Nld

Long813 · #1 04-26-2010, 11:16 AM

EDIT: Some issues down below (bottom of the thread) that I would like help/information.

Call it what you will:
Never Leave a dream
Now Long has a guitar
New Larrivee Day
Now a L-03HH sits in my lap, Dayum.

All are good

Short story on this:
-Ordered guitar (L-03) in the beginning of March
-ETA was before Easter
-Never came in
-Apparent production issues at the plant
-A special edition (L-03HH) was coming in that I could have
-I leave to go home on Friday, so timing is an issue
-Gets to the store on Tuesday, fix issues on Wednesday
-Guitar gets shipped on Thursday and arrive just 10 minutes ago.
*HH stands for South American Mahogany (?) B/S, herringbone rosette and pufling.

Now the goodies:

Does that say Cleartones? Ew.

Interesting that they changed caption to SA Mahogany in this edition.

Nice rosette, little stuff (faded) mark near the pick guard, nothing major.

No dye on this ebony here.

Grain close up.

Long813 · #2 04-26-2010, 11:17 AM

No dye here either.

Has two 'eyes', pretty cool.

So the camera can't capture the maple binding, but it's so creamy!

Uhh...Problem? Please tell me it's not. This goes all the way down to the binding and above the bridge. Don't recall seeing this before it was sent off.

Little chip just in front of the neck piece. Didn't see this either when I first checked out the guitar.

Nice view of the binding.

Shops Tag

Oh look, 80/20 Bluegrass. No Cleartones here. 80/20's are a bit to bright on this baby - worthy note.

That's all for today folks. Plays like a dream, but I am still very worried about that what seems to be a crack streaming down the top. Is it a two piece top? That would explain it.

Chris Wood · #3 04-26-2010, 11:36 AM

Nice guitar, congrats and enjoy. That's a two piece, bookmatched spruce top. Pretty much all of them are two piece. So what you're looking at is the seam. Normal.

Chris.

Long813 · #4 04-26-2010, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CWood8656

Nice guitar, congrats and enjoy. That's a two piece, bookmatched spruce top. Pretty much all of them are two piece. So what you're looking at is the seam. Normal.

Chris.

Noted and put to rest. I'm a noob when it comes to production. Thanks

sachi · #5 04-26-2010, 11:56 AM

Very nice . . . I like the shape of that little thing!

Long813 · #6 04-26-2010, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachi

Very nice . . . I like the shape of that little thing!

I love the feel of it. A regular dread is to big for me - yeah, even at 6"2 it's to big

. It's a prefect blend of a comfy-dread sounding-ish instrument. It has less bass than a dread - which I was going for.

Long813 · #7 04-29-2010, 11:43 AM

So I encountered some issues (blemishes). I posted this on the Larrivee site, they told me to return it and email the factory to find the date. Until I get a hold of the manager of the store I bought it from, I just have to wait. These marks were not done by me and I only noticed the first one (first pic) the day I got it. The last few I noticed yesterday.

This was apparently a guitar straight from the factory and to my knowledge only me and the tech at the shop have touched this instrument.

Just to show you all what I mean, I have somewhat captured the issues. The binding is a hard one to capture and really couldn't.

No way I could ever make a mark like that. Chip on the sound hole in front of the neck end.

From the top angle it looks like a nail imprint, but strikes me as odd to what it really is.

This could be blamed on me (due to the convenience of the location), but I know I did not do it

Brent Hutto · #8 04-29-2010, 01:24 PM

Honestly, I don't see anything on that guitar that I would even notice if it were on my own instruments with the possible exception of the "nail mark" on the edge of the fretboard (and I agree it's probably something else but that's a good name for it). Then again I prefer to buy used guitars and I don't really treat mine with exquisite care either so maybe my opinion isn't really relevant.

I suppose I've seen a couple of high-$$$ handbuilt guitars that literally were in perfect condition but generally speaking, if you look close enough you can find something to worry about on any guitar. It is literally only a problem if you choose to think of it as a problem. Nothing in your photos will affect the playability, sound or durability of the guitar. And if you play it every day it will have worse dings than that within a few weeks or months.

