Larrivee D-04E

The D-04E's aren't made anymore, and I don't know when this one was made, probably sometime between 1998-2004? I'll call Larrivee and find out. At any rate: the D-04E is a standard dreadnough with solid bearclaw spruce top, very nice wood, with a clear pickguard; very pretty mahogany neck, sides and back; gloss finish; ebony fretboard with microdot inlays; black binding around the body and off-white on the fretboard. Ebony bridge, Fishman classic installed at the factory. Mine came with a nice, heavy-duty hardshell case.

Here's what happened. At almost the same time I bought a used Taylor 410 and a used Larrivee D-04E. The Taylor played so beautifully, was in great condition, and yes was made of unusually nice ovangkol (a wood I don't always like). The Larrivee was set up high for bluegrass, so it stayed in the case. Then I got it set up for fingerpicking and for my lighter touch, and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was the D-18V I had been looking for -- $1,000 less. I have been playing rosewood guitars for years, and suddenly here was the bell-like sound I associate with Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, etc. Just stunning, and not because of volume (which is fine), but because unamplified, this is in my opinion the best a non-Froggy Bottom, non-Kevin Ryan can sound.

See above -- everything was very well made, but I wanted lower action and so a setup was necessary. The quality is top-drawer. I like the fact that this is a really subtle, traditional-looking guitar. There's too much abalone on guitars these days. Can you imagine the concertmaster of a symphony or Yo-Yo Ma with an abalone ring around their f-holes?

This guitar will last because Larrivee makes quality.

I have no yet dealt with the company.

I've played for 35 years. My other guitars have included several Martins, several Taylors, 2 Tacomas, several Fender electrics, an Alvarez classical, several Washburns, 3 Ibanezes, a Yamaha, a Ramirez, a Takamine, a Breedlove ... you get the idea. I've played a lot of guitars. I am now in the process of selling everything except the Tacoma ER22CE4 (which is awesome) and this D-04E, which blew my Breedlove SJ20 and my Martin M-36 out of the water.

It's a solid wood construction, mahogany back and sides, has an ebony fretboard and bridge, gloss finish and has an active Fishman stereo blender pickup on board. It came in a hard case (and I even got a bottle of wine from my guitar dealer ;-))

Its body is a standard dreadnought body, and it has a transparent pick guard. It's pretty straightforward and simple, no frills or so. Quite elegant, really. Hence the 8.

The sound is truly amazing. Compared to other brands, it sounds a bit like a Taylor guitar, but more beautiful in its bass. For me, this is the ideal combination of trebly and bass sounds.

Furthermore, it delivers great "powery" sound, while it can also fit the profile for nice and easy fingerpicking, which I think is quite an amazing feature for all Larrivee guitars. Because they do this without losing their identity, the Larrivee sound is amazingly honest and this particular guitar was even best in that (compared to the other Larriveees in store)!

You should really sit yourselves down at a local Larrivee dealer and hear it for yourselves: you'll be amazed at the beauty. Considering the price of this guitar, the sound can only be rewarded a solid 10!

Playability of the neck is almost perfect. Only a few Taylor models I played performed better on this aspect. The fretwire is fit in detail. You can slide up and down the fretboard without any real effort. Just feels nice. The finish of the guitar is really neat, as you might expect of the brand guitars.

The default action was set up perfect (although I think this is a particular personal matter). The guitar shop owner asked me whether I would like to change a few things in the setup, but I thought it was not necessary. And I still don't need it.

The finish looks solid enough in the sense that I wouldn't worry about it wearing off or anything like that. Taking good care of this guitar would ensure life-long enjoyability, I guess.

Playing on a gig, I would certainly take with me only this guitar, no backup guitars or any of my other guitars. (As I said before, with a Larrivee, you practically don't NEED another sound, as they are so allround, haha.)

Of course, it would be kind of harsh to start speculating on the guitar's future, but I'd say it would resist live playing. I even think I will own this guitar still in about 20 years from now (if not more).

A lifetime warranty against workmanship or material defects applies after registration (via snail mail).

