Gotta see this travel guitar

Subject: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 12:34 AM

I walked into my favorite guitar store this weekend ... to make one of my 'several times each month, play all the cool new toys' sessions ... and I was floored by Larrivee's new 'travel guitar.' Ya gotta see and hear this thing to believe it.

It is similar in size and looks to small guitars made by Taylor and others, but this thing has a sound like a great, full sized guitar. It plays pretty well (short scale takes a bit of getting used to), and it is not a lot bigger then Martin's back packer.

I know where my next $300 is going. Sorry kids, you'll have to wear those old shoes one more year;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Owlkat
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 04:38 AM

Yup. Larivee sure do make pretty nice guitars. 300 bucks? Geeze! Where are they selling Larivees for that? That sounds almost too cheap to be true. I've seen the little Yamaha in a local shop. It's 200 including gig bag. It's plywood, but probably less prone to splittage than a solid wood axe. Mart.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 08:57 AM

I saw it at my local Guitar Center (we have two in Dallas). The guitar is all solid wood, has a solid spruce top and a dove tail neck joint. Typical Larrivee construction, but no inlay or electronics. And the Guitar Center was asking, I think $329 with a 'gig bag.' I damn near bought it, but I was there to purchase PA stuff and had already dropped $1500! It's too easy to spend money there!

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 01:32 PM

I have the Baby Taylor--and it has more sound than most of the full-size boxes around. If the Larrivee sounds better than than, it must be a bargain.

--seed(whobelievesthatnothingaboutmusicisBS)

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 03:02 PM

Well signed Seed. Gawd I hate that B.S. designation. (Well maybe in the Simpsons' thread)

I haven't been terribly impressed with ANY of the travel guitars. The Taylor is certainly the best I've seen, but on the whole I'd rather just have a smaller axe like Gibson's L models or a "NewYorker" style. I'll look forward to trying the Larrivee though. The 12th Fret here carries Larrivee and should get one in soon.
Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: WyoWoman
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 04:03 PM

I nominate the "Cat Farts" thread as a hall of fame B.S.er. But I agree with Seed that if it's about music, it ain't b.s.

WW

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 04:17 PM

A freind of mine has a travel Martin, beautiful tone, the body is vaguely triangular in shape, bit like a bowed psaltery, and just loud enough for the player to hear. It comes with its own carrying case, that goes over the back like an arrow quiver, and I have no idea of the price....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: bbelle
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 08:54 PM

My cousin, the flatpicker, bought a Baby Taylor for his 5 y/o son and I had the opportunity to play it. The sound is really good but the strings are set too high for my wee hands. He bought it for $350 from Cotton's in Nashville and it comes with a hard case ... moonchild

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Nov 99 - 09:08 PM

I'll be anxious to check one out.....don't need it, got no money, but........

Jean Larrivee is very different in his approach to a lot of things, so I'm sure the travel guitar they make will be a bit different too.

And Moon....A good luthier/repairman can set up an action to your liking on any quality instrument. So can a bad one on a bad one for that matter.......... but the action is adjustable.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From:
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 06:06 AM

Charles, I can't agree with you more. This thread abuses the "BS" designation :-). If I ever get a travel guitar--I mean really for travelling--I will get a SoloEtte. You can play it in hotel rooms, trains, buses, or anywyere and it folds up into a small relatively unbreakable package.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 09:22 AM

I don't know why I used the BS designation. I guess with some recent gripes about non-song threads I thought it appropriate. But I guess the comments about music threads not being BS threads are correct.

Rick, I have never been very impressed with the sound of the little travel guitars; they're OK, a novelty, playable. I just presumed you couldn't get much quality sound out of such a design. But this little Larrivee is amazing. It has a beautiful sound. I thinkyou will be trulu impressed.

And Liz the guitar you refer to is Martin's Back Packer. I have one. It's cute, and really is small enough to carry on an airplane trip, but it is not practical to play since it rolls on you when you use your left hand. There is no body to hold. It's sound could be described as interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 02:54 PM

sorry about the typos - seems I need to talk to Max about running a spellchecker with the forum!

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: John of the Hill
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 04:23 PM

Liam, Is the Larrivee tuned to standard or up to A? John

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: bbelle
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 05:54 PM

When I started the previous thread about travel guitars, I didn't use the BS prefix because it wasn't. Instruments, lyrics, or any thread about making or pertaining to music should not be classified as BS. And, 'spaw, thanks for feeding me the good advice ... moonchild

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 07:13 PM

moonchild - I think you're right. I should have used the BS prefix!

