LARRIVÉE LANCASTER SPECS & FACTS

[J M Larrivée]

THE NEW LARRIVÉE LANCASTER ELECTRIC!
(official release date - 07/12/2012 Nashville, Tennessee - Summer NAMM)

Since unofficially releasing the Lancaster over a week ago, many players have been writing in to us requesting for more information on it's specs. Matthew Larrivée has been kind enough to compile some of the more frequent questions and we've created a Q&A for your interest.

LARRIVÉE LANCASTER FEATURES:
Requiring no "modding" or "hot-rodding", this guitar was crafted from the ground up to be the "ultimate" players' guitar!

- Lightweight Swamp Ash body
- Quarter-sawn Eastern Maple neck
- Rosewood Fretboard with 1 5/8' nut width
- Larrivée "Crescent Cut" forearm contour and tummy cut
- Hipshot brand "Contour" Tremolo (Made in America)
- Kluson "Single-Line" hand engraved tuners
- Seymour Duncan Potentiometers
- Custom "MVP" wiring
- Available in SSS, and splitable SSH (Via push pull)
- Larrivée pickups (made by Larrivée for Larrivée)
- Vintage paper-in-oil capacitors
- 22 Frets to the body
- Dual Action Truss rod

Q: Why the name Lancaster?
A: All Larrivee electrics have been named after Californian cities. Lancaster just sounded like the perfect name for an "S" style guitar.

Q: What can you tell us about the pickups and is there anything unique about them?
A: All "Larrivée" pickups are designed and built in the Oxnard California shop. They are true single coils and built using the same methods used in the 1950's and 1960's. The Alnico 5 magnets provide the signature sound were carefully crafted to duplicate vintage 1950's magnets. The bridge pickup is wound 43 gauge plain enamel wire and features a "tele style" steel elevator plate to balance the pickup and create a touch of "twang". The neck and middle pickups are wound with 42 gauge plain enamel wire. Very unique to these pickups is their individual pole spacing. Unlike a standard "S" style guitar; each pickup is designed with a custom pole spacing to perfectly fall under the string – This translates into extremely well balanced pickups without dead areas and hotspots, particularly on large string bends!

Q: What can you tell us about the pots?
A: On most guitars the potentiometers are often overlooked. That lead us work with our good friend Seymour Duncan to create a new experience for the Lancaster player. The volume pot is designed with a very smooth custom audio-taper. Standard pots have a very sharp roll off, most of the volume control is at the end of the pot (i.e. the volume tapers off rapidly between 8-9-10 on the knob). The Duncan volume pot however, is operative throughout its entire range giving the player ultimate control over the volume. The "speed" of the volume pot was also custom designed with absolute minimal resistance, making the pot extremely easy to move. The Lancaster allows the player to produce amazing volume swells with incredible ease. The tone pot on the SSS version is a high accuracy linear pot with a more traditional speed. On the SSH version we use a high accuracy push/pull pot (also with a more traditional speed) which allows you to split off the "Slug" Humbucker coil.

Q: What does "MVP" wiring mean?
A: MVP wiring stands for "Maximum Versatility and Potential". On a standard "S" style guitar the 5 way switch allows for 5 distinct tones (Neck, Neck-Middle, Middle, Middle-bridge, Bridge). Many players do not use the "middle only" position which lead us to eliminate it and add a Neck-Bridge position. The five positions on the Lancaster are: Neck, Neck-Middle, Neck-Bridge, Middle-bridge, Bridge. The MVP wiring allows you to get the standard strat style tones, but also that sweet Tele middle position tone.

Q: What's different about Larrivée's control placement?
A: Much time and research was put into control placement on the Lancaster. The volume pot is specifically placed to allow ease of access for the pinky finger. The tone control is just far enough that it doesn't interfere with the volume, but close enough that you won't need to search for it. The 5-way switch is ergonomically placed to flow with the swing of your hand while playing, but not in the path of your strumming.

Q: Why did Larrivée chose the Hipshot "Contour" bridge over the traditional tremolo?
A: The hipshot bridge we chose is the perfect blend of form and function. We really liked the curves and shape of the bridge, but we also liked the mass of the bridge. The hipshot is milled from a solid block and has a very well made trem block, improving on the traditional design. We really like how comfortable the bridge is on the hands, even after an hour of playing. The method Hipshot chose to pivot the bridge off the studs is great and the No-Wobble trem arm is a nice feature as well. Combine all this with the fact that it's made in America and it became an easy decision for us.

Q: What Colors will be available?
A: We are producing both transparent and solid colors. At the official North American launch time set for summer NAMM, we will have Mary-Kay White, Butterscotch, Trans Red, Amber, Black, Pearl White, Chartreuse, Tobacco Burst, Shoreline Gold, Seafoam Green, and Daphne Blue. Once officially launched will begin to consider custom color requests for a slight additional charge.

Q: What are the similarities of the Lancaster to the Larrivée Electrics of the 1980's.
A: The core body design is based off of the "S" style guitars we made in the mid 1980's, but that is where the similarities end.

[Mikeymac]

Thanks for sharing these specs John! It looks great "on paper" - and the one's at the Musikmesse show looked great!

Another question - will these be available for us lefty players? I know that's going to depend on whether the Hipshot bridge is available in a left-handed version.

Thanks!

[carruth]

The Lancaster was the most famous RAF Bomber in WWII. Accordingly I'm nicknaming thnis guitar,without even seeing it........" The Bomber".   

[SouthpawGuy]

Thanks for sharing these specs John! It looks great "on paper" - and the one's at the Musikmesse show looked great!

