Larrivee?

[maxtheaxe]

Workhorse is exactly the word that I use to describe my L03. I bought it new about 15 years ago, so it is one of the Vancouver BC made guitars. It has acquired a wonderful richness to it since then...very surprising amount of harmonic complexity for a 'hog, although I attribute this to the gorgeously cross-silked Sitka top. I have also added a bone nut, saddle and pins, and installed K&K pure mini. I've played a LOT of gigs with that guitar.

As to the Hog vs EIR comparison, I would say that the mahogany ones have a lot of punch and are great for using on stage...strong fundamentals and LOUD...I can really lay into mine and it just gets louder without any noticeable compression.

As to the EIR, I recently bought an L10 from Wildwood...one of the customs with an Italian Alpine spruce top and EIR back & sides; this new guitar has a ways to go in terms of opening up, but first impression is that it has a much broader frequency range...very deep, very sparkly, very detailed and rich sounding. It is not as loud as the L03 but that may change in a couple years or so.

There really isn't a lot of difference between the 03s and the 10s in terms of tone, playability and build quality, although the Italian Alpine on this custom 10 is pretty special...slightly warmer to my ear than Sitka and a beautiful opalescence to it. It also has a gloss finish and abalone inlays, but apart from that, they really don't take shortcuts on their lower-priced axes except in the very plain cosmetics and the satin finish. In other words, a rosewood 03 is still an impressive ax.

If your tastes run more to woody fundamentals, I would also recommend taking a look at their all-mahogany axes. Wildwood has a bunch of them right now with figured South American hog...I think they have OM, L, P and LS style in this wood.

I think Larrivee is the only builder that leaves me with no reservations whatsoever about ordering one online without having played it...they really are that consistent. Pretty impressive for a completely hand-made guitar.