone else experience Larrivee?  Except for DaveG's OM-03R, I've never been enthralled with Larrivee's OM guitars.  The L models have always out-shined them to my ears.  The Guitar Emporium in Seattle always has lots to sample at one time.

Back to FIII, after a week I'm still not gushing about my LS-03R.  But with Tusq saddle back in I'm liking the sound more and more.  It is more pleasing to my ears than my 30+ year old rosewood dread (both have new strings).  But it has a ways to go to rival my D-18GE. 

For my ears, Tusq is better for strumming as well as fast fingerpicking on the FIII.  I'll put the bone saddle back in after I put some non-coated strings on and let them age a week or more (with Tusq on).  Then perhaps it will be clearer which saddle I should stick with.

[gtrplayer]

But it has a ways to go to rival my D-18GE. 

hey prof__stack,

And that's the mistake I make, comparing my Forum III to my other guitars.  Soundwise there is no gushing with my Forum III either however hope springs eternal.  With plenty of play time who knows.  Just can't help wondering how it would of sounded with a sitka top.  To me the IS top lacks the warmth of sitka and comes across as cold and harsh.  But I'll still wait it out, for awhile at least.

gtrplayer

[flathead]

Ben don't sell

1. Having a 2nd guitar is like money in the bank. If you sell it, that money may get appropriated for something else.

2. Some times you can make a better deal trading guitars than buying and selling.

3. It's great to have a second guitar if a friend or stranger happens buy and you discover that they play. I never leave the house to play with only one guitar, and have made myself and others happy  by letting others join in.
Flathead.