2001 Larrivee D-03 Dreadnought Guitar

This faithful box is a customer's guitar that was just in for some repair. I've handled a number of these Larrivee dreadnoughts over the years and each time I think of them as a more-rootsy Taylor alternative, to be honest. The necks are very Taylor-y (slim with a flattish fretboard) but the tone and boom is more of the D-18 variety. Maybe they have a little more fundamental snap, though...?

In any case, barely any of them have needed serious work as they age and get abused on the road or at coffeeshop and small-venue gigging. Or... for that matter... like this poor fellow which clearly gets dry at times. Hey, it lives in Vermont and gets used, right? No way around that if it's an out-and-about guitar.

What's interesting about the design is... not much! It's a traditional spruce/hog dreadnought with quite light bracing, a satin finish, and upscaled trim by way of an ebony board and bridge and thick binding at the board. Perhaps the slightly-on-the-light-side bracing and build makes it interesting, but really -- the essence of these guitars is to be a typical dreadnought with Larrivee handling and sonic oomph -- and that's what it does.

Repairs included: a bridge reglue, fret level/dress, hairline crack repairs, cleaning, and setup.

Setup notes: it plays spot-on with 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret. Strings are 54w-12 gauges, the truss rod (located annoyingly inside the guitar at the heel) works, and the neck is straight.

Scale length: 25 5/8"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"

String spacing at bridge: 2 3/16"

Body length: 20 1/8"

Lower bout width: 15 3/4"

Waist width: 10 7/8"

Upper bout width: 11 3/4"
Side depth at endpin: 4 3/4"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Fretboard: ebony, Tusq nut

Bridge: ebony, Tusq saddle

Neck feel: slim C-shape, ~14" board radius

Condition notes: it's quite beat from years of love and I could barely see the grain of the ebony through the gunk on the fretboard before cleaning. There are little nicks, dings, scratches, and bumps throughout. But... it's held-up nicely.