Need Help - 1985 LS-2 Neck - was it satin or gloss?

[YW84U]

Hi All,

Looking for someone who has (or has a fantastic memory) a Larrivee LS from the mid 80's....

Short Story:

Back in 86, I had ordered a custom LS-4 H/S/S from Larrivee, and absolutely loved that guitar. Fast forward to 1992, I was getting married, young and broke....and ended up selling it and some other gear to buy my wife's wedding rings. I loved her more (and still do)  :)

Years pass, life gets busy... but last year we were reminiscing about 'back then' and I had mentioned that it would be hard to find an LS-4 nowadays. Out of the blue last month on Valentine's, she presented me with my gift - a 1985 LS-2 H/H she had been fervently bidding on... Needless to say, I was (and am still) in awe of her efforts and thoughtfulness! The guitar appears to have endured a rough journey - although it had original hardware, it had been swapped in/out god knows how many times, finish was missing in several areas, and had a few extra holes from someone who got easily excited by phillips screwdrivers. I wanted to restore it back to its best version of itself, and so began my journey...

I removed the remnants of original hardware for safe keeping, and began sourcing out the original hardware I had on my custom build. New Kahler 2315, 5514 locks, Schaller M6 minis to replace the wrecked Charvels, knobs, switch, and for pickups decided to give the Fishman FLuence Moderns a go. The finish on the guitar was a gunmetal black, shot overtop of a metallic blue with all of the hardware chromed. The neck was also painted to match, all in gloss (what was left of it!).

I gave some serious thought about the best way to refinish it and keep it as original as possible, and ended up contacting Rob and John in North Van who offer refinishing services. As it turned out John was the head painter for Larrivee for 30 years, and Rob worked there in R&D from 95 onwards. I saw their work, and could not think of a better way to stay as true to the guitar as I could  :)  However, after some discussion and lengthy reflection, I've opted to do a color change from gunmetal body and neck back to my original color scheme.

For the life of me, I'm trying to remember whether my original guitar had satin or gloss finish on the neck....best I can recall, the black headstock was glossy, and the neck was satin-ish. Definitely not super gloss, but it was not super dull satin like the $150 Fender Squier-band-in-a-box type of finish either...

Does anyone here have a guitar from that era that can help me determine the 'proper' neck finish? I'm not sure if they trended towards using one over the other, but I have this nagging feeling it was satin.... John seems to recall it was a satin as well, but not 100% certain either.

Any assistance in this regard is greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Tom

[headsup]

it appears that the necks on my eighties Larrivee electrics are all finished with the same gloss sheen and colour as the body, dunno if thats any help...

[ducktrapper]

it appears that the necks on my eighties Larrivee electrics are all finished with the same gloss sheen and colour as the body, dunno if thats any help...

That's my experience, as well.

[JOYCEfromNS]

That's my experience, as well.

Yes but that's not to say there were a few customs done by Larrivee. But as Kevin indicated, for most part, every one I have come across (and that's a good many) they had gloss sheen and colour as the body

[Cybercanyon]

All of my Larrivee LT/LS I have or have had were gloss or semi-gloss finish on the neck.
Some matched the body color (gloss) and some were natural (gloss or semi-gloss}.
I have seen first hand one custom LS with with a natural satin finish neck.