https://boseperformer.com/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Larrivee_Electric_Guitars_-_the_80sLarrivee Electric Guitars - the 80s - Revision history2026-04-06T12:41:18ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.1https://boseperformer.com/index.php?title=Larrivee_Electric_Guitars_-_the_80s&diff=15695&oldid=prevST at 10:58, 22 January 20132013-01-22T10:58:36Z<p></p>
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</table>SThttps://boseperformer.com/index.php?title=Larrivee_Electric_Guitars_-_the_80s&diff=15694&oldid=prevST: New page: See: [http://www.guitaradoptions.com/history-of-larrivee-electric-guitars.html History of Larrivée Electric Guitars - guitaradoptions. com] <!-- <html> <tbody><tr> <td align="center"><...2013-01-22T10:58:09Z<p>New page: See: [http://www.guitaradoptions.com/history-of-larrivee-electric-guitars.html History of Larrivée Electric Guitars - guitaradoptions. com] <!-- <html> <tbody><tr> <td align="center"><...</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>See: [http://www.guitaradoptions.com/history-of-larrivee-electric-guitars.html History of Larrivée Electric Guitars - guitaradoptions. com]<br />
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<td align="center"><h1>History Of Larrivee Electric Guitars</h1></td><br />
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<td valign="top">History of Larrivee Electric Guitars And Basses<br><br />
<br><br />
In 1982, Jean Larrivee closed his shop in Victoria,BC and<br />
moved his operation to North Vancouver. Acoustic guitar sales were at<br />
low ebb industry-wide, and Jean was faced with some decisions. He could<br />
have laid off his staff and continued by himself, or with a very small<br />
staff, continued producing only acoustic guitars. With almost 20 years<br />
worth of equipment, he could have made a very good living. The market<br />
was soft, but not dead and Jean had distributors who could have<br />
absorbed what he could have produced with a small operation. However,<br />
he had "been there, done that", and he was not interested in covering<br />
old ground. The market for electric guitars was healthy, and for the<br />
first time in years, companies other than Gibson and Fender were having<br />
some success in the high quality, high end of the market.<br><br />
<br><br />
Jean was intrigued by the challenge of learning to manufacture electric<br />
guitars. He had a excellent dealer and distributor base from acoustic<br />
guitars, good woodworking equipment, and knew a lot about guitars. He<br />
also knew a lot of musicians who were willing to help steer him in the<br />
right direction. He decided to go for it.<br><br />
The very first Larrivee Electric was made in Victoria, BC in 1982 and<br />
was a double cutaway “Strat” like guitar. When the<br />
shop moved in 1983, production began almost immediately. The first<br />
electrics were bolt-on necks.&nbsp;<br><br />
<br><br />
Models<br><br />
<br><br />
The electric guitars underwent many changes over the seven years that<br />
we produced them. There are two main branches to the model tree:<br />
bolt-on necks and neck-thru-bodies. Bolt-on neck guitars had model<br />
names beginning with "L" (for Larrivee) and neck-thru-body<br />
designs had names beginning with "R" (for a reason that seemed logical<br />
at the time, but which no one still here can remember). Numbers were<br />
used to designate pickup configuration, as follows:<br><br />
<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1 - Single humbucker in bridge position<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2 - Double humbuckers<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3 - Three single coils<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 4 - Two single coils plus a humbucker in<br />
the bridge position<br><br />
<br><br />
Thus, an LS-3 was a bolt on neck design with 3 single coil pickups. An<br />
RS-2 would be a neck-thru-body design with 2 humbuckers. Body designs<br />
were not copies, exactly, but they were certainly derivative. The "S"<br />
in LS-3 stood for Strat* derived body (Larrivee Strat*-style<br />
-3 pickup), while an LT-2 would have been a Tele* derived body. Basses<br />
were called LB-2 and RB-2. Most had a Jazz Bass* type pickup in the<br />
bridge position and a P-Bass* style in the neck position.<br><br />
It should be noted the the current model RS-4 does not follow this<br />
naming path and that we have started over from scratch with names.<br><br />
<br><br />
While the LS-, LT-, and RS- guitars, and the LB-2 and RB-2 basses,<br />
accounted for the bulk of electric production, there were other models<br />
as well. The middle period of electric production coincided with a<br />
brief return to fashion of wild body shapes. Flying V designs and Randy<br />
Rhodes style guitars were in style, and so we made some. It was also<br />
the time Eddie Van Halen burst onto the scene with his guitar painted<br />
with crossed lines. Suddenly graphics were hot, and so we created those<br />
too. It was liberating in a way. With acoustic guitars we had strong<br />
opinions – prejudices if you prefer - about design and<br />
aesthetics. There was a right way to do things and if the market didn't<br />
like it, the market needed educating. We didn't have the same emotional<br />
investment with solid bodies. Whatever the market wanted we were more<br />
than happy to build.<br><br />
Graphics? You got it. Absurd body designs? No problem. Kahler Tremelos<br />
with locking nuts? Sure. Oh, now they have to be Floyd Rose trems? We<br />
