another way to change the sound of your larrivee

[headsup]

Swapping out the metal tuner buttons for wood ones will change the sound of your guitar, IMO more noticably ( to me) than swapping out the bridge pins.
than 

[Danny]

I've changed metal buttons to wood and never noticed any sonic difference. But I do like the way they look.

[unclrob]

I have never notice a difference with bridge pins or tuners my OM03PA has large Grover's with pearliod button's.But thank goodness the change didn't involve a pocket knife  .

[ducktrapper]

Wow, no wonder I'm not a musical success story. I couldn't tell the difference and just might be bold enough to say, "You're pulling our legs right?"      

[B0WIE]

I could only imagine a slight shift in headstock mass, which can definitely affect tone.  You can sometimes even tune out "dead" notes by changing headstock mass.  Would it be an improvement?  Not unless you have a problem that it's remedying. 
Truthfully, I don't think this this thread is more than pulling of the old leg but if there is anyone hearing a difference, it would be a shift in headstock mass.  Those would have to be some heavy buttons though.

[skyline]

Wow, no wonder I'm not a musical success story. I couldn't tell the difference and just might be bold enough to say, "You're pulling our legs right?"      

methinks you mean "pulling our pins" . . .

[dbirchett]

I have a Mossman 12 string that had 12 Grover Rotomatics on it. As you can imagine, that made the guitar very neck heavy or more accurately, peg head heavy. I replaced all of the buttons with ebony ones that I got from First Quality Music. That made a huge difference in the playability of the guitar because I wasn't fighting the neck all the time.

I later got an Epiphone Sheraton II in Ebony that was neck heavy as well, even after I mounted a B7 Bigsby. I put the ebony buttons on that as well and it made a noticeable difference in neck weight.

I did not notice any difference in tone with either but then, I wasn't looking for it.

[rwskaggs]

The effect of headstock mass itself is easy enough for you to test.  Try playing with a clip-on tuner in place on the headstock and then remove it and play.  A bystander with sharp hearing can discern the difference.   

Try it - it's only an improvement if you think it is.  I'm careful now to take any devices such as tuners or capos stored above the nut OFF.....   YMMV

[ducktrapper]

  I'm careful now to take any devices such as tuners or capos stored above the nut OFF.....   YMMV

Me too. Besides, I hate the look. 

[eded]

The same as bridge pins, a significant change in mass anywhere will have an effect.  As rwskaggs said, (paraphrasing) whether or not any change is positive is in the ear of the beholder.

Ed

[kenhan]

I have a LV-03RE that I bought new. I've never been really happy with its sound but kept it because my wife bought it for me for our wedding. The treble is very subdued and muddy compared to the other strings. Another problem is that the string break angle of the high E is so shallow that I really haven't attempted any saddle adjustment.

At any rate, I exchanged my stock plastic bridge pins with a set of black horn pins from LMII, and they made a noticeable, if small, difference, and brought out the treble forward a little bit. So I was happy.

By the way, when I looked at the saddle, I noticed that there is a notch below where the B string would be. Picture attached. Is this normal? Thanks.

[broKen]

I have a 03 LV-03RE that I bought new. I've never been really happy with its sound but kept it because my wife bought it for me for our wedding. The treble is very subdued and muddy compared to the other strings. Another problem is that the string break angle of the high E is so shallow that I really haven't attempted any saddle adjustment.

At any rate, I exchanged my stock plastic bridge pins with a set of black horn pins from LMII, and they made a noticeable, if small, difference, and brought out the treble forward a little bit. So I was happy.

By the way, when I looked at the saddle, I noticed that there is a notch below where the B string would be. Picture attached. Is this normal? Thanks.

HI, no its not normal. Have a tech look at it. I would have a new bone saddle installed too.

[George]

I have a 03 LV-03RE that I bought new. I've never been really happy with its sound but kept it because my wife bought it for me for our wedding. The treble is very subdued and muddy compared to the other strings. Another problem is that the string break angle of the high E is so shallow that I really haven't attempted any saddle adjustment.

At any rate, I exchanged my stock plastic bridge pins with a set of black horn pins from LMII, and they made a noticeable, if small, difference, and brought out the treble forward a little bit. So I was happy.

By the way, when I looked at the saddle, I noticed that there is a notch below where the B string would be. Picture attached. Is this normal? Thanks.

Only normal if it had an undersaddle pickup and someone was trying to subdue an overly loud B string.  I agree that replacing the saddle should help...

[fitness1]

Something very simple that I'm guessing very few are doing - mention of the tuner buttons (headstock area) made me think of it.   ALL of my instruments have a piece of foam under the strings above the nut.   The more lightly built and resonant an instrument is, the more likely there are sympathetic vibrations going on which can interfere with the notes you are trying to play.   Also more important if you tend to be a hard strummer.

Another huge improvement.  If you stand and play and put the guitar against your stomach, don't.  You are severely dampening the resonance of the body and killing tone.

Many of my better instruments I can actually hear the difference with the guitar just hanging on a strap, well away from my body.

[George]

Something very simple that I'm guessing very few are doing - mention of the tuner buttons (headstock area) made me think of it.   ALL of my instruments have a piece of foam under the strings above the nut.   The more lightly built and resonant an instrument is, the more likely there are sympathetic vibrations going on which can interfere with the notes you are trying to play.   Also more important if you tend to be a hard strummer.

Another huge improvement.  If you stand and play and put the guitar against your stomach, don't.  You are severely dampening the resonance of the body and killing tone.

Many of my better instruments I can actually hear the difference with the guitar just hanging on a strap, well away from my body.

I have never heard of the foam Todd.  Can you share a photo with us?

[fitness1]

I have never heard of the foam Todd.  Can you share a photo with us?

My camera is at work - just cut a piece of foam maybe 1/4 inch square and the width of the nut  -  use the tip of a pick to run it under all the strings just past the nut so when it expands it dampens the strings over the headstock.

I'll take some pics in the morning when I get back to the office.

[broKen]

Something very simple that I'm guessing very few are doing - mention of the tuner buttons (headstock area) made me think of it.   ALL of my instruments have a piece of foam under the strings above the nut.   The more lightly built and resonant an instrument is, the more likely there are sympathetic vibrations going on which can interfere with the notes you are trying to play.   Also more important if you tend to be a hard strummer.

Another huge improvement.  If you stand and play and put the guitar against your stomach, don't.  You are severely dampening the resonance of the body and killing tone.

Many of my better instruments I can actually hear the difference with the guitar just hanging on a strap, well away from my body.

You've seen the attachment used to raise the neck of the guitar for sitting players, instead of the foot up thingy, placed under the waist of the guitar. Well I have wondered if someone makes something to hold the guitar away from the body for standing players.

[fitness1]

You've seen the attachment used to raise the neck of the guitar for sitting players, instead of the foot up thingy, placed under the waist of the guitar. Well I have wondered if someone makes something to hold the guitar away from the body for standing players.

I've never seen anything like that - I use the foot stool under my left foot and just let the least amount of the edges of the body touch my leg and torso.
It really does make a huge difference - there's a reason classical players do this!!

[fitness1]

I have never heard of the foam Todd.  Can you share a photo with us?

Forgot about this....

[L07 Shooting Star]

....................Another huge improvement.  If you stand and play and put the guitar against your stomach, don't.  You are severely dampening the resonance of the body and killing tone.

Many of my better instruments I can actually hear the difference with the guitar just hanging on a strap, well away from my body.

Er, some of us with substantial "beer guts" would find this very difficult to accomplish; especially standing.