Larrivee C-30

1997 Larrivee classical with Florentine cut-away made in Canada. Solid master grade sitka spruce top, solid rosewood back/sides, one piece mahogany neck. Same features and fan bracing pattern as current LS-30V model, only with the sharp cut-away. Fishman Natural active pickup system with no external controls. All quality hardware. A 9 only because a piezo brige pickup on a good classical guitar is like printing your favorite photographs on a 300 dpi inkjet. It came with it when purchased used.

The sound is heavenly, not to concert volume acoustically, but very balanced with long sustain even on the trebles, and as good intonation on a classical as I've ever heard (playing 35 years). Even with high tension Savarez Reds, it's not as loud as my '82 takamine solid wood model but better sounding than that and many "purebred" classical guitars costing much more. A good microphone solves the volume problem. The pickup sounds like, well, like a duck . . .) The guitar is pure magic when played in a lively room. No weakness, other than a bit of volume.

A well crafted instrument using high quality woods. No issues. Perfect.

Properly humidified there shouldn't be any issues for generations.

N/A - it was used.

It compares favorably to the higher end Cordobas that use rosewood/spruce. Other wood types (cedar) of course give different results. I've had it for a year now and haven't seen or played a better value for my tastes. Better guitars, yes, but from $2-3K and upwards. In my opinion, the Ta*lor classical falls far short of this Larrivee. Jean Larrivee began his career building classical guitars. The only improvements to it would be greater acoustic volume, but I wouldn't change the character of the sound. I give it a 10 for best value.