can do that, too. Banana headstocks? Day-Glo finishes? Why not.<br><br />
<br><br />
While we cared a lot about building quality instruments, doing good<br />
woodworking, and installing quality hardware, we really didn't care<br />
whether the guitars looked conservative or 21st century, Rolls-Royce*<br />
or Corvette*.<br><br />
<br><br />
The final stage in the evolution of Larrivee electrics<br />
before the electric market dried up was the carved top series. These<br />
were very beautiful, very functional guitars, proof that we had learned<br />
a lot of lessons. They were RS-4's, neck-thru-body guitars with highly<br />
figured carved maple tops. Because one of the other companies was<br />
claiming trademark on the banana style headstock, and because the<br />
fashion wheel was turning away from that look anyway, we abandoned it<br />
for a three-on-a-side set up. The carved tops were offered in several<br />
translucent colors, as well as sunburst. They had Larrivee<br />
pickups, which by then had evolved into a very good product, and either<br />
hard tails or Floyd Rose* licensed locking tremolo systems.<br><br />
Though made in 1987, the original RS-2 and RS-4 designs are actually<br />
pretty close in design to the modern PRS guitars of today. The neck<br />
thru body’s made during the late 80’s with the<br />
carve tops are the most valuable use Larrivee Electrics.<br><br />
<br><br />
Pickups<br><br />
<br><br />
Most basses came stock with EMG active pickups. They were the hottest<br />
bass pickup on the market at the time, and they were licensed to only a<br />
few manufacturers and we felt very fortunate to be one of them. The<br />
early six strings also had EMG pickups.<br><br />
Later Jean built a pickup winding machine (From scratch) and produced<br />
his own pickups. Including magnetizing his own magnets! Once the<br />
Larrivee pickup was available, it became the stock pickup<br />
for six strings, while the EMGs were offered as an extra cost option.<br><br />
<br><br />
There was quite a bit of competition among pickup manufacturers in<br />
those days. Replacement pickups were big business and there were quite<br />
a few companies fighting for their share of the pie. Some of them are<br />
still in business today. We received many samples from companies trying<br />
to get our OEM business (OEM stands for "Original Equipment<br />
Manufacture". It's a shorthand way of saying what comes stock on an<br />
instrument.) Those pickups were usually tried on guitars, and if they<br />
had acceptable performance, the test guitars were sold with them<br />
installed. So you could find a Larrivée electric with<br />
pickups other than Larrivee or EMG. It wouldn't necessarily<br />
mean the pickups had been replaced. We shipped a fair number of basses<br />
with pickups from Bill Bartolini. His pickups were great, but they were<br />
hard to get, and they had so many wiring possibilities you didn't quite<br />
know what to do with them.<br><br />
<br><br />
Materials<br><br />
<br><br />
Many people have asked what woods their Larrivée electric<br />
are made from. The answers are short and simple.<br><br />
<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; • All bolt-on necks were made<br />
of a single piece of eastern maple.<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; • All fingerboards were ebony.<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; • Bodies for bolt-on necks were<br />
alder<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; • Body wings for neck-thrus<br />
were alder<br><br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; • The core of the neck-thru<br />
designs were laminated eastern maple.<br><br />
<br><br />
Other Brand Names<br><br />
<br><br />
Larrivee guitars produced some solid body instruments with brand names<br />
other than Larrivee. Schon Guitars and Signature Guitars were produced<br />
under contract to other companies, as were some Kramer guitars.<br />
Scorpion Guitars was an in-house brand. A few prototypes were built for<br />
Robin Guitars and Tobias basses, but those never went into production.<br><br />
Schon Guitars - Neil Schon, the great electric guitar player from the<br />
band Journey, had a dream to market his own line of guitars. He wanted<br />
to design the guitars, and have his people control marketing and<br />
distribution, but he was smart enough to not want to manufacture them.<br />
Originally he approached Jackson Guitars, and they produced the first<br />
Schons. For whatever reason the business relationship didn't work out,<br />
and Neil approached Jean Larrivee and asked him to build the guitars.<br />
Jean had already gone through the worst of a steep learning curve and<br />
was feeling confident of his ability to build the guitars. Sales of<br />
Larrivee electrics had been good in Canada and in Europe, but had never<br />
really got off the ground in the US. Jean felt the association with a<br />
famous and respected guitar player like Schon could only help his own<br />
credibility in the electric guitar world, so he agreed to take on the<br />
contract. Perhaps at some future time I'll collect more details on this<br />
production for this space. It was a few hundred instruments. The whole<br />
project was a little too far behind the curve. By the time it really<br />
got going the whole market was changing. Electric guitar sales were<br />
weakening for everybody. The project lost its reason to exist and just<br />
petered out.&nbsp;<br />
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