My first Larrivee - 2003 L10 QM

[Jason Fletcher]

G'day from Australia!   

I've just bought my first Larrivee guitar - indeed the first one I've ever encountered. I'd visited the Acoustic Centre in Melbourne to try an all koa Taylor 26CE, a blonde Gibson J200, a Martin CEO-7, and a Martin D42, when I spied the most extraordinary looking guitar, which had insanely quilted maple back and sides, and exquisit inlay work. After playing it, I knew it was the guitar for me.

Further research revealed that it's a Larrivee L-10 QM (quilted maple), with flamed maple binding, stika spruce top, Mucha head stock inlay, ebony fingerboard, bridge and tuner buttons, and what appears to be a mahogany neck.

I was told that the guitar had been made for a guitar show, and assumed that it had been recently built, because it was in almost mint condition. I searched the Larrivee serial number database and discovered that the guitar was actually made back in 2003, which didn't bother me at all, because I rarely buy new guitars - most of my instruments are vintage stock.

The guitar sounds every bit as good as it looks and I couldn't be happier with it. I'd love to find out more about it though, because I've been able to locate very little information about this particular model and haven't found much at all about many Larrivee guitars having such highly figured maple back and sides.







Thanks,

Jason

[broKen]

Wow, love it! Nice pics too

[JOYCEfromNS]

. I'd love to find out more about it though, because I've been able to locate very little information about this particular model and haven't found much at all about many Larrivee guitars having such highly figured maple back and sides.

Jason

Jason  very beautiful guitar.

Not sure what additional info you seek. You know its birthdate, wood composition and it being built for a guitar show. Obvious a custom. Not many L-10QM's that I have seen through the years and certainly not one prettier

[unclrob]

 




LOve maple body acoustic guitars and thats one nice looking guitar,CONGRATS now you need to look up Obiwan who is also from down under,he started the Thread Ender thread.

[mattwood]

WOW!!!  What a stunning guitar!  Can you tell us anything about how it sounds compared to other guitars that you have?  I've always wondered how a Larrivee maple would sound compared to other builder's maple in terms of brightness/warmth, etc.  I know that a Larrivee mahogany has it's own rich sound.  Congratulations!

[Mikeymac]

Congrats, Jason - you found quite a guitar there...nice score!

Larrivee doesn't make maple guitars as a standard item, but over the years, when they've done maple (either flamed or quilted) it's been incredible. You will learn as you hang around here that Jean Larrivee, the founder of the company (who turned 72 today!) STILL travels the world himself to select the woods for his guitars... and the man knows wood. He sells wood sets to other guitar builders (the ones that he doesn't keep for himself).

I've never had any experience with maple guitars either, but one of the nicest Larrivees I've heard lately has been a maple one - maybe it's just the recording, but you can't make a recording lie - it can only give back what you feed it.

This one on YouTube. Listen to this through some good speakers and you'll be amazed!

[rockstar_not]

Quite possibly the most famous acoustic guitar player in the world today, Tommy Emmanuel, from Oz, is also a Larrivée fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uscSMtEvjuI&list=PL860DDEF73201B319&index=5

I vote that this show up in GOTM for July.  Did you take the pix?  

OK, a few more Tommy song links on his Larry - nobody minds, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f_xcrk5vhQ&list=PL860DDEF73201B319&index=3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsPcb0FHGSs&list=PL860DDEF73201B319&index=4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apXSU8F8zWs&index=2&list=PL860DDEF73201B319

[Jason Fletcher]

Quite possibly the most famous acoustic guitar player in the world today, Tommy Emmanuel, from Oz, is also a Larrivée fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uscSMtEvjuI&list=PL860DDEF73201B319&index=5

I vote that this show up in GOTM for July.  Did you take the pix? 

I was fortunate enough to see Tommy play at Australia House in London a few years back - what an entertainer!

The pictures were taken by the people who sold me the guitar. Here's a few more..

[Jason Fletcher]

Jason  very beautiful guitar.

Not sure what additional info you seek. You know its birthdate, wood composition and it being built for a guitar show. Obvious a custom. Not many L-10QM's that I have seen through the years and certainly not one prettier

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! 

I guess I was hoping that since the guitar is so distinctive looking, that perhaps someone on the forum had encountered it previously. The store had another Larrivee next to this one, so I have a suspicion that a local collector was thinning their guitar collection.

[Jason Fletcher]

WOW!!!  What a stunning guitar!  Can you tell us anything about how it sounds compared to other guitars that you have?  I've always wondered how a Larrivee maple would sound compared to other builder's maple in terms of brightness/warmth, etc.  I know that a Larrivee mahogany has it's own rich sound.  Congratulations!

It has a bright tone, but sounds vibrant right across the sonic spectrum. The bass notes are deep and rich and the whole thing practically chimes when a chord is strummed. By comparison, the koa Taylor sounded really mellow - in a good way. I suspect that it would have been a guitar that really opened up as the timbers aged. The Gibson (which also had a maple back and sides) sounded dead - it didn't grab me in any way at all. The CEO-7 was bright too, but with the smaller body, didn't quite have the bass punch that Larrivee had. It was a very lovely instrument to play.  The Martin D42 sounded lovely and had its bridge shaved, so that the action was slightly lower than stock Martin's, so felt great to play too. It was telling that there was simply no comparison between these other very high-end guitars, some of which cost several thousands of dollars more than the Larrivee, and the L-10.

[markj]

WOW!  What beautiful guitar!

Welcome to the family!

[flatlander]

Oh yea! That's a classic there. Congrats on you find.

[Denis]

 I so love how sitka darkens like that over time!  Nice guitar!  Congrats and welcome to the forum Jason!

[George]

Congratulations and Welcome to the Best Forum...  I have an L-04 QM and it is absolutely one of my very favorite Larrivee's...

[Mikeymac]

Congratulations and Welcome to the Best Forum...  I have an L-04 QM and it is absolutely one of my very favorite Larrivee's...

Pics, George? I'd like to see yours, too! 

[George]

Pics, George? I'd like to see yours, too! 

Certainly Rev, happy to share...

[B0WIE]

What a stunner!  Congrats!  Larrivee does great things with maple, I can say that first-hand.

[photodork]

stunning guitar and wonderful photos. that one is a keeper! congrats!

[Jason Fletcher]

I have another guitar that has maple sides and back and spruce top. It's a 1942 Gretsch Synchromatic 200. During the war years, when a lot of American factories were helping manufacture munitions and other military items, materials for their own products were limited, so the 200 was a slightly smaller bodied version of Gretsch's 400 jumbo acoustic. The Synchromatics of the time had really cool 'cats eye' sound holes. The maple back of my guitar is almost like a 3D hologram. It moves and changes as your rotate the guitar in front of your eyes.

[markj]