If those little things matter to you, fair warning. It may take you a very long time to find a guitar that's perfect.

Long813 · #9 04-29-2010, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

Honestly, I don't see anything on that guitar that I would even notice if it were on my own instruments with the possible exception of the "nail mark" on the edge of the fretboard (and I agree it's probably something else but that's a good name for it). Then again I prefer to buy used guitars and I don't really treat mine with exquisite care either so maybe my opinion isn't really relevant.

I suppose I've seen a couple of high-$$$ handbuilt guitars that literally were in perfect condition but generally speaking, if you look close enough you can find something to worry about on any guitar. It is literally only a problem if you choose to think of it as a problem. Nothing in your photos will affect the playability, sound or durability of the guitar. And if you play it every day it will have worse dings than that within a few weeks or months.

If those little things matter to you, fair warning. It may take you a very long time to find a guitar that's perfect.

This is my first new acoustic & first 'real' acoustic, so I'm just not sure as to what is really warranted in the build.

They don't bother me too much, but the notion of getting a 'new' guitar and seeing these things just strikes some confusion. If they are typical I'm fine with it

Glennwillow · #10 04-29-2010, 01:33 PM

Congrats on a nice looking guitar. Looks OK to my eyes, but I don't see as well as I used to....

Regards, Glenn

Brent Hutto · #11 04-29-2010, 01:42 PM

I remember when I bought my first "good" guitar, a Taylor 414. There were two identical ones to choose from in the store and I must have gone in there half a dozen times or more to play them and have another guy play them for me. It was probably as much imagination as reality but one of them kept sounding just slightly more "complex" than the other (maybe it just had strings that were a little cleaner or something). Both sounded great to me, though.

So I ended up buying the "better" sounding one even though it had a little scratch about twice as long as a grain of rice on it somewhere (can't recall exactly where now). Once I got it home I noticed a couple of similar spots to what you're describing. One place where a string end and dinged the headstock, a sort of dented-in (very shallow) impression on the soundboard, a place where the binding ends didn't quite meet perfectly.

At that point I was so glad I hadn't bought the other one that I thought looked "perfect". Because I'll bet it had its own couple of wrinkles that wouldn't show up until I put it under a bright light and put on my reading glasses. Having chosen sound over perfection I didn't mind but if I'd decided to go for "perfect" and not gotten it I'd have been steamed.

Wade Hampton · #12 04-29-2010, 06:47 PM

I've looked over the photos pretty carefully, and honestly see nothing that would make we want to return the instrument had I been the person who bought it. I've picked up and purchased new guitars with significantly more shopwear than anything visible on this instrument.

Truthfully, Martin, so long as you're happy with the guitar's sound and playability, if I were you I would be very reluctant to let this guitar go back to the store for any reason at all. It's at far greater risk of damage while in transit than it is at your home.

The one ding on the peghead is mildly annoying, I suppose. But if you put this guitar to serious use, within a month or two you'll probably have accumulated more dings than that.

In any event, I don't think it's worth paying the shipping on it to return the guitar. If you take a fine tooth comb and do the sort of ultra-closeup photography that you've done here, chances are that you'd find similar anomalies on most instruments, even high dollar instruments coating many times more than this one.

So, short version: keep it, play it, enjoy it, and don't sweat the small stuff.

Hope this helps.

Wade Hampton Miller

mc1 · #13 04-29-2010, 06:55 PM

i'm not so picky as you, so the small discrepencies you point out seem ok to me.

Long813 · #14 04-29-2010, 06:57 PM

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It isn't much a bother to me and I am fine for it, but as people have suggested it looks like shop wear, when it was supposed to be brand new. Manufacturing end of things is understand able. I think I'm just very controlling over who dings my instruments

(My A&L is half way to a willie nelson).

In any case, I just had a jam session with a few people and it was great with the new addition

Broadus · #15 04-29-2010, 07:32 PM

I don't think I would spend too much time worrying about these things, and I can be overly picky, too. I think it's a great-looking guitar and will serve you well as long as you want to keep it. When you're dealing with wood, it's hard to get absolutely perfect, especially when a few hands have touched it. If it sounds good and plays well, enjoy it.

Congratulations on a very nice guitar.

Bill