Suggestions on a guitar to pair with my Larrivee LV

[Young25]

Hey everyone, new to the forums and looking for some suggestions from the wealth of knowledge out there.

I currently have a Larrive LV03RE that I've had for about 14 years now. I do a little church strumming here and there but have mostly focused on finger style (Andy Mckee, Antoine Dufour, solo acoustic covers etc.)

I love the sound of my Larrivee and was looking to get another guitar that could give me a different voice, mainly focused on finger picking and alternate tunings.

Since the L body shape of the Larrivee is pretty unique on it's own, I've been having a hard time figuring out if something like a jumbo would be a good contrast or something smaller say like a taylor grand concert size.

Any suggestions fom a body style standpoint or someone who also owns a Larrivee L body guitar?

Thanks in advance!

[wguitar]

Hi Young,

Welcome to AGF, which you'll find to be a friendly and informative place!

The Larrivee L is a great all-rounder guitar and there are tons of options to achieve your stated goals. You may want to consider some of the Taylor Ltd guitars with a different tone wood. I love my 2015 Taylor 514ce Flamed Mahogany Ltd (GA size), as one example. You may want to check out the AGF classified as well.

Enjoy your search!

Cheers!

[Gordon Currie]

The L-body is a pretty versatile guitar (I own 4 of them). That makes it challenging to suggest a complementary guitar.

Since you value fingerstyle, you might consider a smaller body such as OM or even 000.

Tonally, since Larrivees tend to have plenty of brightness and balance, you might look for something with a darker tone.

If you are looking for alt tunings, you may want a guitar with enhanced (yet controlled) bass response.

If you can provide a little more about what you *LIKE* about your LV, and what you are *MISSING*, we could give better help.

[Rockysdad]

Try a 40 series ( Mahogany) Larrivée. L bodies are my favorite, I have Rosewood, Mahogany, and Flamed Maple.

[Young25]

Thanks for the feedback Gordon. I'm still very new to diving into different guitars since I've been just playing this Larrivee for so many years.

I like the warm overtones I get but sometimes I think they can be a bit too much or over powering? I'm not sure if this is due to the rosewood or slightly larger body or maybe both (I definitely wont discount the fact that it could be my playing as well). I don't want to completely dampen the overtones but maybe slightly so.

I will say the Larrivee is very bright so maybe something less could be a good balance as well. I've swapped between both Elixir nano lights and D'addario EJ16 lights and they both come out pretty bright.

Also, higher up on the neck I do run into some intonation issues but that might be inherent in any guitar so I'm not sure I want to take that into account.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

The L-body is a pretty versatile guitar (I own 4 of them). That makes it challenging to suggest a complementary guitar.

Since you value fingerstyle, you might consider a smaller body such as OM or even 000.

Tonally, since Larrivees tend to have plenty of brightness and balance, you might look for something with a darker tone.

If you are looking for alt tunings, you may want a guitar with enhanced (yet controlled) bass response.

If you can provide a little more about what you *LIKE* about your LV, and what you are *MISSING*, we could give better help.

[mawmow]

Welcome !
Here is my contribution to your quest...

I own two Larrivees : L-03koa and OM-09. They sound quite different.
I once owned a Larrivee OM-03R : Dull compared to OM-09.

I also have some others devoted to fingerstyle :
- Martins OOO-18 (2014) and OODB Jeff Tweedy (all Mahogany)
- Taylors 322 (Mahogany/Blackwood) and 412ce (Sitka/Ovangkol)

I also like my Seagull Performer CW.

I tried Martins OMCPA4 and GPCPA4 : found them a bit dull,
but better than the OOO-15 I once got and the OO-15 I tried.

Based on my Gibson L-OO TV and L-1 1928 Blues Tribute, I
dare mention Gibson L-OO may be worth a try.

I unfortunately did not the chance to try a Taylor 324 or 414.

I once owned a Yamaha LS-16 ARE but got bored with its cristal clear sound.
The LL-16 ARE did not do it either. Maybe a LL-26 (made in Japan)...

[DukeX]

Taylor 324
Martin 000-15sm

[Young25]

Thanks for all the feedback and input everyone. I appreciate it!

I was able to run over to my local Guitar Center today and try out a few guitars and here are my thoughts on how they sounded:

Martin 00018WC - Sitka/Mahogany - I tried this after trying the first 2 taylors and this one is most like how my Larrivee sounds today. Maybe not as full due to the smaller body but the warmth in tone reminded me very much of my guitar. Easier to play as I think the neck is set up better. I'd pass on this one as it is too close to the same as my current.

Taylor 814ce V-Class - Sitka/RW - This one is least like my guitar surprisingly given the woods and probably my least favorite of the taylors. It's high and lows are very pronounced but feel almost a bit wild and out of control. Coming from a warmer guitar, maybe my ear is used to a tone that is more rounded off and not as taylor-esque of a sound. This sounds kind of dry? Not really sure of the correct word to describe it. Playability was nice and easy.

Taylor 614ce V-Class - Sitka/Maple - A bit closer to how my guitar sounds today but a not as warm and a hint of that dryness that I spoke to above. It could be that the taylor sound that is new to me as I haven't touched a taylor in years.

Taylor 816ce Builders edition: Lutz/RW - This was my favorite taylor of the 3. Very good projection and much warmer in tone than the 814. It has more clarity and note separation than my guitar tends to output. It was quite a loud guitar as well and sounded pretty nice when I had one of the employees play it for me to check out that interesting sound port thing. Easy to play although compared to the other 2 taylors this one has a shorter scale length and I'm not really familiar with how that impacts things outside of playability.

Gibson J185EC - Sitka/RW - Old strings probably didn't help but this one did not sound good at all. The intonation towards even at the 10th fret was so bad that i stopped playing it after a few notes.

They did have a 324ce builders edition that I'll have to go back and try given the recommendation below.

Thanks again for the insight!