John - I am quite sure the Larivee is standard tuning, but I'll check. I am not sure if they have it listed on their website yet, but their site is pretty up-to-date, generally, so I suspect the guitar will be listed there one day soon.

I believe it is called the parlor guitar.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 07:14 PM

ooops - I mean, moonchild I should not have used the BS designator!

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 07:19 PM

Liam, I think Freud would have something to say about your last posting.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Matthew Larrivee
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 08:11 PM

All of our guitars are standard tuning... the parlor can even stand up to Mediums.

Matthew

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: John of the Hill
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 09:30 PM

Matthew, It's nice to get information from the horse's mouth as opposed to the other end as sometimes happens here. Any chance you will be making any citterns or bouzoukis? John

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 10:43 PM

John - to whom are you referring, when you discuss information coming from the other end of the horse???

but I second your question to Matthew re: citterns or bousoukis - or baritone guitars, for that matter.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: John of the Hill
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 11:01 PM

Liam, Myself for starters, and many of us at one time or another. By the way, I asked about tuning the Larrivee to A because had I read somewhere that the Tacoma Papoose was designed to be tuned that way. John

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 22 Nov 99 - 11:11 PM

john - me 2 (other end of horse)!

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Scott Henderson
Date: 23 Nov 99 - 06:47 AM

I have a Martin Backpacker, cost me $200 with gig bag. I like it alot but these others you are speaking of are worth looking into as well;-) Man I love new instruments....

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 23 Nov 99 - 09:06 PM

Scott-
The back packer is pretty cool. It has an interesting guitar, but I find it very difficult to play. It wants to roll over in my hand when I play because there is no leverage to counter balance my left hand work on the neck (ie no body). If I play standing, this problem is reduced, but I still spend too much energy fighting the roll. The other small bodied guitars don;t have this problem, but they don;t sound any better than the back packer. Larrivee's travel guitar does. I love new instruments too!

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 23 Nov 99 - 11:42 PM

I don't know how it happened!!!

Last week I headed out to buy a small guitar that I could take along on my relatively small sail boat. I am currently using a rather cheap classical but though I would replace it with either another small (upgrade) classical or a small Gibson like the G25 folk guitar or possibly a small Martin ~ these guitars seem to be rather difficult to find. There was nothing in the shop that looked like what I wanted, however, there on the wall hung a Guild Jumbo 12 string. I had played Mick's 12 string this past summer so, as long as it was there, I though I'd give it a try......(BIG MISTAKE)..... I now own a JUMBO 12 ~ not exactly what I was looking. Looks like the wife will have to stay home when I go sailing.

Cap't Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 24 Nov 99 - 09:10 AM

Cap't Bob - great story. I know the feeling. I went to buy PA equip last week. I had planned for this expense for some time, and did everything I could to buy what I needed at the best price I could get, (saving a few hundred dollars) - then when I was there picking up my stuff, I saw this guitar and I was perfectly willing to blow all those hard earned savings on the new toy! If the store wasn't planning a guitar sale a few weeks from now, I suspect I'd already be the proud owner of a new Parlor guitar!

I gotta stay outta guitar stores!

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: alison
Date: 24 Nov 99 - 09:36 AM

Anyone tried one of the baby Taylor? A friend of mine has a baby samick...... lovely guitar..... I was considering getting one... but the Taylors are the same price.... any thoughts???

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From:
Date: 24 Nov 99 - 09:48 AM

Cap't Bob, Sounds like you have the perfect reason to buy a larger sailboat. John

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Matthew Larrivee
Date: 24 Nov 99 - 12:46 PM

WEll there is currently no plan for either... though I have to admit I've personally wanted to built a bousouki for myself... Never played one but that's half the fun... As for baritone guitars... nenver say never... Archtops will probably be next.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 24 Nov 99 - 01:44 PM

Alison, the Taylor's are OK, but you really might consider trying a Larrivee first - they are sooo much better, and in the same price range.

Matthew - I would love to own a bousouki as well, and hope to one day. You might look at this site to see what one UK luthier is doing. And Santa Cruz is offering a baritone you might want to see here. I don't suppose there is a big market for either bousoukis or baritones, but they are both certainly interesting instruments.

by the way - I am a big Larrivee fan. My local Dallas Guitar Center seems to sell a lot of them - so I try them all out each weekend! The sales guys are all real high on 'em too. I play a J-10 and I love it!

