PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Wanted: Advice on Ac. Guitar purchase

Peter,

Before going further in this discussion - find out who Rainsong and/or Composite says is a qualified luthier in your area for their types of guitars - in case you need some adjustments made. A luthier that can work on the guitar and not violate warranty. If there isn't one, move along - the composite construction will be more hassle than help.

Now, on to traditional wood guitars:

About 7 years ago - I was in the same situation as you.

I was down to Taylor, Martin and Larrivée. For the money at the time, the Larrivée was the only solid wood guitar in the price range I was shopping in. But I had no clue about these Larrivée guitars - I had only seen electric guitars advertised by them in the 1980's.

There was a Taylor that was slightly higher priced, but the wood used on the neck had very open pores and it wasn't finished smoothly. I did like the sound of it. It's 'brighter' than my Larry.

Martins in the price range were actually HPL on the sides & back - High Pressure Laminate - known to the world as 'Formica'.

Larrivée were rather unknown at the time and their price reflected it. I auditioned these 3 guitars side-by-side several times before I went with my gut feeling - the Larrivée for me simply was easiest to play. I wanted to really enjoy playing - so I put that at my top decision maker - ease of play. I thought it was somewhat risky buying a lesser known name, but I've never regretted the decision.

BTW, Larrivée are made in Vancouver and Oxnard California.

Perhaps a more difficult question is to find out what TYPE, not brand of acoustic you want to buy.

Again, for me, ease of play was key. I had an Applause (Ovation's Korean-made lower level line), and I never liked the way that it always slid away from me while wearing it. I've since given that guitar away before moving to Colorado. I wanted the guitar to be comfortable while sitting as well as standing - since I play both ways about the same amount of time.

The most comfortable 'traditional' acoustic guitars are what are called 'orchestra' models. These typically have a smaller lower bout and are not quite as deep as the most popular type - Dreadnaught.

Dreadnaught guitars have a less defined 'waist' - that's the curve between the upper and lower bouts. They boom pretty well, and as a result, are used for rhythm purposes by many players. However, at least for me, they are less comfortable to 'wear'.

For maximum in bass - there's Jumbo models. I love the sound, can't stand the lack of comfort or the price - usually these cost somewhat more.

All of the aforementioned companies, Breedlove included, also offer a model that is somewhat in-between these two extremes. Martin calls theirs the 'M' Model, 14 frets to the body. See their chart here:
http://www.mguitar.com/guitars/choosing/size.html

Taylor calls theirs the Grand Concert line, whereas their Grand Auditorium is somewhat like an 'Orchestra model'. They don't have a nice chart like Martin to help you compare shapes and sizes. http://www.taylorguitars.com/Guitars/Acoustic/

For Larrivée, their 'in-between' and probably 2nd most popular type is the 'L' body. That's the type I have. It's a nice compromise between the boom of a Dreadnaught, and the absolute comfort of an Orchestra model. Again, I've never regretted the decision. http://www.larrivee.com/instruments/acoustics/compare.php

Breedlove are regarded highly on the Larrivée forum (the others not so much so except for vintage Martins) and I am not as familiar with their lineup. I do think the JLD bridge system that they use makes sense from an engineering standpoint.

I had the opportunity to get a personal tour of the Oxnard facility by none other than Jean Larrivée himself back 5-6 years ago. I was in L.A. on business, and over the weekend decided to see if the factory was open up in Oxnard - wanted to take a drive along the coast anyways. I drove up with the other engineer I was with, found the address in a new phone book (a couple of the older phone books didn't have it listed) and stopped by. 2 cars in the parking lot - not a good sign. We tried the front lobby door - locked, then looked around to see if there was any other doorways open. None. Went back to the lobby and as we knocked again - we could see through the door that at the end of the hallway someone walked by. We knocked harder, and this somewhat diminutive guy walks up to the door, opens it and asks what we want. It clicks with me that this is THE guy! I tell him our story for the day and he says something like: "I'm kind of busy, but I can give you a nickel tour." Turned out to be around an hour long. Class-act through and through. He was there that day fitting necks to bodies for a special model they had commissioned to honor the opening of that facility - the California model. It was a limited edition, but not a high-priced model. There was the president of the company, hand fitting neck and body dovetail joints. I tried to get a job there on-the-spot as my specialty is noise & vibration control engineering and sound quality engineering. Jean denied me on-the-spot stating that lots of folks have tried to engineer the sound, but it's still 99% art. He goes for high-tech with manufacturing process, but not with the design.

Anyways, try to pick a body type first - then audition, audition, audition. You'll find something that speaks to you before long.

-Scott