Larrivee guitars are rubbish

Tannin

thomasross20 said:

BTW the reason Larrivee prices have gone and appear to continuing to go up? Because I buy when I see a good deal on one. 

FTFY

ditchboy

Been looking at an all hog om on marketplace tonight. Out of my price range but man that thing is stunning. 

thomasross20

@Tannin haha I am exhausting their mahogany supplies. They are bringing out sunburst models now and new prices are £2.8k+ (new o-40r parlour £3300!). Tbh still cheaper than a standard Martin but I'm sad the bargain days are over. 

@ditchboy just do it lol

Btw my 'hog p-03 has a real "Santa Cruz" hifi vibe when bass strings (13s) used - key to that guitar is to play it soft and it shines. I have been feeling a bit silly buying so many of late but they're all stunning!! Danger danger.. I'm visiting the shops again this weekend lol

Schnozz

I haven't made it past Larrivee's neck profile.

I'm not sure what they're like on the electrics.

thomasross20

Shopping trip review. 

First store (felt a bit of a sales push, had to ask to get guitars off the wall).

Martin dread sinker, nice enough sound but price a bit much and didn't give me a wow factor, maybe because was a dread. 

Atkin OOO Sitka/hog very nice, lovely sound and felt light. Not AS nice feeling to play as my Larrivee's but quality guitar. Better than the  Martins. 

Atkin dustbowl, superb. Similar to above. Really great guitars - Atkin are lovely. Nice bass response. 

Santa Cruz - nice enough but no wow factor the ones I tried and were £8k...

Second shop (much better experience..)

 Various breedlove - not quite my thing, sound thinner than the Larrivess. 

Larrivee OM03 burst top. Holy cow, it says it's not scalloped but the bass response was great. Great great guitar - prefer to all the above. More bass than my OM05 so mine either needs to open up or this one is scalloped bracing. A dream to play, like butter.

Larrivee OOO40 12 fret. Yowza, 12 fret join plus scalloping sound epic on this. Absolutely epic. My old OM40 must have been a duffer because this scallopped guitar is sublime. 

Larrivee OM40 rosewood. Stunning, and I'm not usually into rosewood. Very balanced, nice bass, sounded way way better than breedlove and other Rosewood's tried. 

I am sticking to the second shop and to Larrivee. Better service and these guitars are way better value and I prefer them so much more than the more expensive brands. A tip of the hat to Atkin... Those guitars you should check out.

thomasross20

Btw the Atkin dustbowl OM with mahogany top was also great, sounded like a Sitka/hog guitar.

Btw the HelmHoltz resonance dampened note thing was a less apparent on some of the other brands. 

Soupman

@thomasross20 have you considered contacting Larrivee direct and asking about preferential rates for bulk purchases.... 
  

thomasross20

Haha I wish ! 
If there are two guitars out there right now I'd consider getting, it's the OM44R (and I'm typically not a rosewood guy) or that Atkin dustbowl.

ditchboy

I keep going back to this OM-03 in walnut but it’s in Andover and I’m in Durham. Marketplace blind purchase. Anxiety ridden deal if ever there was one. 

thomasross20

How about a break away and stop by to try on the way? 

All of mine are a joy. The moon spruce with bhilwara is really unique and I love it.

tomjax

Spotted this one at Frets Guitar Centre, maybe a bit closer to home?

 https://www.fretsguitarcentre.co.uk/contents/en-uk/p4548_Larrivee-OM-03-Limited-Acoustic-Guitar---Walnut.html

Don't tell @thomasross20 he'll be there before you can blink...

ditchboy

It’s a stunner. It’s been on there a while and has a much prettier back than the one on marketplace. Sadly it’s overpriced imo. 

thomasross20

Yeah I saw that one - TBH these do look amazing. That's my lunchtime sorted YouTube'ing these. 

ditchboy

What did you think? I couldn’t find much YouTube content for a walnut om. 

thomasross20

I think a walnut top is different and tbh I'd want to play it first. Maybe wait for the guitar village 20% sale and get the om walnut with moon spruce top? 

Could find hardly any videos on it that were of decent sound quality. Sorry  Heartbreaker have a few with the moon spruce top

Have to say every one of mine is a delight and didn't have to spend £8k per guitar for said delight lol. I have had a few that didn't hit the spot so buying blind is a gamble that's gone both right and wrong for me. The recent OM05 is probably the best guitar I have now. 

Timcito

They can be rubbish - that's the problem with buying them online. They can also be spectacular, I hasten to add. An L05 I bought in-store was one such - great guitar with resonance, depth and shimmer. But an L03R and a P0-9 I bought online were dead-sounding. For me, they are a brand I would need to play before buying; they do not have the (reasonable) predictability of many other top brands, in my view.

thomasross20

Timcito said:

They can be rubbish - that's the problem with buying them online. They can also be spectacular, I hasten to add. An L05 I bought in-store was one such - great guitar with resonance, depth and shimmer. But an L03R and a P0-9 I bought online were dead-sounding. For me, they are a brand I would need to play before buying; they do not have the (reasonable) predictability of many other top brands, in my view.

Do you still have it? I think the L body sounds the best but it's pretty big.

Timcito

thomasross20 said:

Timcito said:

They can be rubbish - that's the problem with buying them online. They can also be spectacular, I hasten to add. An L05 I bought in-store was one such - great guitar with resonance, depth and shimmer. But an L03R and a P0-9 I bought online were dead-sounding. For me, they are a brand I would need to play before buying; they do not have the (reasonable) predictability of many other top brands, in my view.

Do you still have it? I think the L body sounds the best but it's pretty big.

No - one of my biggest guitar-selling regrets. The sales guy in the store was genuinely astounded when I told him I'd sold it. He said it had been his favourite guitar in the store, and he meant it. Crazy. 

thomasross20

D'oh  

Flash Larrivee deal for folks here on brand new Bhilwara with Sitka top at peach .. actually very jealous of this but already have mine (paid way more):

https://www.peachguitars.com/guitars/larrivee-om-03-bhilwara.htm

£2400 down to £1650 for a brand new limited edition - jeezo @ditchboy ;;

Wazmeister

Ive only played a few Larrivee, and was imprEssed with them all tbh.