Larrivee D-02 12

I purchased my D-02 12 in 1999. The "D" stands for Dreadnaught. It has I believe it was manufactured in 1998. There are 14 playable frets.
Originally listed at about a thousand dollars, most dealers let it go for about $450. I paid a little less. It has a solid spruce top with Mahoghany sides. It is lighter than the comprable Martin. It has standard Larrive tuners and comes like all other Larrivee's...without a pick-guard. A clear vinyl tape acts as a pick-guard. I received a free Levy's gig bag but that is not common.

I play fingerstyle. I pick this twelve string without picks. The sound is righ and full. I like the smooth easy playability. It is so much lighter and easier to play than the similar Martin and even lighter than alot of the 6-string Taylors.

The action is superb therefore letting me concentrate on my right hand. It is not a shiny guitar. No laquer has been applied. Everything works exactly like it did when a bought the guitar. Tuning pegs are good. Very little tuning between plays. There are no visisble flaws.

The guitar is durable and it has lasted me about six years. Strap buttons are strong. It is dependable and can be used without a backup but that is not a good idea because nothing is perfect. The finish is exactly the way it was when I bought the guitar in 1999. (I play classical 3 finger or folk 2 finger, the thumb for alternating bass and I use no picks. I am gentle with the guitar, anyway).

I have dealt with the company and the support people are friendly. I have a warranty card that states I have a limited lifetime warranty. "Cracking of settling of the finish is not covered". It is stated that all repairs and modifications must be performed by Larrivee. The owner must pay shipping to and from the Larrivee authized repair center.

I had been playing about 35 years when I purchased the guitar. I compared it to every 12-string in the $550 price range. It was on sale for $550 but I was given a $100 discount to close the sale. If I lost it I would be heart broken. Ask Peter Yarrow how he felt when he lost his Larrivee a couple of years ago. I would certainly buy another Larrivee. I just love the way it plays and sounds when fingerpicked of even flat picked. Get a pick guard from a dealer and let them put it on if you can.

Very plain appearance. Mahogany back, neck and sides with solid spruce top. Fingerboard and bridge look like ebony. Peghead veneer and bindings look like matte black plastic. Fretboard markers are tiny metal dots. Plastic "Larrivee" inlayed on headstock. Standard tuners. Tusq saddle. Only "ornamentation" is the beautifully figured B grade ebony bridge(nice cream swirls) and nine concentric rings of very plain black/white plastic around the sound hole.

But, hey. I bought it for the sound.

Best sounding 12 string I've owned. Rich bass without boom. Excellent articulation across all the strings. Flatpicked melodies sing out as clear individual notes. Bottom sounds great with heel damped chords.

Action as received was terrible. High everywhere. Had to trim both the nut and the saddle. 17-20th frets unusable as finberboard (and top) taper down toward soundhole. No evidence of damage (and who plays a 12 string up that high anyway).

After proper setup playablitiy is excellent. Guitar is stable with only minimal seasonal change in action.

This guitar is very stable. Rides to gigs at -10F to 90F and big humidity swings typical of upper Midwest have minimal effect on tuning. The finish, pickguard and neck and holding up nicely under heavy, animated playing. This is by far the best built 12 string I have owned.

Never needed any.

I've been playing 25 years. I have a beatup, very early Larrivee L-09R (reviewed on this site), a 1929 rosewood Washburn (in the shop for a neck reset) and a Gibson Melody Maker (rarely played). I like older guitars that have adjusted nicely to making music. This Larrivee is the newest guitar I have ever purchased and the tone is already very good. For the price I paid, nothing comes close in terms of tone and quality. Larrivee is one of the few brands of guitars I'd buy on eBay because the tone is so dependable. They always sound good.

I thought I would update my review.

It's just gotten better and better...

As mentioned before, there was one flaw, sorta like a bubble in the finish that popped and left a smal dot unfinished. Otherwise, the guitar remains in great shape. The top seems to have darkened a little but, all in all, has aged well.

I've been playing with a praise team for 6 months now with no problems in terms of damage. Very dependable, stays in tune, works very well with a Dean Markley soundhole pickup.

