I found this fascinating video by a former Larrivee worker who gives us a behind the scenes tour of what goes on inside the legendary Larrivee Acoustic Guitar plant. While watching it I can’t believe how much time, dedication and patience goes into creating this acoustic guitar. All the little things that we take for granite in a guitar is disclosed to us right here in a fantastic series of videos below. A trivial piece of information is that I did not know that it can take literally months to complete one Larrivee acoustic guitar. I thought maybe 2-3 week tops but months?
In Video 1 @ 05:42 on the video counter, it shows that Larrivee installs a nice reinforced section that is located on the upper inside of the guitar body, right below where you rest the outside part of the guitar body near your sternum or in between your breasts when you play it sitting down. This reinforce section is very useful when either Larrivee, or the end user, installs a pre-amp for a pickup inside of the guitar. This is one damn good thing to know if you want add one yourself. I wasn’t aware of it until now.
When you reach video counter 06:22, it shows a guy doing some sanding on the body of a guitar. I think that I would be natural at this point in the process! Back when I was going to school to become a goldsmith, I took this grinding & polishing course that was extremely difficult to master. It takes great hand eye coordinating to pull it off. Unfortunately your fingers take one hell of a beating, that’s the only thing that I hated about this area. Mind you, grinding and polishing of a small piece is easy compared to a larger one. This guy here is good.
In video 2 I love how they show the inside or the inner workings/guts of the acoustic guitar. It’s the bracing that interests me for some strange reason and @ 02:22 my curiosity is satisfied. I remember when some of the bracing inside my original no name acoustic had come apart from the top of the guitar. I always wondered what was inside there that made the acoustic guitar work, now I know.
In video 3 @ 01:31 they show us an employee putting in the friction fitted dove tail joints where the neck of the guitar and the body meets. It actually starts @ 00:22 if you want to be technical. I always wondered what that dove tail thing was all about in all those guitar forums. I mean I’m just a player not a luthier for crying out loud! I also liked how they put the truss rod in @ 03:15. This ties in nicely to a post I did about what your Truss Rod is used for.
So here are those links that I am talking about. Check them out to see what I mean.
Keep on Jammin’
