Quote:
Originally Posted by bluemoon
David,
TI also wonder if the Larrivee came with lights vs mediums on that slope? For the past 8 years I’ve been playing elixirs but I’ve recently switched to non coated and they seem to be better than I recall. Happy picking and best of luck making music!
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Cheers, mate. The Larrivee was pre-owned and commissioned by a company-endorsed musician who worked closely with the shop on his build. And he made a wonderful guitar that I was lucky enough to find on Ebay. Turns out it did not have the presence he needed for his stage work. So he had Larrivee build an SD-50 or SD-60 for him. He had my guitar strung with Elixers (13-56) which sounded awesome but were way too much for my virgin fingers, as a new guitar player. He suggested Nanowebs (11-52), but they were a great, sonic disappointment. The kind folks on the Larrivee forum strongly recommended Pearse Phosphor Bronze and so I tried them and the 80/20's. Both, for me, are an excellent match.
Again, congratulations on your new, Maine-made, guitar. As a Lewiston native, that I am proud that Dana and his people make there guitars there, in a re-purposed mill building looking for a reason to be.
When I was growing up in the 60's, not so far from what is now their shop, the massive hulk of classic New England brick structures that covered many acres housed thousands of workers whose hands transformed thread into fabric (eg: Bates mfg) and leather into shoes. Tragically, in the process, they added to the reason why the adjacent Androscoggin River was one of the 10 most polluted rivers in the country at the time. In fact, Sen. Ed Muskie (Presidential candidate/J Carter Secy of State), who spearheaded the federal Clean Water Act of 1972, lived just up river in a paper mill town which, like other communities, used the river as an open sewer. Those days are blessedly gone, and the river is rejuvenated. But the textile and shoe trade was not, and fell victim, like so many other blue collar industries, to foreign competition. And when they folded one by one, the hulks of mill buildings stood empty, waiting for the wrecking ball or a savior. And Dana is one of several entrepreneurs who has breathed new life into old, storied buildings.
Sorry for the history lesson. Guess it is just one of those Sunday mornings. But it does feel good to make music with a beautiful instrument that was crafted in my home town, in a building where other high quality products were fashioned by hand for more than a century. Indeed, if I stick my ear up to the tone hole, I swear I can hear the clacking of commercial looms and the the pounding of nails connecting shoe uppers and their soles.
David