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: BK
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 01:11 PM

Alison: I have a Baby Taylor 'n gotta admit I want a look at the Larivee; acc to the specs it's a little bigger 'n has a 24" scale - abt an inch more than the BT, 'n a 12 fret neck instead of 14, so the total length is prob abt the same even w/the larger body & longer scale; Most "regular" steel string acoustics have a scale around 25.5", +/- a quarter inch or so, so you'll see the tension is a fair amount less w/a 23" scale & you dont stretch the strings out to where they stop changing a lot for a long time, which is irritating, & you also get less tone out of the instrument because of it. I think they should change that part of the design, if nothing else..

OTOH, the trim, sturdy molded hard shell case that came w/the BT made the package very attractive.. tho you can't carry much in the case. They could've made the area from the body to the head a little bigger to give a larger storage compartment, but what he heck.. It IS cute, 'n OK for minimalist needs, but the Larivee sounds more able to do "full duties." Have to actually play one to get a better assessmnt. Plan to do this in Houston next week. Be gone a couple weeks, will try to report when I get back or from a borrowed computer in TX.

Cheers, BK

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 01:26 PM

Just played a "little Larrivee". Whooo-boy! You nailed it guys!

Rick (who used to watch Jean occasionally, in total awe.)

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Wesley S
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 01:48 PM

I tried the new Larrivee yesterday and I have to agree with what I've read here. It has a much better sound than the Baby Taylor - I have one - and the intonation is a lot better also. It's bigger - if that's important to you. It might be easier to get on a plane with the Larrivee in a soft case than my Baby Taylor in it's hardshell case. If I had to do it all over again I'd get the Larrivee. But I'll probabally hang on to the Taylor since it was a birthday present.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 01:54 PM

I am glad you to try it Rick and BK, I am anxious to hear your response. It really is amazing to me that they can put such a fine instrument together in such a small package - and at a good price!

By the way, Larrivee has a great video on-line that shows the guitar making process. It is worth taking the 10 or so minutes it takes to save on your PC.

Have you been to their shop, Rick?

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: BK
Date: 27 Nov 99 - 06:04 PM

Does anybody know - can you get a hardshell of decent proportions for the Larivee Parlor?

Cheers, BK, who is getting more anxious every minute to see it...

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 08:57 AM

BK - I don't know. You might try looking at their website - or send 'em an Email if it isn't obvious on their homepage.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: MichaelM
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 09:22 AM

Rick Where did you see the little Larrivee? Dave Wren of the Fret said he didn't expect one in any time soon. Where oh where can this Larrivee be?

Michael

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 02:03 PM

Whoops, hold the presses! I played what I thought was the small Larrivee at the Twelfth Fret a couple of days ago. Maybe it wasn't! It Was small, but Dreadnought shaped and sounded great. I think I may have fouled up.
I used to occasionally see Jean around the Folklore centre, MANY years ago.
Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 28 Nov 99 - 11:34 PM

Rick I hope you do get a chance to try it. I am anxious to hear what you think of it. You too Micahel, and any others. I would like to see if y'all are as impressed as I was.

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 29 Nov 99 - 05:14 PM

By the way - you can read up on it here

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: BK
Date: 07 Dec 99 - 10:48 PM

Due to the rental car getting accidently bashed in the rear I only had a very few minutes to look at the Parlor guitar; seems clearly much better that my BT; not clear how much better than the similarly priced & body sized Seagul "Grand" (NOS), which has a 25" scale, 14 fret neck & is overall several inches longer (if bulk is a consideration)& can be had w/a passable HS case... We're in San Antonio now & will fly out of Houston later & try to get another longer look the Parlor before we leave... I'd also say the workmanship on the Parlor is better than the Grand...

Cheers, BK

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 08:56 AM

I stopped by my local Guitar Center again yesterday. I wanted to try their Pete Anderson model (see other Larrivee thread) but they didn;t have one. I played the baby Larrivee for 20 minutes or so, and was once again very impressed with the qualities of this diminutive instrument! There were several other browsing customers in the room while I was playing, and they all commented on the little Larrivee's remarkable sound.

By the way, I asked the saleman how they had been selling. He said he had sold two last week, they had one on display and one in the back. It seems they are selling very well!

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: (S)nobby
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 11:14 AM

In 1995 I bought a travel guitar named FireFox (a label desiged similiarly to Fender).

Who knows anything about this guitar? Did I buy something good?

Thanx, Snobby

Subject: RE: BS: Gotta see this travel guitar
From: JedMarum
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 11:32 AM

I don't know the guitar, (S)nobby, but how does it sound?? HOw does it play?? Do you like the guitar - that's the first criteria - but then, you are probably right. It being a rare instrument from a name maker, it may have some value as a collectable as well. There are probably guitar collector sites out there on the Web where you can find more specific info.