Larrivee C-09E AE

Everything a guitar should be except any on-guitar adjustment for the pick up system. This makes the guitar more beautiful (less holes, buttons, etc...) but forces the player to move to the amplifier system to adjust tonality. Not a big issue for 90% of the World.

It's an efficient guitar... a bit of effort yields a full, balanced tone. Hit the highs a bit harder and the high frequency sustain (no amp, of course!) is phenomenal. I guess it's their selection of tonewoods? Don't buy this guitar if your just going to be a hard strummer.... the low action will cause some string buzz if you really hammer away and the finish....

As mentioned, action is toward the "effortless" range ( I also use extra light gauge strings). If you need more volume, use regular lights... hard strums can give you a bit of buzz with the extra lights. Not a flaw on the woodwork side. One sharp fret end...

Man, I'd hate to see this beauty on the road... but that IS what they are built for! Yes, it is live performance sturdy. The finish is thick enough to last a year of nightly gigs, but not so thick as to dampen the soundboard. No back-up required (except a battery!).

Never had to deal with them. But their reputation is superb.

If this were swiped, it would hurt. The cut away is the elegant "comes to a point" style no longer available and the Rosewood sides and back, you can't just go replace the sound of "a" guitar. Taylor would be a close second (maybe 1st) behind Larrivee.

Mahogany neck, BEAUTIFUL rosewood back and sides, which I find my self lost in a trance just staring at. Ebony bridge, fingerboard, and headstock. Inlaid sterling silver surrounding headstock, pearl inlaid rossette. Microdot fret markers, fishman matrix piezo pickup. Good quality velvet feeling case.

Well like the others have said, you can pick up the C09, sit in a room and you can feel it resonate to the ambient noises around you. CRYSTAL clear highs, KICK YOUR ASS mid PUNCH, and SMOOTH WARM lows. I play it through a fender acoustasonic juniour amp. With the right tweaking on the amp controls, you can get an unmatched sound.

Bought mine at guitar center, they kissed my ass the whole time and had it polished to a shine hard to imagine, the action is too amazing to put in words. Its VERY VERY low, so you can play it effortlessly, but it NEVER buzzes, and never gives you that muddy slow stuck feeling that low action usually gives you. Summed up in two words FUCKING INCREDIBLE

Very sturdy, but you dont throw a guitar of this caliber around, so i dont know how REALLY sturdy it is. Overall its REALLY solid

Never had to deal with them, but thats a good thing right?

Not a lot of bells and whistles, just a simple, beautiful guitar. Bookmatched maple back and beautiful bindings, with a solid mohogany neck. Solid Spruce Top. You wont find any laminates on this guitar. Chrome machines (look like Grovers) and beautifully tuned Fishman pickup. Ad the Inlay work....WOW! I've only seen comparable inlay on extremely high end custom Gibsons...I'll give it a 9 rating for features, mainly because it is simple, and the few electronic features it has, is all it needs...not a ton of knobs or an ugly EQ glued into the guitar. Just a simple, loud pickup and a perfect work of art.

This guitar could suit any music style or type wonderfully! I play it all, Flatpicking, fingerpicking, and "hummin' and strummin'" rhythm.
The solid maple back L-bracing make this guitar sing. You can hear the resonance move through the guitar when you pick the guitar up!
I played $5000 martins, Taylors, Guilds, you name it, I played it...the Larrivee is unmatched in sound quality and playability.
There is no other guitar.

This is a class guitar, the factory setup and action made my custom strat feel like a 20 year old Yamaha cheapie. Tons of boom, low, low action, no Buzz!! Fit and finish are nothing short of superb!

There is no doubt that this guitar is nothing short of an auditorium/concert guitar. Although I've only had it for a month, Its very solid and Im certain it will be with me forever.

There is a limited lifetime warranty on the guitar, and based on what I've heard of Larrivee, the company stands behind everything with their name on it. I have not had to contact the company, however I did thank them for creating such a masterful work of art.

I haven't been playing as long as some of the pros out there, and I play by ear for about the last 5 years. I have played a LOT of guitars. I went to about 25 guitar stores before i found a maple version of the C-09 AE. Well worth the wait. I played every Taylor I ran across...I did not find one Taylor the could rival the sound quality and playability of the lowest-end Larrivee. I played a ton of Martins too...some of those going upwards of $5k and i Was not even impressed, sure the high end martins are beautiful, but hey...No true sound quality, at least not as crystal clear and warm as my Larrivee.
Larrivee Vs. Martin? yeah, I'll take the better guitar and Put about $3,000 back into my pocket...I'm walking out with a Larrivee. I think I'll be playing Larrivee forever...I dont need a status symbol...i need a guitar! If my Larrivee were to be stolen today, I would go buy another one, maybe two...I may even have to sell my wife to do it.

My Larrivee CO9E is a 1998 model that God blessed me with through Guitar Center in Tempe, AZ. It was a "manager's special" and on sale for $1058.00. It lists for around $2500.00 from what I can tell but regularly sold at GC for $1798.00 It has a Florentine cutaway, transparent pick guard, gloss finish on all woods, abalone rosette, ebony laminate on headstock, ebony fretboard, ebony bridge piece, rosewood sides and back, mahogony neck, engleman spruce top, sterling silver inlay around the headstock, pearl logo inlay on headstock, white binding on the fretboard and some kind of wood binding all around the body as well as a Fishman Acoustic Matrix pickup (active).
There was no case included but they let me keep my old one from the Gibson Gospel that I traded in (they gave me $500.00 trade in value for the Gibson together with an old, modified Guild S1 that I'd bought at a thrift store for $60.00)

I'd wanted a Taylor or Martin but this Larrivee was just too beautiful to pass up. It's really the best playing, best sounding guitar I've ever owned. I've played Guitar for 30 years and have typically owned Gibson electrics and acoustics. I love playing at home with the family but use the Guitar mostly for leading worship songs in church. The pickup sounds great but needs a little tweaking at the amplifier end since there are no controls on the guitar--a possible solution will be to add a "pocket blender" or something similar. For the music I'm doing this guitar is just perfect. You can feel the guitar resonate as you play. It has a big, bright, crisp, resonant sound with decent bottom end despite the Florentine cutaway.

The action is great, the top is beautiful, I cannot find any flaws (unlike the Gibson I previously owned).

I expect a lot of years service out of this instrument. From what I hear these Larrivees stand up well under climatic change. The craftsmanship that has gone into this instrument is unbelievable.

I do not know anything about the customer support--I've heard it is exceptional but I've had no dealings with them. There is a limited lifetime warranty.

I've played for 30 years. I also own a Gibson Les Paul Studio electric and a Marshall valvestate 8280. For pedals I use a Korg AX1 hyperperformance guitar pedal and a Rockman acoustic emulator (actually use it to dial in some EQ on the acoustic for right now). I'd buy the Larrivee all over again if I lost it. I love the great sound and the extraordinary craftsmanship. I compared it with a variety of Martins, Taylors and a couple of Guilds before settling on the Larrivee. If anything could improve this guitar for me it would be a "blender" type of upgrade on the electronics but in another way it would be a pity to see this beautiful instrument hacked into.