Reddit Style: Ask me anything!

[ducktrapper]

I have to agree with that. While, as a Canadian living in the US, I'd also be interested to hear Matthew's take on these, it is against the rules of the forum and a tangent from this thread.  

[Krugie_Mtl]

Hello Matthew !

Another question: We see the love and care you put in following your dad's legacy of crafting beautiful instruments. Wendy Larrivée's own work is beautiful and unique. As time goes by, is there a way to transmit that art to others in the
company ?

On the same note, can you tell us a bit more about inlay crafting on a day-to-day basis ?

[JOYCEfromNS]

Hopefully not too far off topic, but besides guitars do you just for fun make anything else in wood?

[SMan]

I would say that my home is a mix of styles. I live in an older home in a fantastic family neighborhood. I have a few really nice pieces of furniture include a beautiful flamed rock maple dining room table stained dark brown. I live quite simply and don't need or wont for much. If I had my way though, and a quadrillion dollars, I would live in an old California craftsman home a-la Greene and Greene like the Gamble House (enjoy googling that!)

As for other projects, I just built this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-a-3D-end-grain-cutting-board-1/ from walnut and maple

Thanks for your reply and the google reference to the Gamble House Matthew! A beautiful home.  I love the craftsman style as well and have visited Frank Lloyd Wright"s Taliesin West in Scottsdale.

[Matthew Larrivee]

I would love to hear how you rectify personal freedom with faith in government.  Given the fact that the US Constitution and our Bill of Rights were meant as curbs against any government infringing upon our personal rights and freedom of faith.  These were not based upon "faith in government and financial instructions."  Here, we believe in individual freedom.  Anyhow, we used to.  Now, voters believe in "what can the government (i.e. Taxpayers) give me.

Sorry if I was unclear. I didn't mean faith as in religion, I meant faith as in confidence. As in Canadians hold a different view of the competency of their government.

[Matthew Larrivee]

Sitka or Adirondack? Care to weigh in on that controversy Matthew?   

They're different animals and not totally fair to compare. Kind of like rosewood v mahogany – Their different. The problem I have with Adirondack is that the good stuff is mostly gone. Sure there are nice pieces still out there still at an insane premium. The last time I bought an adi top I paid 14x the cost of Sitka and I wouldn't say the guitar was any better or worse. What I will say about adi is that it is so over harvested and as such we're seeing wider grained soundboards. Both JCL and I prefer the slightly wider grained tops tonally. The wide grained spruce tops fit really well on the -40's -50's and -60's.
If given a choice between great adi and sitka I would be hard pressed to choose, average adi and sitka I would choose sitka. Between Moonwood and any adi moonwood wins hands down.

[Matthew Larrivee]

Tonewood questions:

Former Employee Ed Bond seems very fond of Lutz Spruce as a topwood.   Your thoughts on using Lutz?

Breedlove is making some fantastic guitars out of Myrtlewood.  Any plans on using Myrtle in the future?

Any chance of getting any more Englelmann topped guitars like my 1998 OM-03R?  I'd love a OO EIR and Engelmann or Black Walnut and Engelmann sized Larrivee.

Lutz is a fine option, just not one we use. Not for any particular reason, we just are happy with what we offer.

Nothing wrong with myrtle, just havent found the right lumber yet. If we found the right lumber then yes absolutely.

Right now i'd say no on the englemann. However if you bought your own englemann top and sent it to us, we would build with your soundboard - however you would have to accept all the risk in case the piece gets damaged during build. We have two builds right now were people are using their own wood.

[JOYCEfromNS]

80's Larrivee electrics:

What do you think of them? How would you compare them to what you did in the modern era?

Also the  sequential chronological serial number list that used to be on a uk website ( http://www.larrivee-electrics.co.uk/index.htm ) do you have this list or something as detailed and if so can we somehow get it posted to this forum. There are a couple members who have it but never sent it to me 

[Cybercanyon]

I attached a partial list of the Larrivee 80's electric guitars.  I have other partial lists that I am working on.  I am also rebuilding the larrivee-electrics website that I had up over a year ago.  Things have been complicated for me due to illness and forced retirement.  I also have recently moved to Peoria, Arizona and am still sorting through boxes of guitars, computer stuff and other assorted items.  Sorry Andrew for the delay.

Mike

[jpmist]

This might be a touchy topic, but I was curious about "B" guitars - those that made it thru the manufacturing process but for some cosmetic glitch or other can't be sent off to dealers.   

What happens to those? Is there an informal outlet for those that won't offend your brick and mortar dealers?

And thanks for taking the time for our questions!   

[sdelsolray]

Matthew,

I am repeating some questions I asked early in this thread but were missed:

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?

[ducktrapper]

My 80's Larrivee electric, a tele-like thing, is a wonderful little guitar. I love the "hideous"* little beast.

* hideous is the term used by Matthew to describe it.   

[strangeman]

Hello,

What is the current daily/monthly/annual  output of guitars at Larrivee? I seem to recall being told it was 22 per day back in early 2015 when I visited the shop. Perhaps my memory fails me.

Thank you! 

