Larrivee OM-03BH

thomasross20

Agree re the meet and greet btw, will skip and use the cash for a new capo. 

thomasross20

Here's the Bhilwara on a parlour:

thomasross20

Gig was good, unfortunately was feeling quite ill and also forgot my custom earplugs as was loud. It was a guitar spectacular though I preferred the quieter tunes without all the slap banging, and I'll take that note for myself going forward - keep it simple and about the tune and throw in the human voice as that adds the ultimate element imo. 

thomasross20

Ugh not feeling great but just got home and decided to do a video of all my Larrivee's

Thinking have got one too many. Didn't do justice to the OM-02 as has very old strings on. Really enjoying the Bhilwara.

Mellish

Nice collection, Thomas. Enjoyed that  

guitarjack66

thomasross20 said:

Ugh not feeling great but just got home and decided to do a video of all my Larrivee's

Thinking have got one too many. Didn't do justice to the OM-02 as has very old strings on. Really enjoying the Bhilwara.

That P-03,Parlour I assume? Was a lovely little guitar. The OMs still look big and chunky to me. They sound great but the are still quite chunky at the lower bout. Congrats on being brave enough to video and play. You are way beyond my ability. Kudos.

Mellish

@guitarjack66 Yeh, OMs are still big at the lower bout. They're more comfortable than a dread, though, because of that narrower waist and reduced body depth. 

 

thomasross20

Yeah I much prefer OM to dread... 

P-03 parlour is amazing (I really like the sound). Only thing now is I'm aware I could have had the same guitar in Bhilwara which is practically same but with more bottom end. Listening to vid on phone speaker is a bit naff, defo get the sub-woofer out lol

Btw let me know if you preferred one over the others etc. I got the OM40 as is basically the OM02 with more bass but frequently wonder if surplus to requirements 

thomasross20

Just realised I need to learn how to record acoustic better as the sound in my video SUCKS
I use an SM58 and RODE NT1 into Toneport. Hmm.

Last two lunchtimes I went into my local to try guitars. 

I specifically went back this afternoon with my OM-02 (freshly restrung and sounding AMAZING) to compare to a Martin Custom adirondack sinker (adi top was WOW.... very strong sound.... and in general, this guitar had a special feel and sound). Well, Somebody bought it 1 hour before I got there and I'm not surprised because it felt and sounded like one of those special guitars. And TBH I'm sort of glad as it was £5500 that I don't really have. 

I checked again the other models but none could stand up to my humble £600 Larrivee. 

Luckily they had some other models I always wanted to try. 

Maton EG808 with the australian maple (edit - think it was blackwood...) - sounded very good. Deeper than Larrive, more bass - not as brilliant a treble sound. But very good - great price. Felt a bit heavier than the Larry. 

Collings OM-1 Julian Lage - this sounded really good. Very hi-fi, even just hitting the open E sounded good. Worth £6k more than my Larry? No way. Need to check the nut width as felt cramped so don't think it was 1-3/4".

Lowden with fiddleback mahogany - tbh prefer the more traditional type guitars now, didn't blow me away. 

An all mahogany 12 fret Atkin which sounded AMAZING. Maybe even the best. BUT it has this V neck shape which was never going to work for me. I will need to check their other models... 

So I'm breathing a sigh of relief in that I didn't spend money I don't really have. I do wish the Martin was in to try against but have a suspicion that vs the Larry, it wouldn't have warranted the cost. Still feel good about the quality, feel and sound of my Larrivee's for the price point. My old OM-02 honestly is just fantastic - with new strings on, the harmonic brilliance is astounding. I do wonder at times who worked on my particular one as it feels lightly built, resonates so much... one of the older Canadian models. It is my #1 guitar. I love them all, to be honest lol...


EDIT - forgot to mention I also finally tried out a J45... great strumming guitar. Dreads too big for me, though. 

So I restrung the OM03BH with new gauge 11 strings. Most Larrivees other than the parlours are 25.5" scale length and putting 11s on makes it play easier (maybe a bit like emulating shorter scale length tension) and to my ears, sound better. And it sounds phenomenal... I am super happy with this guitar. 

The reason I wanted to check Martin out is Larrivee excels for fingerstyle but for strumming, it can be a tad treble-heavy. I think the Martin sound is potentially better for the strumming. Saying that, I do fingerstyle nine times out of ten (preferring the thumb to picks tbh).

