Reddit Style: Ask me anything!

Started by Matthew Larrivee, August 23, 2016, 12:36:19 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Maybe this question was answered a long time ago but, up to now, I've never gotten a straight answer.

Way back in 2001, I was looking for a good acoustic and after trying a few Martin's, the salesman put a Larrivee L-01 in my hands. It blew every guitar away but, up to that point, I had never heard of Larrivee. I decided to get it anyhow on sound alone. Rumour had it that that run of "01's" was destined for Japan but the deal fell through.

I'm curious on what the true story is behind that run of 01's. People that own them just love them (including Willie Watson and his OM-01 from the same run) and would be great to know the story behind them.

Quote from: homme de fer on August 24, 2016, 10:49:25 AM
Maybe this question was answered a long time ago but, up to now, I've never gotten a straight answer.

Way back in 2001, I was looking for a good acoustic and after trying a few Martin's, the salesman put a Larrivee L-01 in my hands. It blew every guitar away but, up to that point, I had never heard of Larrivee. I decided to get it anyhow on sound alone. Rumour had it that that run of "01's" was destined for Japan but the deal fell through.

I'm curious on what the true story is behind that run of 01's. People that own them just love them (including Willie Watson and his OM-01 from the same run) and would be great to know the story behind them.

Good question. The 01's were steals of a deal. I've had a L-01 (now with my step son in law) and still have my OM-01. Paid less than $400 for each of them. I miss the L but still get to play in occasionally.

I played the heck out of my L-01 since I bought it in 2001 but had a motorcycle accident (hit a bear), broke my wrist, and found 12-fret guitars were WAY more manageable. I picked up an OM-03 MT 12-fret sunburst and haven't been able to put it down since (bought it in January 2015). I played my L-01 again last week for the first time in a long time and that thing is an absolute cannon of a guitar; so bright and loud compared to anything but a D-18. The top has mellowed into a nice yellow colour and time has clearly done it some good. An absolute steal at their price, which is why I'd love to know the story behind it.

I keep thinking, since the all hog bodies are my preference, that maybe I should sell it and get some kind of all hog parlour or 00 size guitar. But I know I'll kick myself if I ever give up that guitar.

Quote from: homme de fer on August 24, 2016, 02:17:29 PM
I played the heck out of my L-01 since I bought it in 2001 but had a motorcycle accident (hit a bear), broke my wrist, and found 12-fret guitars were WAY more manageable. I picked up an OM-03 MT 12-fret sunburst and haven't been able to put it down since (bought it in January 2015). I played my L-01 again last week for the first time in a long time and that thing is an absolute cannon of a guitar; so bright and loud compared to anything but a D-18. The top has mellowed into a nice yellow colour and time has clearly done it some good. An absolute steal at their price, which is why I'd love to know the story behind it.

I keep thinking, since the all hog bodies are my preference, that maybe I should sell it and get some kind of all hog parlour or 00 size guitar. But I know I'll kick myself if I ever give up that guitar.

If you ever wanted to sell it, I'd certainly be interested.   

Quote from: Matthew Larrivee on August 23, 2016, 10:36:19 PM
I think if you were to ask each of us Larrivee's then you'd get different answers – Mostly because as we age our hearing changes and we enjoy different sounds. As you get older you lose high frequency hearing so brighter sounding guitars become more appealing as you compensate for hearing loss. Personally I currently really like Black walnut, and other low-med density woods such as light weight swamp ash and silver oak. The Black walnut / Alpine moon spruce or walnut / walnut are my current favorites.

Do you think the American Black Walnut sounds much different than the Peruvian Walnut?  I have an SD60 walnut over walnut out of Peruvian...  There is  talk on the forum about Walnut/Walnut fairly frequently (it looks so good too!), I am certain the members would like to hear your opinion of both...
George

Quote from: georbro3 on August 24, 2016, 03:20:20 PM
Do you think the American Black Walnut sounds much different than the Peruvian Walnut?  I have an SD60 walnut over walnut out of Peruvian...  There is  talk on the forum about Walnut/Walnut fairly frequently (it looks so good too!), I am certain the members would like to hear your opinion of both...