I visited the Larrivee factory in Vancouver last summer. If you are ever in Vancouver and you love guitars, you ought to arrange to visit where they lovingly build these things. One thing I learned about the D0-2s: they were not GC exclusives. They were a run limited to just the year 2000. Not necessarily collectible, but rarer than D0-3s and distinctive in their austere way. (BTW, I am not asking for bids!)

Haven't played a better 12-string with the same bang for the buck yet. Unlike the other reviewer below, I noticed that a year later GC was asking about $659 for a D0-2, so it went up in price.

Made in Vancouver,BC. Sitka top, mahog. back, sides and neck. Satin finish.

Great full tone. Well balanced and not too boomy like some 12's can be.

Woods are fine, good finish. Action was OK. I had it set up which included routing the bridge and action is now perfect; lower than my 6 string.

Typical excellent Larrivee construction. Very solid. the finish seems very durable.

So, so. I emailed some requests for warranty info and it took several tries and over a wk. to get a response.

I'm extremely pleased with this guitar. It had sat at a GC for several yrs. (neglected and with 10 strings) and I made them an offer which they accepted. I'd been looking around at both new and used 12's and this fit the bill perfectly. I didn't want to spend a bundle and I didn't want junk. This is my 2nd Larrivee and I love them both. If you're looking for a good quality, reasonably priced 12 string the D-02 or D-03-12 are a good choice.

This Larrivee 12-string is made in Canada exclusively for Guitar Center-type chains but compares very favorably with the D03-12 as far as I'm concerned. Very much like the Martin dreadnought design. It has solid spruce top and sapelle mahogony sides and back, maple neck with ebony fingerboard, with almost invisible dot inlays. There's something about ebony fingerboards that I really like and this one is no exception. The wide neck allows for decent finger picking. The finish is satin with a clear pickguard. Reliable Larrivee tuners. Price was around $550 without a case. A great value for a handsome guitar.

I like to strum hard and found a lot of 12-strings swallowing the sound, but this one doesn't. Finger picking near the bridge or above the sound hole gives a very different range of sound, which is what you'd want. The sound is full, with the highs and lows where I like them, the middle range could be stronger. I think sound is very personal; impossible to describe. I compared a lot of guitars (see below) before I decided on this one. I've gone back and listened to others, and remain satisfied with my choice.

Frankly, I don't know about the factory set up. I asked the salesman at Guitar Center to set it up--I'd dealt with him before--so it's just fine, the action is quite easy on the fingertips with no rattling or ringing, even when you go down the neck. There's a little flaw in the wood on the top and I've read elsewhere where that seems to be the case with D02s--the reason they're about $150-$200 cheaper than D03s. But I've found no other flaws in the workmanship of this great-looking guitar.

I have a 25-year old Suzuki guitar that is in great shape. Save for wear on its pickguard, it looks new. I'm very good with guitars (hope I'm not jinxing myself) so I feel confident about the durability of this one. One thing that scared me about having a 12-string is tuning the honking thing, but it really stays in tune--thank goodness for digital tuners! That's a big plus as far as I'm concerned.

I've had some correspondence with the Larrivee people and they're very personable online--that's how I found this site. I'd passed along some criticism that one website/guitar store has made about Canadian guitar-makers and they were very far-minded--didn't jump into bunker defense mode.

I've always wanted a 12-string, so when I decided to go for it, I took my time and really hunted around. My favorite 12-string is the Ovation Celebrity in terms of playability, but the Larrivee won in terms of sound and looks. Other guitars I compared it to (let's stay in the general $450-$700 price range): Seagull, Dean (very nice!), Norman, Takemine, Fender, Epiphone, Cort, and Martin. I also considered very seriously the Danelectro 12 and 12/6 Doubleneck--very playable and incredibly priced. (If the Hodad 12 had been available!) But the 12-string sound is best heard acoustically. Most of the tested guitars swallowed the sound with hard strumming--the Dean was an exception. I also played Martins and Taylors--don't like Gibsons--in higher price range. The ebony-fingerboard Taylors are very nice, but I feel the Larrivee delivers the same sound and quality at a better price.