As some of you know, I've been jonzing for a 12-fret dread for some time now, specifically the Larrivee SD-40 or the Martin D-15S.  I couldn't find one to play to see if I really liked either.  Other than Eastman or Martin, I am skittish about buying sight unseen.  Plus, I was having trouble justifying the price to myself.  Some decent deals popped up but the timing was never right.

Well, yesterday for some unknown reason I searched 'Larrivee' on craigslist and and SD-40 showed up about an hour away for $550(!).  I called him immediately and he said it was like new with a K&K mini installed.  The original owner didn't care for the recorded sound and sold it to him relatively cheaply.  He'd had it listed for a long time and kept lowering the price.  He said he was going to pull it that day.  He said he doesn't play anymore and has too many guitars just sitting around.

He listed it in a tiny CL area where there were... not exaggerating... 8 musical instruments listed.  I think that's why no one saw it.  He was a nice dude and we chatted for a while.  The guitar is amazing, I just love it.  I have 5 acoustics (3 Eastman) and I've intentionally bought ones that all feel, play and sound completely differently.  I don't know that I'll keep all 5, but I'm not in a hurry.

The Larrivee is very light, flawlessly built, and sings.  I looked up the serial number and it's a 2018, but there is seriously not a mark on it, nor wear of any kind.  It has a 1 3/4" nut but a flatter carve with some shoulder, but it feels great.  The finish is satin but not open pore, which I am glad of.  I love the feel.  Sounds great finger picked or strummed.  I know many feel the body shape is too odd, and I get it, but it's much less so in person.

Sorry for the long post, but I'm pretty over-the-moon right now.  I feel so so fortunate to be in a position to own these amazing instruments.

There was a recent online sale on D'Addario Nickel Bronze strings, two for the price of one. So I quickly grabbed six sets of the light gauge (NB1253) for $36 since it was such a great deal. I've used one set but don't think I'll end up using the other five sets so I'd like to pass them on. 

I also have two sets of the Thin Core Phosphor Bronze (TCB-M) strings from GHS in their "Medium" gauge (a bit different than most Medium sets) and a set of TCB-L "Light" gauge. I think they were around $6-$7 per set.  I'll sell all three sets (two medium, one light) for $15, shipped.

The postage rates are a killer now so I want to sell these all together. The two sets of GHS would cost nearly as much to mail as they are worth if I sold them alone. So how about 30 bucks for the entire batch: 5 sets of D'Addario NB1253 and 2 sets of GHS TCB-M.

Send me a PM if you want them.

Anyone have a good recommendation for drop-in replacement tuning machines for this 12 string? I just bought it used and a few of them feel a bit sloppy. I'd prefer not to have to drill new holes since it's a 12 stringer. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

I loved the E1D but missed the Rosewood fingerboard and more narrow nut. If you have one for sale or know of one let me know.

According to every spec sheet I've seen, the fretboard on my E1D is 12" radius. I'm having trouble believing it is that curved, mine looks and plays more like a 16" or something.

My other guitar is also supposed to be 12" radius and they two fretboards looks pretty similar up the neck (say, past the 6th fret or so). But at the first couple frets, either the Eastman is flatter than 12" or the older guitar is more like 10".

How confident are we in that 12" spec?

Quote:{Don't know if this has more legs, but shifted it over here - better late than never}
 (From SBTom) Alan if my calculations are close that 00-18A costs around $6,798 US dollars which makes it's expensive to buy without knowing if you're going to like the neck shape or not. How far is Peach Guitars from you? If they have a return policy that works for you, why not pull the trigger? If not you'll never know if this guitar will work for you. I'm sure the guitar already sounds great. I love all the specs this model comes with.

As far as the V Shaped neck goes I had a Recording King RP1-326 parlor a few years ago that had a pronounced v in the neck that was great for planting my thumb on it making it very comfortable to hold and fret. Should have never sold that guitar but I moved it to help finance my 00-18. Good luck on your decision!

I was traveling for the last few weeks and just got back on Sunday night.  All week, I've been playing my guitars in the evening, and every one of them sounds more alive and responsive than I recall when I left.  But I also know that my guitars seem to sound "better" in the winter months, when the house isn't toggling between A/C in the daytime and cool, moist air at night.

Of course, it could just be my memory playing tricks on me b/c I was away for so long.

Happy Friday!
(today is National Happy Hour Day)

Watched a video of one of these and then did a search but could only find one.  Was this a limited run?

Hi, the other day I uploaded a comparison of my acoustic guitars, and for the sake of the objetivity I maintained the same mic position and played the same pieces.

To do a little bit of justice to my favourite archtop I recorded a most suited piece and I recorded it differntly to capture better this kind of guitar.

There is more information in video description if you want to get into deeper details.

Hope you enjoy!

So, ended up in the ER yesterday with an irregular heartbeat.  Scary and very long day.  Health is everything!