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I added a sound clip to the original post 6.18.19)
I got my new Larrivee Monday night, but due to a jam packed week of work and evening activities with the family, I was only able to play her a bit here and there…until Friday. I got off work early and was able to really put her through her paces…and I just kept smiling and smiling. I fell in love with the tone of Larrivee Guitars (and specifically their spruce/mahogany models) about 6 years ago while on vacation in the NC mountains (a visit to the Acoustic Corner did me in). I purchased an L03 that was great, but I passed it on to a younger guitarist at our church at the time. A short while later, I bought the OM-40. I would still have that one, but after leaving my job in NC and transitioning to OK, I sold it to a friend as I couldn’t justify two guitars. At the time, I had an amazing D18 and the OM-40, and I kept the Martin.
Since then, I have moved the Martin on for personal reasons. Last fall I picked up an Eastman E1OM as my only guitar, and while I loved the smaller body shape of the OM, the Eastman neck was giving my left arm fits (pain in the wrist and elbow), and I found it excelled at finger style, but was lacking something when strummed. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I was playing all the 000/OM bodies I could find locally, but nothing was striking me in my price range.
I began to kick around the idea of getting a Larrivee again, and was pretty sure I was going to get another OM-40. That is, I was sure until Shoreline Music announced his moving sale. When I saw the price John had on an OM-03, I called my wife to be sure she was cool with it, and I pulled the trigger. I was nervous that the standard Larrivee might not move me the way the OM-40 had, but boy, was I wrong. Joyfully wrong.
Pure.
Larrivee.
Goodness!
Balance, warmth, tone, clarity, punch, feel, craftsmanship, simplicity, beauty. All the things I remembered flooded back in.
The neck on this one has the newer standard 16’ radius, which immediately felt more familiar to my hands than the former compound radius; does not feel "flat" on the fingerboard or the back. The neck shape and wider fingerboard fit me better too (no wrist/elbow pain at all!). I’ve found that even though the Eastman and the Larrivee have the same nut width of 1 3/4, the Larrivee is much roomier. I had trouble fretting a clean “A” in first position on the Eastman…no such problems with the Larrivee. The 2 1/4 spacing at the saddle is nice and roomy, too.
The bass is powerful and full. If it differs at all from the OM-40, my memory can’t tell it! It excels at finger style…just so balanced and clear! And this little boss gives up nothing when strummed! Just tickles me to get to play anything on it!
It’s hard for me to quantify the Larrivee tone, but there is something in the way they build that just clicks every good thing in my brain, especially in mahogany. I know some folks don’t care for the tone, but dang, I love it. Out of all my fits of GAS induced selling, the Larrivee’s I’ve owned are the only ones that didn’t go away for “the quest for tone.” Whatever they have, I like it!
So I sold the Eastman E1OM to a gentlemen locally, and I’m moving the AC320 I had as well. I’ve come to realize I just prefer the feel/tone of the OM, and this OM-03 has it for me. I’ve owned a lot of instruments the past few years, but Larrivee mahogany OMs have come to feel like “home.”
And it’s good to be home!