[Presc]

Here's a question: one common critique I hear on other forums of Larrivees is that they tend to be "tight" or "overbuilt".  How would you respond to that?  Some makes, like Martin, have different levels of trim and offer lighter bracing patterns as you move up the price scale.  Has Larrivee ever considered something along these lines?  My understanding is that the higher series are differentiated by cosmetics and wood grades, but not construction.

Happy OM-40R owner here and don't mean to be provocative.  Just curious.

[ducktrapper]

Here's a question: one common critique I hear on other forums of Larrivees is that they tend to be "tight" or "overbuilt". 

I'm not Matthew but anyone who says that is a partisan who won't give another guitar other than the one he likes the time of day. It's utter nonsense. Your OM-40R isn't lying to you. Enjoy the **** out of it!   

[Strings4Him]

Here's a question: one common critique I hear on other forums of Larrivees is that they tend to be "tight" or "overbuilt".  How would you respond to that?  Some makes, like Martin, have different levels of trim and offer lighter bracing patterns as you move up the price scale.  Has Larrivee ever considered something along these lines?  My understanding is that the higher series are differentiated by cosmetics and wood grades, but not construction.

Happy OM-40R owner here and don't mean to be provocative.  Just curious.

I have heard this in the past and would also like Matthew's response to set the record straight :)

[unclrob]

I like it tight...I like it overbuilt........they last longer and sound great....maybe thats why I like them they remind me of my Guilds and I've got couple of over 40 years old and still gigging on them.

[L07 Shooting Star]

Overbuilt, Underbuilt.  That's so utterly subjective.  And who is the expert that determines the criteria to define such a classification?  Some guy on one or more guitar forums?  In the big picture, what does it matter anyways?  Are you going to accept or reject a Larrivee guitar that you've tried out based on whether or not some "expert" has classified it as over or under built?  Wouldn't you just play it and just decide whether you liked it or not?

All that said, it seems Matt has taken on more than he can keep up with in terms of keeping current and providing responses to this topic.

[ducktrapper]

Overbuilt, Underbuilt.  That's so utterly subjective.  And who is the expert that determines the criteria to define such a classification?  Some guy on one or more guitar forums?  In the big picture, what does it matter anyways?  Are you going to accept or reject a Larrivee guitar that you've tried out based on whether or not some "expert" has classified it as over or under built?  Wouldn't you just play it and just decide whether you liked it or not?

All that said, it seems Matt has taken on more than he can keep up with in terms of keeping current and providing responses to this topic.

I guess underbuilt would be easy to prove, the guitar flies apart when you tune it up? Overbuilt?

[mlejeune67]

Here's a question: one common critique I hear on other forums of Larrivees is that they tend to be "tight" or "overbuilt".  How would you respond to that?  Some makes, like Martin, have different levels of trim and offer lighter bracing patterns as you move up the price scale.  Has Larrivee ever considered something along these lines?  My understanding is that the higher series are differentiated by cosmetics and wood grades, but not construction.

Happy OM-40R owner here and don't mean to be provocative.  Just curious.

Matthew provided this response below to a similar question back in 2011 in this thread.  http://www.larriveeforum.com/smf/index.php?topic=36143.0  It's also interesting to note that even the standard design has evolved over the years.  So they can and do change the bracing.  I hope that Matthew is able to provide a response on this again since it was 5 years ago and it would be interesting to hear his thoughts now.

"To be a little frank, I have to get say I get a little annoyed by the "larrivee's are overbraced" comments – and here's why:

Every guitar maker faces a dilemma in the design of bracing – Strength, or Tone. One of the key ways that the tone of an acoustic guitar can be "altered" (Notice that I didn't say improved) is by thinning out the woods (back/sides/top/braces), but this comes at a price. Reducing the thickness of wood increases the instruments susceptibility to structural changes due to string tension, impact damage, and worst of all climatic damage. Often times the differences in tones between two different manufacturers comes down to which way they have leaned in the strength-tone dilemma.

I don't believe our guitars to be over or under built – I find them to be a perfect balance of tone and strength. This was my father's intention, and an important lesson that both my brother and I have carefully learned.

I've been reading these online discussions as far back as RMMGA – and as I recall the "over-braced" comment came from someone who was selling brace shaving services (not just on Larrivee Guitars). Then as the internet goes someone read it and repeated it, then someone else repeated it, and so forth. The seller, in my opinion, was an uneducated "luthier" who looked at our bracing and saw that it didn't look like a martin and thus thought it was overbraced – not thinking that parabolic bracing was an intentional design. Often times these types of claims are made by people who have not even built a guitar, or maybe built one or two (and somehow they know better than someone who has built over 100,000 instruments).

Altering the bracing on a Larrivee simply makes the guitar sound less like a Larrivee and less like Jean intended. The JCL guitar that we made in 2007 did not have "thinner" bracing – It was simply an exact replica of the bracing we did in the 1970's. In fact several of the braces are THICKER on the JCL. The bridge plate (directly under the bridge) is thicker and larger than other guitars from the 2007 era. The X-brace is rounder around the sound hole, but that doesn't necessarily make it better – it was replicated because that is the way the original was done – it's just different. More likely, the tone difference noted on the JCL's is a result of the soundboards from Jean's stash – They were master grade soundboards for a reason.
Matt."