The Larrivee Guitar Company has, over the last 16 years or so, produced five "Forum" Guitars.

A history of these guitars is at this link: https://toonz.ca/bose/wiki/ind...C3%A9e_Forum_Guitars

These are guitars have all been designed by a group of Larrivee forum members that are interested in buying such a unique, limited edition, custom made instrument.

The Forum VI was spec'd out almost 10 years ago but never materialized for whatever reason. There is a link to the discussion page for the Forum VI 2012, on the page I linked above.

Back in May 2021, we started talking about actually getting a Forum VI spec'd out and we spent about 30 forum pages figuring out what we all would like to see in a guitar made exclusively for us forum members. I was 20 days, and 9 pages late into the discussion. I had not been visiting the forum as often as I used to as I tend to do with all forums. lol

Having a group of forum members settle in on the design of this guitar in about 30 days, made an impression on Jean Larrivee. He was all on-board with making our dream come true. The entire family is involved with the creation of this guitar. Jean has selected the woods, a combination of American Walnut for the back and sides, Austrian Alpine Spruce for the top, and African Mahogany for the neck. It is based on their LS or LSV ( V = optional venetian cutaway) classical body. It will have their Hybrid Scalloped Bracing for the top and be a 12 fret body join, which will give it a nice warm and punchy low end. It will be rather spartan with no fancy bling or inlays save a Roman numeral VI inlay at the 12 the fret. No other fret board markers except for the small micro dots on the side of the fretboard binding which is usually Maple. It will be constructed using all solid wood.

John Jr, has been posting progress photos to the Forum VI Waiting Room thread. It's getting closer to completion every day. Very exciting!

I ordered the LSV version with the venetian cutaway.

Maybe some of you might find the following photos interesting.

























Forum VI Guitar

• LS-03 Walnut Custom

Custom Spec
• Austrian Alpine Spruce "Moonwood" Top
• 12 Fret Neck Joint
• Scalloped Bracing
• "VI" 12th Fret Inlay
• Custom Signed Label

Options
• Venetian Cutaway
• Left-Handed
• LR Baggs Pickup

Woodworking porn!

How cool! Will be interested to see the finished photos. Hope you post a video of you playing it too! my son has a custom Larivee, he really likes its sound.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Woodworking porn!

You are the second person to call them that!

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
How cool! Will be interested to see the finished photos. Hope you post a video of you playing it too! my son has a custom Larivee, he really likes its sound.

I will most definitely post photos and a video.

Show us some photos of his guitar!

How many of these will he made in total?

Is it less expensive to get one of these than a “one of a kind” custom guitar?

Can I ask how much the guitar will ultimately cost?

15 official guitars are being made but they are also making 4 additional versions in case there are any issues during the manufacturing process. If there are no issues one or two will remain with the family and I assume the others will be sold.

Larrivee represents a somewhat unique place in the market. They are not a huge production factory but they are a factory in the sense of the division of labor. A lot of hand crafting is still required but some processes are done on CNC machines like the cutting and shaping of the necks which leads to a very consistent feel from all of their guitars. That is a good thing IMO and most everyone who plays one, agrees.

A single luthier, all hand crafted guitar will cost more (sometimes many times more) but, Larrivee's are the farthest thing from a cheap import that are mostly mechanized in their production using cheap labor. I have played Martins, Gibsons, Taylors and several boutique and single luthier built, very expensive guitars and none of them had me wanting to get rid of my Larrivee guitars.

The company is privately owned by the family and Jean, his wife Wendy and two sons John Jr. and Matthew all work at the company producing some of the finest guitars you can find anywhere. Sone of the most beautiful as well.

This recent interview with Jean is a good read.

https://guitar.com/features/in...ee-guitars-acoustic/

Pricing
Forum VI = $2199
Forum VI-Cutaway = $2536
L.R. Baggs Pickup = $299 (Choice of any pickup)
Left-handed = N/C
Flattop Hardshell case is included.

An additional $85 shipping fee wil be charged at the time of shipping.

We saved about 40% off retail pricing which is a little more savings if we would have ordered it as a custom guitar from Larrivee using a dealer. Guitars never sell for retail price but usually sell for MAP or "minimum advertised price" which is usually retail - 25%-30%

Mark, thanks for all the info!

I guess my perspective is skewed from buying a grand piano, but the prices you list are less than I expected.

And of course, there's nothing like playing a top class instrument, so that may be part of why it doesn't seem so expensive to me.

I bet you are super excited!

I am pretty excited. Almost as much as I was when waiting for the LV-10 in 2017. That was the first time I ordered a guitar and had to wait months for it. It felt like an eternity. Of course that one cost twice what this one is costing. lol

This time seems different in that, I helped (well I mostly just agreed with the choices) in the design of a unique guitar, and the fact that we all talk about it on a weekly basis and get production progress photos. The involvement of the family in keeping us updated, and the process documented is very cool

That is very cool, Mark, and the pictures are really interesting. I don’t think the price sounds unreasonable, and the fact that the guitars are built to fulfill forumites’ desires has to be thrilling.

I found it interesting that they plan the extra guitars, just in case. I ordered a Taylor GS Mini limited edition that was made with salvaged wood from Holden Village in Washington State. It was a fundraising project for El Porvenir and Living Waters of the World. The first one that came to me had a burble in the Engelmann spruce top, and I just couldn’t get past it, so they exchanged it for me. It was only a cosmetic issue, but it was important to me.

Wishing you many happy playing hours!

That is *so* cool, mark. Can't wait for you to get your guitar and play us some tunes....

quote:

I helped (well I mostly just agreed with the choices) in the design of a unique guitar, and the fact that we all talk about it on a weekly basis and get production progress photos. The involvement of the family in keeping us updated, and the process documented is very cool

Yeah, this makes it sooo fun!!

AdagioM, I totally get the cosmetic concern. If you're paying a lot for something, you want it to be as close to perfect as possible, nothing wrong with that.

More photos... The last 3 were just posted to the Larrivee Forum, earlier today.

You are going to love it.
A bit of machine work, rather than completely hand made is desirable IMO. This is not the 19th century.
Amazed at that price. Expected it to be much higher.

Wow, cool photos - I’m sure it will be lovely to play!