Larrivee OM-03BH

Kilgore

VimFuego said:

I think it's fair to say you are now the big boss of the larrivee fan club. 

 The Victor Kiam of Larrivee.

"I liked it so much, I bought the company."

thomasross20

Hahaha I will buy this company dammit!

@Tannin a very well thought out response, thank you!

P-03:
I LOVE it. 24" scale length is so easy to play.
12 fret (so bridge lower down) gives it oomph (growl) in the sound. 
Folk say the OO is much better as for that little bit body size increase you get a bigger sound but... I WANT the parlour sound.
I thought 12 frets would be an issue but who actually goes higher? I don't very often so it's more comfortable due to reduced reach.I can't overstate just how comfortable this is to play, and how much it makes you want to pick up and play. I think this will open up in time (as is new) and I love that middy sound. When recording, it will really cut through (I have plans for some acoustic recordings).
Definitely suits fingerstyle best. 

OM-02:
I took this into local shop to compare to other guitars and it did very well against them. 
20 years old and has aged very well. 
Sapele I think has more shimmer in trebles than mahogany but often I wonder about an OM-05 ("proper" mahogany)
--> Would be a waste as would be so similar I'd sell one (which I'm doing with my OM40, which I'll come onto). 
I love the sound of mahogany though I understand re "dyness" (reverb in recording can help)
I do think mahogany has its own natural reverb and syrupy tone which I love. 
Rosewood always seemed to lack a touch of character for me, made up for by its overtones. But I can appreciate it, too. 

OM-03BH:
I can get the bass response of the OM40 with this without the scalloped bracing. 
Thus I get to keep the brilliance in the mids/trebles that non-scalloped Larrivee's have. 
It's the most mahogany-like rosewood I've tried and the moonwood top does make a difference to the sound (clearer and mellower in a good way). 
It is a joy to play and suits more open string vista-type pieces lol... 

OM40:
I have discovered I prefer non-scalloped guitars. 
I know scalloping isn't the only way to get more bass (Goodall shaves the top, iirc, to get the same effect). 
By definition, I don't want an unbalanced instrument. More bass thump = reduction in mid/treble brilliance. 
Easy to EQ more bass in but hard to edit out extra bass. Balanced is the way for me, personally. 
Non-scalloped also feel better to play, to me - a spongey feel, can drive them harder, too. 
And non-scalloped is a stronger top so less likely to belly. 
BUT I can also appreciate the sound if I shift to a more bass/mids-based listening approach. 
I am going to move this as is similar to the OM-02 and I prefer the OM-02. 

I like the sound of Blackwood, btw. The TE guitar (I believe scalloped!) has nice bass response and almost the same treble brilliance as my OM-02. I think blackwood has more character than rosewood. 

Agree that the ear adjusts to what it's hearing... I could play the parlour for hours and think it's the best sounding guitar ever. Then I pick up the OM-03BH and the cavernous sound is like "wow..." 

So......... today I spied a very rare Larrivee O-01 with cedar top and walnut back and sides (used). 2002 model before they ramped the prices on the parlours. I pulled the trigger. I keep hearing this combo is special and it's a rarity for Larrivee so I've gone for it. I think I found an old listing for the same guitar and the binding is very slightly pulling away in two places but if all it needs is to be glued back on then that should be fine. 

One ultimate all-rounder would be great but never going to happen  
Thanks for the comments!

Tannin

Good stuff - very interesting reading. The TE Matons (EBG808TE or EBG808TEC if it has a cutaway) is Queensland Maple, not Blackwood. Different sound. (I love both.) (There is a third TE Maton, the TE Personal, which is hand-made in the custom shop and three times the price. These glorious things are the ones Tommy actually plays. I have my eye on one ... but not this year, alas.) 

Matons generally (and indeed most Australian guitars) are more heavily braced than American guitars. They tend to be very tough and durable, and to have a different sort of sound, well-balanced and happy to be played pretty hard. I love them (but of course I grew up on them).

 I'm not convinced that scalloped vs non-scalloped is the key here, I think it's more about the overall weight and stiffness of the combined top and bracing. However there are certain models from particular makers where  the scalloped / non-scalloped distinction provides a convenient hook to hang the differences on, if you know what I mean.

Cedar and walnut .... very hard to go past that pairing. A great find! Maybe I'll go that way with my Brook when the time comes, but for that we will have to wait and see.

PS: I pointed my brother at a used Larrivee a few months ago and he duly bought it. A spruce and rosewood dreadnought if I remember correctly. (He likes rosewood.) He lives at the other end of the state so I haven't been over there to try it out yet. 

thomasross20

Ah has he given a review? 

Yes the TE guitars... They are really good. Top marks. 

Have you seen the "boutique guitar store" YouTube videos? Same guy playing exact same lick for years on different boutique guitars. It's brilliant. So I was listening last night and there is definitely something about a cedar top that sounds fantastic, particularly over hard back and sides wood. Lowden obviously do this well - excited now!

tomjax

thomasross20 said:...

 there is definitely something about a cedar top that sounds fantastic, particularly over hard back and sides wood. Lowden obviously do this well - excited now!

