Larrivee OM-03R

The Larrivee OM-03R is part of the Larrivee 03-series line. This line offers high quality guitars with fewer bells and whistles than on their higher end models. However they offer an exceptional value; these guitars feature all solid wood, excellent tone, playability and superb fit and finish. So the OM-03R is larrivees take on the classic OM(Orchestra model) body shape.

This body size for me and many others is the most comfortable, it just sits so comfortably in your lap due to it's narrower waist and shorter body length. If you are a slightly smaller person it's an excellent choice, but it has also become the choice of guitar for many styles of music, fingerstylist's in particular like OM sized guitars.

The OM-03R features all solid woods, solid rosewood back and sides, solid Sitka spruce top, one piece mahogany neck with hand fitted dove tail neck joint, ebony fretboard and bridge. It's not a fancy guitar by any means but the quality of wood is excellent and I personally prefer my money being invested in a great sounding and playing guitar with excellent materials, rather than one with gaudy inlays everywhere. The nut width is 1 3/4 with a standard 25.5 scale length.

The 03-series come with a flat satin finish instead of the more costly gloss finish found on the higher end models. Many people believe the satin finish guitars sound better out of the box, as the guitar doesn't take as long to open as a gloss finished guitar. I agree and actually prefer a satin finish on my guitars.

The guitar as with most Larrivee's has a very balanced sound, no strings dominate at all, it also has the complexities of a considerably more expensive guitar. It has a nice deep bass, sweet mids and clear trebles, it's quite loud for it's size, though it's no dreadnought it can easily handle medium strumming. I think fingerstylist will love this guitar, it's responsive to a light touch, the neck is smooth and fast. The string spacing makes moving around the frets a breeze. One minor peeve I have with Larrives is I do find the fret ends to be a little sharp.

So who would be interested in a Larrivee OM-03R? Well anybody looking for a quality guitar that won't burn a hole in your pocket. If you don't need the booming sound of a dreadnought and would like a guitar with a more comfortable, intimate body size. A guitar which also gives you the sound quality of a more expensive acoustic.

At this price point it is certainly one of the best deals on the market. If rosewood isn't your thing then they also offer a sapele model which is slightly cheaper and has more of a mahogany sound to it. Go check one out.