Although I have not had to truly deal with consumer support, I must say that digital consumer support at Larrivee may be improved in particular. Their website did not work in some cases due to lack of maintainance and I have only got an answer on one of my three inquiry mails I sent them (including one mail inquirying about the build date of my guitar). I don't know if these answers are still going to come in the (near) future, but nevertheless, I will withhold my opinion for now.

I'm playing for about 2 years straight, from now. I started off with an amateur guitar by Aria, of which I have to admit that it still sounds amazingly good considering the price (I paid about $100)!

Furthermore, I have a second hand Fender folk model acoustic guitar, which, despite its smaller body, produces pretty nice sounds, too.

Anyway, after two years of playing, performing, and musically growing in all aspects, I was just in for a professional guitar, like my new Larrivee.

If it got stolen, I'd run into the same store right away to play all Larrivees again and find myself in love with the D-04 again (probably) and buy it again.

Since this guitar offers not much features, I'd simply go for the sound that it produces as its best feature. I have not put another brand of strings on it, but I'm pretty much content with the Elixir medium strings that came with it. Other strings might change the sound a bit, but I guess they would not affect the characteristics of the sound.

I've played about all the brands in the store that were available. To sum some up: Martin, Lakewood, Yamaha, Taylor, Epiphone, and, of course, Larrivee.

Martin guitars are just quality guitars, but have a specific profile that doesn't fit my musical taste. The best competitors for my guitar were a certain handmade Lakewood model (sorry, I don't know the type) and an expensive Taylor (sorry, no type also--I played way to much guitars to remember them all).

My main objection about Taylors in general is that the bass notes just sound only so-so. Although you cannot blame Taylor on almost any aspect of the guitars (they ARE true quality guitars), Taylors simply missed the X-factor for me. (Most) Larrivees simply had that magic touch to it.

So, basically, I had to chose which Larrivee I would take home, since there were 6 models that I liked very much. After narrowing down the selection, I finally had to chose between the D-04E (dreadnought) and the J-09 (jumbo model), which both had their very specific, but beautiful sound. Although they were hard to compare (I'd even love to take them both home, haha), my opinion was that the D-04E would be a bit more allround. Comparing features and price, the choice was clear: my D-04E offered the Fishman pickup and cost me ? 1.600,- whereas the jumbo cost ? 2.200,-, without pickup element.

Let's see...all solid wood construction (spruce top, mahogany back and sides), Ebony fretboard and bridge, gloss finish, Fishman Prefix Stereo Blender pickup,...not a whole lot of frills, but very well made and finished.

Haven't owned the guitar for a very long time (hence the 9) but sounds wonderful...I imagine that it will only get better with age. Very clean, crisp on all strings - typical of the mahogany/spruce combo - but it has a very balanced sound, not overly "trebly" like you would expect. Wood resonates really nicely, and has a lot of sustain and volume. Sounds almost as good in my home as it does in the "studio" I tested it in at the guitar shop.

The guitar was ready to go out of the box, and the finish is flawless. It is a very pretty guitar, despite it's lack of "makeup" (abalone, inlays, intricate rosettes, wood bindings, etc.) I know this is a silly thing to mention but I like the way the serial number is actually carved into the wood - looks a heck of a lot better than the rubber stamp/press you usually see.

Like I said, I haven't owned it for very long but I anticipate it will stand the test of time. Like anything else, if you take care of it, it should last longer. I don't expect to be flinging this thing around anyhow, but judging from how well it is put together now, I expect this will be the guitar I grow old with.

Can't say. Haven't dealt with the company. Except to register for the lifetime warranty.

I've been playing for about 10 years now and I've had the opportunity to play lots of guitars at lots of price ranges. Of all the stuff I've seen on the market now, this is probably one of the better deals in town. It's a real pretty, but very simple looking guitar (perfect for an amateur like me), and the construction and attention to detail is exceptional, especially when compared to the other guitars I have seen in this price range. As a whole, Larrivee is not as big a name brand as some of the other stuff I've looked at, and, it seems that in order to get a guitar with similar features and construction from, let's say Martin, I'd probably spend at least twice as much. Sure, you may get a few more cosmetic frills, but is that worth all that extra coins? Not for me. If you haven't played one, go check it out. After all, this is just my opinion. Your ears will be the final judge.