For Sale: 2008 Larivee D03-SO (Sold)

[SprintBob]

For sale is my 2008 Larivee D03-SO. I got this guitar three years ago to have at a 2nd home my wife and I have for work reasons. One of us is retiring in a couple of months and I just won't have room for it at what will be our primary home.

This guitar was a limited run of D-03's Jean Larivee built that had upgraded backs and sides make of a tonewood called Grevillea Robusta, also known as Silver Oak so the model gets commonly referred to as a D03-SO. The Silver Oak for this guitar was sourced from Africa. When I first saw the guitar, I thought it was maple as the backs and sides are very light. What is very cool about this wood is there is a lot of silking and the back literally glows, almost three dimensional (in other words it's gorgeous to look at). This guitar also has a gloss finish. Here's the spec's:

Built in - Vancouver, BC
Top - Spruce
Back and sides - Silver Oak/Grevillea Robusta
Neck - Mahogany
Fretboard - Ebony
Bridge - Ebony
Nut and saddle - bone
Neck binding/heel cap - white ivoroid
Peghead overlay - Streaked ebony (beautiful)
Body binding - Rosewood
Frets to body - 14
Scale length - 1-3/4"
String spacing at bridge - 2-3/16"
Scale lenght - 25-5/8"

This guitar is 9 out of 10 condition wise. The finish of the guitar is clean, smooth, and shiny. The only surface imperfections are one surface speck/ding about 2 mm long on the top below the A string between the soundhole and the bridge and some minor finish peeling around 3 of 6 tuner peg holes that I stabilized with thin CA per the Larivee factory recommendations when I called them about it about a year ago.

There are two nice upgrades to this guitar. It has GOTOH 510 Mini Tuners and I installed a K&K Pure pickup in it. The guitar has had a setup and has a low action and minimal neck relief that works great for fingerstyle and moderate flatpicking (would need an ease on the truss rod if flatpicked more aggressively). The guitar comes with its original Larivee hard case, 8 out of 10 with just a couple of exterior scuffs.

I had a Martin HD-35 just before I got this guitar and I truly like the Larivee's tone better because it is a bit brighter. The Silver Oak has been said to have a tonal response somewhere between mahogany and rosewood (similar to Koa). I own two Koa guitars and can confirm it is similar. The low end of this guitar is very present with no boominess at all. Here are two sound samples. One is a short fingerstyle riff of Doc's Guitar and the other is a short flatpicked riff of Long Journey Home.





And here are pics:













Here is the peghead finish peeling I stabilized.



If you are in the market for really nice used dreadnaught that new would sell for between $1,800 to $2,500, this guitar is worth your attention. Larivee guitars have an excellent reputation when it comes to tone and build quality and this guitar shows that.

Thanks for looking and listening.

[acousticaddict]

Wow! That’s a nice one ! This is tempting.

[247hoopsfan]

Jean Larrivee thinks so highly of this tone wood that he used it on his limited 45th anniversary guitar. This is a great deal.

[SprintBob]

Friday evening bump.

[Jcamp]

Beautiful guitar. I’ve never heard of that kind of oak before. Any idea how it would b as a bluegrass guitar?

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by Jcamp

Beautiful guitar. I’ve never heard of that kind of oak before. Any idea how it would b as a bluegrass guitar?

Check this out - https://www.musicradar.com/news/guit...e-woods-606141

If you were buying it to primarily play bluegrass, put some 12's or 13's on it and a tweak ease on the truss rod and you are good to go. The guitar seems more balanced tonally, the bass does not seem to boom. It's probably between a Martin and a Taylor in terms of how prominent the highs and lows are and that is what drew me to it when I found it. As noted above, Jean Larivee loves the wood and the back is the prettiest of the guitars I own (prettier than the Cocobolo back of my SCGC Skye 00). I wish I could keep it but too many guitars, not enough room!

[JakeStone]

This is a sweet guitar..
Bump for great deal from a great AGF'r.
Wish I had the cash.

( no affiliations)

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by JakeStone

This is a sweet guitar..
Bump for great deal from a great AGF'r.
Wish I had the cash.

( no affiliations)

Thanks Jake. Looks like this guitar will have a new home soon.

Cheers,

Bob

[SprintBob]

Sold and heading to the left coast. Thanks Cesar!