Another question - will these be available for us lefty players? I know that's going to depend on whether the Hipshot bridge is available in a left-handed version.

Thanks!

There is a lefty version of the Hipshot. 

[Walkerman]

Do you remember the old cartoon strip "Rick O'Shay?"  One of the characters was Hipshot Percussion.  Hence, the guitar will be known as "the gunslinger"

[SouthpawGuy]

Do you remember the old cartoon strip "Rick O'Shay?"  One of the characters was Hipshot Percussion.  Hence, the guitar will be known as "the gunslinger"

Burt agrees ....

[Mikeymac]

There is a lefty version of the Hipshot. 

This is good to know!

Awesome: http://store.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=184

I may have to try one of these on one of my other guitars as well...

[rockstar_not]

Now that I see the specs, I see a few things that do stand out to me as unique and might make me consider one:

1. The MVP wiring.  Standard strat wiring is no fun to me - with no tone control on the tail pup.  I re-wired my SSH strat with a very simple change that makes the neck tone control become a master tone control for the signal heading out of the jack, and the middle pup tone control is repurposed to become a variable split on the tail HB.  The Neck-Bridge position on the MVP wiring is VERY interesting.  I'm not sure I like the idea that the middle position is eliminated, as I tend to use that one for brit-pop slightly overdriven sound on my SSH strat, but hey, at least they didn't go for the 'no tone control for the tail pup' wiring of the standard strat; at least I'm hoping that's not the case.

2.  The hipshot bridge.  Nice

3.  Pole spacing on the single coils.

[Mikeymac]

It would be easy to swap out the 5-way switch for a standard one so you could have the traditional set up. I also like the middle pickup by itself - I use it a lot.

I wire all my strats with the back tone control on the bridge only, and the "middle" tone control on the middle and bridge pups. Works great.

[Xcurrent]

Thanks . Very nice specs but the 1 5/8" nut is a no deal for me.  1 11/16" or even better 1 3/4" and the same profile as the Bakersfield and I'd probably own one.

[rockstar_not]

It would be easy to swap out the 5-way switch for a standard one so you could have the traditional set up. I also like the middle pickup by itself - I use it a lot.

I wire all my strats with the back tone control on the bridge only, and the "middle" tone control on the middle and bridge pups. Works great.

Rev, even though the switch wiring might be changed, it looks like Larrivee have gone with a single volume, single tone control scheme on these - if the pictures are correct, so it still wouldn't necessarily be 'standard' wiring if you just swap out the 5 position switch.

Perhaps we can convince them to offer a middle pup only switching scheme before it actually hits showrooms?  My first couple years playing strat avoided that middle pup by itself, but as time went on, I grew to be quite fond of it, but I never had the 'tele' neck/bridge combo to monkey with either.  I'm sure I would have liked that as well.  Hmm, starting to think about frankenstrating my axe even more.  I wonder how hard it would be to add some switching to get neck/bridge on my non-standard wiring fat strat?

[Mikeymac]

Rev, even though the switch wiring might be changed, it looks like Larrivee have gone with a single volume, single tone control scheme on these - if the pictures are correct, so it still wouldn't necessarily be 'standard' wiring if you just swap out the 5 position switch.

Perhaps we can convince them to offer a middle pup only switching scheme before it actually hits showrooms?  My first couple years playing strat avoided that middle pup by itself, but as time went on, I grew to be quite fond of it, but I never had the 'tele' neck/bridge combo to monkey with either.  I'm sure I would have liked that as well.  Hmm, starting to think about frankenstrating my axe even more.  I wonder how hard it would be to add some switching to get neck/bridge on my non-standard wiring fat strat?

All you need is a DPDT switch (or a push-pull pot that has the switch built into it) and it's pretty easy to turn any pickup on, no matter where the 5-way switch is.

[Mikeymac]

Thanks . Very nice specs but the 1 5/8" nut is a no deal for me.  1 11/16" or even better 1 3/4" and the same profile as the Bakersfield and I'd probably own one.

I wondered about the nut spec, too. It would be great if they could just throw a Bakersfield neck on it, but the Lancaster has 22 frets, so unless it's an overhang, and the neck heel shape is the same as the Bakersfield, that won't work. I don't know if it would be a deal breaker for me or not, but I definitely prefer a wider nut...even on my electrics.

[GGBB]

The tone pot on the SSS version is a high accuracy linear pot

Really?  Are the RS guitars the same?  I never liked linear pots for tone controls.

[fritferret]

anyone know if larrivee plans to release a carve top version of the lancaster?  i love the curves on this:

[Cybercanyon]

Wow!   
Beautiful Larrivee RS-4C. Is it yours?  Do you know the serial number?

[fritferret]

Wow!   
Beautiful Larrivee RS-4C. Is it yours?  Do you know the serial number?

nope, not mine, but if they offer a carved top again, i'll own one, preferably w/ a hardtail in ssh configuration or sss.  i'd actually prefer a carved top without a maple cap.  all swamp ash would be great.

[Mikeymac]

That is a very beautiful - no - make that GORGEOUS  !!!

[Mikeymac]

Another question - will these be available for us lefty players?

I got a response from Matthew about this; he says they're working on lefties in at least SSS and HSS configuration! 

That's great news - the Lancaster's shape/design just begs to be configured as an HSS set-up; that's what I'll be ordering when they're up and running.

[LeftyBlake]

Bumping this thread to ask a question. I see the photos on Facebook show both Lancasters with and without pickguard. I'm curious if they are going to be offered this way, and if so, will they be offered pickguard-less as lefties?