For those who haven't heard, Larrivee has a limited number of really outstanding Austrian walnut sets.  


Matthew's comments about walnut, and the mention of Austrian walnut, is causing me GAS...

And I just got a new Larrivee this week! 

Help me!
Treenewt

Not many guitar manufactures would genuinely interact with the public/customers this way. The more I see the more convinced I am that Larrivee is truly something special. I hear and feel it in their guitars but also see it through their actions. Unbelievable thread.   
Larrivee D-04W VHS (Peruvian Walnut/Sitka)
Martin 000-28EC (EIR/Sitka)
Martin HD-28 v18 (EIR/Sitka)
Martin OM-21 Special (EIR/Sitka)

They don't build only excellent guitars, the way the Larrivée family talks about the buildingproces of their guitars, the woods, the art of lutherie, shows us the love and passion to create. The beautiful thing is they make their artpieces affordabel to everybody. This kind of tread or any reply on this forum from the Larrivée family shows us that they don't only care about production and money, they care about their customers. This is why I' ve choosen to play Larrivée guitars. Thanks to the family.
Maybe a small question, with all the waxes and oils on the market, use this, don't use that, cheap, expensive, marketing. What does Larrivée recommends to clean and to maintain the good condition of the guitar, beside of wiping down with a soft cloth and keeping the humidity optimal?
Fender Artisan customshop Tamo ash Stratocaster
Fender Artisan customshop Rosewood Telecaster
Olav Loef 00 'Dav L'. 2018
Olav Loef slopeshoulder 'Charlien' 2019
Olav Loef OM/D 8 string 'Otto' 2018
B&G Little Sister lemonburst P90 2015

I almost hesitate to ask, cause I expect I could guess the answer I'll get, but anyway. . .

There's a cutaway offered for the L, the C, the LS, the OM and the P, but to get a cutaway on an OO requires a custom order. Will that ever change?

I have a lovely all mahogany OOV-03 you guys made for me and I love the size and tone.  But my crappy vocal range requires me to capo up to A quite a bit so the cutaway sure comes in handy and I'm craving a spruce top OOV.  :crying: :blush:
Larrivee OO-05 • Larrivee OOV-03 SS • Larrivee OO-44  • Taylor 322ce • Strat • Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/jpmist

Quote from: homme de fer on August 24, 2016, 10:49:25 AM
Maybe this question was answered a long time ago but, up to now, I've never gotten a straight answer.

Way back in 2001, I was looking for a good acoustic and after trying a few Martin's, the salesman put a Larrivee L-01 in my hands. It blew every guitar away but, up to that point, I had never heard of Larrivee. I decided to get it anyhow on sound alone. Rumour had it that that run of "01's" was destined for Japan but the deal fell through.

I'm curious on what the true story is behind that run of 01's. People that own them just love them (including Willie Watson and his OM-01 from the same run) and would be great to know the story behind them.

Well the story of the -01's is mostly true if just incomplete. The -01 was designed at a time when we were in the Canadian shop. The thing to remember as I explain this was at the time was that 1 US dollar was worth about 1.45 Canadian.

So different markets around the world have different requirements because of different economic situations. Distributors in a few countries, particularly in Japan, were struggling with high end guitars because of a strong US Dollar. Even when we were in Canada all of the guitars we produced were sold in US Dollars. A few of our distributors expressed a need for a low cost guitar to help get through the times where the exchange rate was weak for them.

In turn we delivered the -01 series to these markets. The only way it was possible was to leverage the weakness of the Canadian dollar. They were generally very similar to the -03 series, but without binding.

Occasionally we would have a few extra -01's (or in one instant a distributor had to cancel a large order due to the exchange rate) and those we would release to a select few domestic dealers.

