My D-03r story

[MC Dig]

Hello all,

I wanted to share the story of my d0-3r.  I bought it a couple of years ago, and I played it back to back with all the best guitars in the shop.  I could honestly say that other guitars sounded different, but none sounded better.  The guitar is so loud, so full, and balanced, really amazing. The best thing is that it is so resonant, the sustain goes on forever. 

Anyway, you all have heard all about the goodness of these guitars before.  The only problem I had with the guitar was that there was some fret buzz.  I told the salesman I would buy the guitar on the condition that they would set it up to fix the fret buzz.  I was at the shop on a sunday and their set up guy was out, so I had to take a rain check.  The shop was an hour away from my house, so I never ended up making it back. 

The next summer I went to Greece and brought my guitar.  To make a long story short, my friend was riding on the back of my motorcycle (that had no passenger footpegs), we had to make it an hour to Igoumenitsa from Ionian.   My friend was carrying about 100 pounds of luggage along with my guitar in a soft back pack case.  Sadly, the guitar endied up resting on the high mount exhaust.  This happened long enough to char the bottom of the guitar and cause the two halves of the back to separate slightly (less than a hair). 

So when I got back to the US, I took it to a well respected luthier, who glued on some cleats on the bottom to stabilize the crack.  He also did a fret job and and said the neck was was on the verge of needing to be reset.  It is better now after the fret job, good actually but not perfect. I wish I had taken it back at the beginning and everything could have been handled under warranty.  I know there was a problem before the heat damage and there is no way to tell now if there was anything wrong with it when it left the factory or what damage was caused by the motorcycle trip.   The luthier seemed pretty sure that the frets could not have been messed up from the heat, but who knows. 
Anyway, I love the guitar and now it has this cool scar and a story to tell, so i want to keep it.  and eventually have the neck reset.

Does anyone know if Larrivee does these kinds of repairs and how much they charge.  I  would  like it to play as perfectly as it sounds. 

I have a video up on you tube so you can see and hear the guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCW2nbHoPhU

The moral of the story is, play the guitar before you buy it and don't buy it if it is not perfect. If you do find a problem let your dealer know right away so it can be handled under warranty. 

[B0WIE]

 Buzz is the opposite of a neck reset symptom.  High action sometimes indicates neck issues.  Fret buzz on a new instrument is usually just a matter of hydration or a truss rod adjustment.  Excessive heat can cause a myriad of issues since nearly everything is glued (including the frets).
I hope you get everything worked out in the end and enjoy the guitar for many years to come!

[MC Dig]

The fret job and truss rod adjustment took care of the fret buzz, mostly.  He used a little metal straight edge to show how uneven the frets were.  If I remember correctly the way he explained it is that the neck was nearly flat, and that the bridge was too low, does that make any sense?

[Danny]

    Take some good pictures so we can know better what you are dealing with. Sounds like this guitar has been rode hard and put up wet.

[unclrob]

If the bridge is too low what is the height of the saddle?

[L07 Shooting Star]

The fret job and truss rod adjustment took care of the fret buzz, mostly.  He used a little metal straight edge to show how uneven the frets were.  If I remember correctly the way he explained it is that the neck was nearly flat, and that the bridge was too low, does that make any sense?

Yes, that makes perfect sense.  I assume he meant the neck relief was "flat" and the saddle was too low (not the actual bridge)?  Doesn't sound like a neck reset is required at all.  Like Bowie wrote, if the saddle height had to be raised, that's a good thing indeed.  If the neck angle was too steep, the opposite would be true and the action would be too high, not too low.

Welcome to the forum.

Kurt in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

[MC Dig]

I think he said the neck had to be reset because the saddle couldn't be lowered anymore.  I should have taken notes, because I can't remember exactly what the issue was. 
I just took some pictures that show the neck and the bridge.  Also I took a picture of the heat damage on the back.  You can see how the wood was discolored from the heat and also the tiny crack on the back.  in the last picture I showed the cleats he glued on the inside to stabilize the back. 

I think the heat damage is only cosmetic.  It certainly has not bothered the sound at all, you can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCW2nbHoPhU

When the luthier held his little metal straight edge along the frets, he found that they were not level at all.  Normally he said that if dryness was a problem that the ends of the frets would protrude from the edges of the fret board as the fretboard would shrink from lack of moisture, he did not find this at all on my guitar. 

While I  am sure the fateful motorcycle trip did not do the guitar any favors, I think the guitar left the factory with some problems. 

Like I said, right now it plays pretty well, and sounds incredible.  I know it could play better though and am interested at some point in making it perfect; which I think involves a neck reset.  I would think that the Larrivee factory would be the best place to do this, does anyone know what they charge and how long it takes? 

Below is a link to pictures of the guitar:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/132492910@N02/