Larrivee Oxnard Factory Tour -- Pics, Of Course!
 

After checking in at the hotel in San Jose, I have some time before dinner, so I thought I'd share the photos I took at Larrivee's Oxnard factory this morning. Matthew graciously gave me permission to take pictures even before I asked.

Once again, the pics are taken with a cheap cell phone camera, so some pics were deemed useless upon inspection on my laptop, but here are 20 of them taken in order. Enjoy!

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1. This is an apparatus used to bend the sides into shape. I'm told that the wood is sprayed with water right before being pressed against it.


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2. The bent sides inside the mold are being prepared before the top and the back are glued on.


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3. Here is the world-famous "symmetrical bracing" for the top.


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4. This is the bracing for the back.


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5. It's a horrible pic, but it shows a neck before it goes into a CNC machine for pre-shaping. Here one of my earlier misconceptions was corrected; the Larrivee neck comes from a single uncut piece of Mahogany, with the headstock and the neck joint NEVER cut up from the main neck and rejoined later. The shaping of the neck is done with all parts intact from the start to finish. Part of me makes me think it's not the most efficient usage of wood, but then again, Larrivee is known not to make compromises on tone, and if Jean feel that this is the best way to make the neck who am I to argue?


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6. The inlays on the headstock are all done by Wendy.


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7. Here's the sanding of the body in action.

Part 2
 

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8. A CNC machine is hacking away at the necks for pre-shaping, before Jean works on them.


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9. This is actually my guitar (OM-50) being worked on to correct the uneven frets, the reason why I stopped by the factory in the first place. Unfortunately, it turned out to be something that couldn't be corrected within an hour. So I left it in the factory to have them work on it for a little longer before shipping it back to me early next week.


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10. This is one of many buffing machines. One of the reasons you see some empty stations is that I came fairly early in the morning (around 9 AM). Another reason is that Larrivee is actually scaling down the production a bit. Right now they're putting out an average of 10 acoustics a day at Oxnard and 30 at Vancouver.


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11. These are solid-body electric bodies.


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12. The bodies and the necks are being prepared before the spraying of the finish in the paint room.


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13. Holes for the bridge pins are being drilled in.


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14. There's a lot of money in this storage room. And the smell of the UV finish was quite overwhelming.

Part 3
 

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15. Yes, Larrivee makes mandolins. There's apparently one person working just on the mandolins, but he wasn't in when I came by.


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16. A guitar is being polished one last time before packing and shipping.


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17. Apparently, these are the in-house pickups made right on the premises for the electrics. At least that's what my guide (who shall go anonymous) told me. He wasn't too knowledgeable on the subject, since he's mainly responsible for running the CNC machines, so don't hold me to it.


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18. This is where the pickups are apparently installed onto the electrics.


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19. Here's a good shot at an electric body.


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20. This is how Matthew spends his days goofing around when Jean is not around. :roll: In seriousness, he was testing out the intonation of the guitar. He took the opportunity to prop up the electrics, saying how they "blow the Les Paul out of the water." But then again, you'd expect him to say that. :wink:

Very nice, thanks for sharing! :up:

Dang, I need to get myself a visa! :D

Great info and pics! I don't know why, but those aren't the kind of faces I see in my head when I think of guitar building.....anyone else?

I usually think older men with aprons and white hair, maybe a goatee? lol

Thanks! A nice change from the FIII and Vancouver chatter over at the Larri forum. Don't get me wrong... I have an FIII on the way myself ;)

thanks for sharing...great pictures..

Great pictures! Thats good stuff; I'm thinking about getting a Larrivee and it's nice to see where it comes from!

Anyone know of any guitar factories in Massechusets? My parents are going there in a few weeks.

Thank you for sharing your pics and explaining each one so well. I thought this post went very nicely with the pics of the Vancouver tour. Always interesting stuff.

Thanks Tokyo, great pics.

I was gassing hard for one of their electrics, quite pricey, but extremely nice.

Maybe one day.

Played an immaculate D-50 last night, blew away the gibby's and martin's hand's down.

Wow- I had no idea that Larrivee was making an electric (LP style) gitter. Not crazy about the inlays on it though. Thanks for that info. & the cool pics.

Yah, everything on the guitars are TOP of the line, thick maple top, immaculate hardware and beautiful finish.

Very gassy!

Electrics
 

They probably do make their own pickups as that one picture looked like a winding machine.

I remember reading the specs and I don't they they do, I think they source all or most of the hardware if I recall.

Great photos. It is fun to see these and the Vancouver photos knowing they were taken in two factories during the same week. Really enjoyed seeing your photos. Thanks for sharing.