Today a guitar like the -01 is not feasible. We just can't make a low end guitar to save our lives – Mostly because we just don't want to build with inferior materials and methods – Everytime we design a new guitar we say things like "no we don't want to use laminates" or "No we don't want to do a bolt on" and so on and so forth.

Quote from: georbro3 on August 24, 2016, 03:20:20 PM
Do you think the American Black Walnut sounds much different than the Peruvian Walnut?  I have an SD60 walnut over walnut out of Peruvian...  There is  talk on the forum about Walnut/Walnut fairly frequently (it looks so good too!), I am certain the members would like to hear your opinion of both...

They both produce distinctive tones. From a builders stand point I prefer the Black Walnut as it works a lot better. It's also a very environmentally friendly wood as the black walnut we use is a byproduct of the laminate industry. It's air dried which is a huge plus and there is a lot of it out there. We originally started working heavily with walnut because of fallout from the Gibson legal mess; Indian Rosewood shipments were halted until the harmonized tariff code mess was sorted out. We needed to search for a rosewood alternative and we've always liked walnut. We started with Peruvian walnut which is not a true walnut because it was available very quickly, but the supplier wasn't able to secure it fast enough so we started working with the Black walnut. We just heard recently that Indian Rosewood may gain CITES protection in the next few months which has the potential to alter the supply. This is part of the reason why we are doing larger runs of different dark woods such as Laurel and Walnut. It creates a win win situation for everyone.

I hate to use the cliche "It's half way between mahogany and rosewood" but Peruvian is much more similar to mahogany, and black walnut is really half way between the two.

Quote from: Davy Vanthuyne on August 24, 2016, 05:46:15 PM
Maybe a small question, with all the waxes and oils on the market, use this, don't use that, cheap, expensive, marketing. What does Larrivée recommends to clean and to maintain the good condition of the guitar, beside of wiping down with a soft cloth and keeping the humidity optimal?

For satin finish I would use lighter fluid like Ronsonol. Put it on a micro fiber cloth then gently wipe down.

For Gloss I would use a good guitar polish. We use Ken Smith polish at the factory.

Hello Matthew, thanks for taking time to answer our questions.
A few years ago the ooo was offered with a 1 13/16" nut , twelve fret neck. Would you customize an L with that neck? A couple years ago Wildwood music had a 12 fret L, but with a cutaway.  I was sore tempted but passed anyway. Thanks again
A Hebrew, under the Spell
Pain is a good thing

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for being accessible this way.

How does the used market factor into your plans?

Someone attributed this sentiment to Jean, that the greatest competition for new Larrivée sales is used Larrivées.  However that shakes out, I get the impression that many sales of used Larrivées are existing customers making room for a new Larrivée acquisition. In that respect, it's a wash. And, if this forum is a microcosm of the world, then buyers of used Larrivées are also great prospects for a new one someday. 

Enough of rambling.

Back to the question: How does the used market factor into your plans?

Thanks Matthew!

Thanks for doing this Matthew! How very gracious of you!  :+1:  :thumb

Matthew,

Thanks for this thread.

I have two questions.

1)  Does Larrivee use a PLEK machine/process and, if so, how is that working out?

2)  If Larrivee does not use a PLEK machine/process, why?

Quote from: Walkerman on August 24, 2016, 03:48:47 PM
For those who haven't heard, Larrivee has a limited number of really outstanding Austrian walnut sets.  



Outstanding Steve!  Thanks for the share.  I do believe this thread is going to be the New Never Ending one for as long as Matthew wants to participate...   :thumb
George

Quote from: georbro3 on August 25, 2016, 03:17:44 PM
  I do believe this thread is going to be the New Never Ending one for as long as Matthew wants to participate...   :thumb
Yes, why ask the Forum when you can go to The Man himself  :?
Larrivee Electrics - My Dream then and Now!!!!!<br /><br />Forum IV     00-03MT       #4      (Treasured)

Can this thread be thumb tacked to the main forum page so we can find and check it regularly...

Would be a great reference tool, too....    :guitar

Powered by EzPortal