My tastes were firmly in the spruce/rosewood camp (even my J45 has a rosewood body) until a cedar/rosewood Kronbauer guitar came into my collection.

It has a beautiful, rounded and resonant tone, it's now my go to guitar, especially when I have it tuned to DADGAD. I agree, cedar over a hardwood can be a really special combination.

I'd love to find a cedar/ebony, and thinking of a custom build in those woods.

Tannin

tomjax said:

I'd love to find a cedar/ebony, and thinking of a custom build in those woods.

The softest available top, and the hardest available back! An interesting notion.

Well,  almost the hardest. Rather than quote raw figures, I find it useful to think in terms of relative hardness compared to something common and familiar. In those terms, ebony is 3.52 times as hard as Honduran Mahogany. On the reasonably well-known tonewoods, only African Blackwood is harder at 4.04 times the hardness of mahogany. And of course, Western Red Cedar is the softest commonly used topwood at 0.39 relative to mahogany at 1.0. For comparison, Englemann Spruce  and European Spruce come next (both around 0.42), Sitka Spruce is 0.5.

My much-loved cedar-top guitar is on Queensland Maple (1.02 times as hard as mahogany). I reckon it would be a very different beast on African Blackwood or ebony!

Tannin

@thomasross20 that's an amazing channel! It's a shame that he seldom plays any guitar that isn't American (there are so many great makers in so many other places!) but fair enough, he lives there, and it's not as if there is any shortage of fine instruments coming out of that continent. 

A brilliant simple idea and a channel I could (and doubtless will) waste hours on. The site software screws up when you try to link to a You-tube channel rather than a particular video, but let's try our luck

http://www.youtube.com/@boutiqueguitarshop4664

thomasross20

Yeah it's the perfect comparison channel - same short 10 second lick on different guitars, no variation. That's the one, love it

tomjax

@Tannin cedar/african Blackwood sounds perfect too! Especially if the tone of this Charis at the boutique guitar channel is anything to go by:

https://youtu.be/NL3cOqSdmu4

Great channel by the way @thomasross20 thanks.

thomasross20

Cheera guys. 
Btw I'm returning the cedar/walnut - did indeed sound good but trebles were a touch piercing for my ears - might have been the particular guitar. The Australian tonewoods are great

Soupman

Good channel @thomasross20 . Not seen it before but a great concept.
@Tannin one of the first vids up was a Lowden S-50c among American guitars! I love the Lowden sound.
 
 

Mellish

That's a channel I could watch/listen to all day @thomasross20. All those Martins!

Thanks for posting. 

 

earwighoney

tomjax said:

thomasross20 said:...

 there is definitely something about a cedar top that sounds fantastic, particularly over hard back and sides wood. Lowden obviously do this well - excited now!

My tastes were firmly in the spruce/rosewood camp (even my J45 has a rosewood body) until a cedar/rosewood Kronbauer guitar came into my collection.

It has a beautiful, rounded and resonant tone, it's now my go to guitar, especially when I have it tuned to DADGAD. I agree, cedar over a hardwood can be a really special combination.

I'd love to find a cedar/ebony, and thinking of a custom build in those woods.

Try to keep an eye out for the Richard Thompson Lowden, which is cedar over ziricote. The latter seems to perform a bit like an ebony. 

I have played a few ziricote guitars and they have been very heavy but excellent instruments.

bertie

earwighoney said:

I have played a few ziricote guitars and they have been very heavy but excellent instruments.

the neck / fretboard on my custom Morgan (leccy)  is ziricote, and I can concur

thomasross20

I like the channel's simplicity, short consistent videos without much chat. The perfect guitar comparison type video. Don't forget the Larrivee's lol..  

Ziricote - have never tried it!

earwighoney

thomasross20 said:

I like the channel's simplicity, short consistent videos without much chat. The perfect guitar comparison type video. Don't forget the Larrivee's lol..  

Ziricote - have never tried it!

It produces a lovely sound but for acoustics as it is so heavy it needs to thinned quite a lot and can be prone to cracking. 

Saying that I played a Sitka/Ziricote Beneteau OM which was one of the finest sounding guitars I have ever played. 

thomasross20

One day lol...
Actually might be down London way within next few months - Coda en route. Could be dangerous!

earwighoney

thomasross20 said:

One day lol...
Actually might be down London way within next few months - Coda en route. Could be dangerous!

Make a trip to Maks Guitars if you are in London.  I've not been there but it's run by the old manager of Ivor Mairants in the same shop.  They seem to have decent stock, and Mak is a great guy.

It's a shame TAMCO is no longer around.  They had the most incredible selection of acoustic guitars.  I made one trip there and played a lot of different guitars in a multitude of different woods and dimensions. 

bertie

thomasross20 said:

One day lol...
Actually might be down London way within next few months - Coda en route. Could be dangerous!

go via Bristol and buy a Brook

thomasross20

I fear I would do exactly that.....