Larrivee CS-09 Custom

This is a Larrivee CS-09 Custom that I beleive was made in 1999. It features the now discontinued (unless special ordered) "c" size body. The standard wood combination of Spruce/Rosewood has been changed on this one and a two peice bookmatched solid Cedar top, Solid Claro Walnut sides and a one peice solid Claro Walnut Back! Ebony is still used for the fretboard, bridge and headstock overlay and a single solid peice of Mahogany for the neck. Another custom feature are the amazing "Torch" inlays on the fretboard! The body binding is Curly Maple and the neck binding is ivoroid. It also has the standard silver inlay for the border on the headstock, the "larrivee" logo and the position dots on the side of the fretboard. It has a natural gloss finish and came with a deluxe Larrivee case. Although this is a model has a cutaway it had no pickup in it from the factory. I added a Fishman Matrix I active pickup system as soon as I purchased it. I definitly did not want to cut a huge hole in the side of this guitar for something like a Fishman Prefix Plus.

I know everyone thinks that their guitar is the best sounding, but this guitar is truly the most balanced and expressive acoustic I have ever played!! It can be used for almost every style of music and playing. The Cedar top gives this instrument more single note definition and seperation than a Spruce top would have. You hear the diference when you strum a chord and instead of losing each string in a wash of sound, each string is still audible. The Claro Walnut is the perfect choice. I would describe the Walnut as a middle ground between Mahogany & Rosewood. Typically Rosewood is a very deep and bright wood but lacks mid-range definition and volume. On the other hand Mahogany lacks Low-end response and typically has too much midrange. Walnut on the other hand has a warm low end, punchy midrange, and very pronounced highs without being harsh or too bright. The first thing I do when I pick a guitar up for the first time is play a few single notes in sucession all over the neck and on different strings. This always gives me a good idea of what notes, strings, or areas of the neck are too loud/quiet and if the guitar is well balanced. The CS-09 Custom I purchased scored a perfect 10!

I have to deduct a couple of points here. A very small detail I noticed before I bought it was a gap between the fretboard and the top of the guitar underneath about the 16th fret. I is almost un-noticable and does not effect action at all, but still it's there. The more severe complaint is a problem I experience after a had it for a week or so. I picked it up one day and noticed that there was a very pronounced buzzing on the second string at the sixth fret only. Immediatly I check to see if the guitar needed a neck adjustment but it was playing perfect with no buzz or noise anywhere else. I also have the room I keep my guitars in at a very strict humidity and tempeture (44% humidity @ 72 degrees). So I knew it wasn't due to the environment. I had to reset and glue the sixth fret and then spot file it under the first and second strings. After I did this, the guitar played wonderfully and I have never experienced another problem. On the positive side, the guitar was perfectly setup from the factory and I even kept the original bridge height when I installed the Fishman pickup. The finish and every other detail was exquisite.

This is now my only acoustic guitar. I feel so confident in the construction of this guitar I sold every other acoustic I had (Yairi, Taylor, etc.) and just have this one left. I think this is probably the last acoustic guitar I will ever buy!

I have never contacted Larrivee for any support or information of any kind.

I would cry for days and days if anything ever happened to this guitar. I have worked at music stores and taught guitar for most of my life and I have played just about every model / make of guitar you could name. Taylor (300-400-500-600-700-800-900- series and numerous presentation and limited editions), a couple hundred Larrivee, a couple hundred Martins and many Tacomas, and this is the best one I've ever played. Honestly I think almost nothing of Taylor and Martin now. Both of these companies make a decent product, but not the quality, sound or feel you expect for the money they charge. I feel Tacoma makes just as nice, if not nicer, product as Taylor but at less than half the cost. Of all the Larrivee guitars I played I think 90+% of them are worth the price. Just like any manufacture, some of the guitars just don't sound or play good. If you are seriously looking for a guitar, do not play just one example of each model! Every single guitar, even two of the exact same specifications, will play and sound different. Remember a guitar is a peice of wood and each peice of every tree will sound and respond differently!