This acoustic journey is interesting!

thomasross20

I did another video as audio on last one was dire

guitarjack66

Certainly beats those Thomann demos.

thomasross20

Thanks - any comments fire away! I'll have to check these Thomann demoes

I still am thinking about a Martin for the earthier tone OR a custom 12 fret cutaway Larrivee shorter scale length. I really am liking smaller guitars 

Mellish

@thomasross20 ; which Martin have you got in mind?

This OM-28 Re-imagined sounds so good. I've got it strung with D'Addario EJ16 12-53.


 

thomasross20

I tried an OOO18 Adirondack + sinker mahogany which sounded pretty good. I went in next day to AB Vs my Larrivee but somebody had bought it. Problem is it cost £££

Mellish

Yes, I remember you saying. That's what can happen. It's happened to me. A guitar that would have left me potless snatched away by someone else when I went to the other end of the store to talk to the wall.

 

thomasross20

Actually couldn't believe it lol. 
However at £5500 my £600 OM02 was comparable

 

I think Martin sounds great out of the box and Larrivee needs to mature 

thomasross20

Mellish said:

Yes, I remember you saying. That's what can happen. It's happened to me. A guitar that would have left me potless snatched away by someone else when I went to the other end of the store to talk to the wall.

 

You should do a demo of your Martin!

Mellish

I'm old school. Trying to teach me to post pics or demos... Well, I just don't get how you do that  stuff. Maybe if I had the time.......

 

thomasross20

No worries

Tannin

thomasross20 said:

Maton EG808 with the australian maple - sounded very good. Deeper than Larrive, more bass - not as brilliant a treble sound. But very good - great price. Felt a bit heavier than the Larry. 

That would be the EBG808TE yes? The cheapest one Google shows me in the UK is £2249. Here they are £1510. OK, you are paying 20% tax instead of 10% and a hundred quid or so for freight - so the UK price ought to be under £1800. (And people talk about the Martin tax.,)

--------------------------------------

Thanks for the video! Very interesting. One of these days I'll do something similar with my little lot. (Don't hold your breath, when it comes to recording I really do have all the gear and absolutely no friggin' idea.) 

The sweet little P-03 is too dry for me, and too middly with an over-sharp attack .... until you switch to fingerstyle, when it really comes alive. I like the body of the OM-02, it'd got some oomph (bigger body mostly, but that Sapele works). And the richness of the OM-03BH speaks for itself. It is rich but not cloying, sweet but not saccharine. On balance, tyhat'sd the one I'd have out of the three, though the OM-02 rings my bells too,.

It is really useful to have the three guitars laid out like that in the video. And the one thing that stands out sat the end of it is that, no matter which one you play,  after 5 or 10 seconds, my ear grows accustomed to the sound and it works just fine. The moral of the story here  is that any well-made guitar will sound just fine in the hands of someone who can play. 

And the second conclusion to come to from my listening is that, yes.  you are right, different guitars work better for different tunes. All three of them shine at one point or another. 

Here in Ballarat (where I am for a month or so) I'm finding that I'm not playing as much as I do at home, and one of the reasons is that I have just the one guitar with me. At home I have several and choose the one that fits the mood of the moment. Result, I nearly always have a guitar which seems like a good thing to play at any particular time. Here with just the one guitar, I sometimes pick it up and it doesn't seem to be doing the business so I put it down. At home, I do that and simply pick up another one. 

And one more lesson from that. Some guitars are more versatile than other guitars. I've come over here before with only one guitar. I found only having the Guild was very restrictive (it's a one trick pony). I find that only having the Huon Pine Angel is moderately restrictive - it's a great guitar but it does what it does. (And it doesn't do what it doesn't do.) On the other hand, I found that only having the Maton dread (cedar over Queensland Maple) was just fine. It's a great all-rounder, good for any style, more versatile than anything else I own. The WA May (spruce and Blackwood) is next best in that regard (but I don't travel with that guitar - too expensive!) and the Messiah (spruce and rosewood) is another one it's OK to have as an only guitar. 

So which of your three would pass my "only one guitar" test? Either of the larger ones, but given the choice I'd take the OM-03BH.