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Larrivee 12-String 45 Indian/Sitka
Here we have a wonderful vintage Larrivee 12 String guitar is from the Victoria, B.C. days of Larrivee. The workmanship is excellent and the inlay is exquisite. The body features premium Indian Rosewood and Master Grade Sitka Spruce with tons of silk. Larrivee harvests their own Sitka from their region and it is wonderful wood. This is a showpiece Larrivee guitar with custom inlays on the headstock, fingerboard and bridge as well as a top border of Abalone. The smaller body and premium top give this 12 string a warmer tone that is sweet and balanced and it plays with ease. A great 12 String guitar from Larrivee.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.6 in Nut Width 1.81 in String Spacing 2.31 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Indian Add to Compare2007 Larrivee P-10 BR Brazilian/Sitka
Here’s a sweet little Brazilian Rosewood parlor from Larrivee. It’s their top of the line P-10 model and it has been revoiced by Parabolic Brace Works. The Brazilian rosewood is dark and well quartered with lovely tight grain. The top is very silky Sitka Spruce which offers up rich tone with lovely overtones and clarity. The body is bound is curly maple and the top is trimmed with Abalone. The fingerboard sports the style 10 inlays completely this gorgeous parlor guitar.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 24 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.13 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare2007 Larrivee SD-50 MT Mahogany/Sitka
This is an All Mahogany 12 Fret Dread with a slothead and a gorgeous Sunburst. The all Mahogany body has a great voice, it’s vibrant and has a throaty growl that we really like, combined with the fingerstyle spacings, this is a great guitar for blues, rags and the like. It’s easy to play fingerstyle on this guitar and it strums up well also. The sunburst is lovely and combines with the slothead for a vintage vibe.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.88 in String Spacing 2.38 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Mahogany Add to Compare1900s Larson Brothers Stahl Style 6, Brazilian Rosewood/Spruce
We love the unique corner of prewar lutherie occupied by the Larson Brothers. Reputed to have built hundred and hundreds of instruments, never under their own name, these brothers have created a body of work that stands apart from other prewar builders on my levels. One particular label of theirs was Stahl, and we’ve got a lovely example of their Style 6 here today. Brazilian Rosewood back and sides over Spruce, 12 frets to the body and gone over by our repair staff with a clean bill of health! At some point, this Stahl was refinished, so it’s got a mix of newer gloss look and vintage, prewar volume and presence. An immensely fun little guitar, it handles fingerpicking just as easily as strumming and flatpick work too.
Other keywords: vintage guitar, vinrage, Larson bro.s, larson stahl, w.c. stahl, w.m.c. stahl, 12-fret, refin, slot head, slotted headstock
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.4 in Nut Width 1.875 in String Spacing 2.25 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1938 Larson Brothers Euphonon Jumbo 16 Inch Brazilian Rosewood/Spruce
According to Bob Hartman’s authoritative text, The Larsons’ Creations, this Euphonon 16” Pearl Jumbo was finished in 1938. This Jumbo demonstrates appointments of the highest order for the brothers: Pearl trim bound with Grained Ivoroid, Pearl rosette and soundhole half bound in Ivoroid (a Larson technique), Pearl thistle adorning the headstock, Pearl-inlaid fingerboard and bridge wings. The flattened pyramid bridge is original, as are the tuners, pickguard, fingerboard—across the guitar, the original finish shines.
This Larson is in superb condition for such a rare creature from the 1930s. This 16” Jumbo plays as smoothly as ice cubes skating across the griddle: the Brazilian Rosewood and Spruce body have fully opened up and offer a breathiness paired with expansive headroom. The treble overtones are grad-school articulate: they speak in complete sentences with dependent clauses and profound weight. The neck profile follows a unique path from the flattened C shape (around the first position) which sharpens into something of a V as you approach the heel. What more can we say? An exceedingly rare breed from the Larson Brothers’ Euphonon line, practically as original as the day it was born, stable and with the seasoned voice of a worldly-wise traveller yet in their prime. This, friends, is a piece of history worth playing.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.31 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1938 Larson Dreadnought Brazilian/Spruce
We’ve got special treat for all you Larson brothers devotees: a 1938 Euphonon Dreadnought! Occasionally, the Larson brothers would label their instruments with Classical or American motifs (see: Prairie State models), but this Dreadnought is a Larson through and through. Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, Spruce top, and more crisp, fat tone than you can shake a pick at make this an instrument of incredible value. If you then consider how infrequently one finds a Larson Dreadnought (under any label), you can really appreciate the unique flavor of this particular guitar. The voice is immense, wide open and fierce, with juicy bass notes that hang in the air. The trebles are well-balanced and offer a subtle range of overtones which help fill out this Larson’s trademark resonant tone. The pickguard is original, along with all hardware, the bridge, nut, and saddle.
Until several years ago, this Dreadnought has remained in the Larson family, who have taken pains to keep it as pristine as possible–and by the looks of things, they did a wonderful job.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.25 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1935 Larson Prairie State 15 Inch Brazilian/Spruce
Although they never once put their own name on their instruments, the Larson brothers have left us an extraordinary legacy with a different kind of signature: superb craftsmanship, powerful tone, and an astonishing number of different designs. This 1935 Larson Brothers Prairies State 15″ is an excellent example of their forward-thinking: the braces are actually Ebony and Spruce laminates, making them much more rigid than the purely Spruce equivalent, there’s a metal reinforcement rod that runs from the heelblock to the tailblock to help preserve the guitar’s shape, and finally the Larsons implemented an early neck angle adjustment system with a thin bar of metal that travels from the bottom of the guitar at the end pin, through the interior of the body and heel, and wraps around the outside of the heel of the neck: one twist of a flathead screwdriver, and the theory goes, you can tighten the tension on the heel, pulling it back and into the body of the guitar, thereby achieving a lower neck angle. Add to that a rare “Chocolate Top” finish and a period reproduction pickguard added by Tony Klassen (of New Era guitars fame), and you’ve got a legend of living wood in your hands!
The voice is warm, yet articulate, with rich overtones from the crisp bass register. Now that our repair staff have cleated and stabilized all cracks and restored the original bridge (which was suffering from the string slots tearing into the saddle slot) to full functionality, this Prairie State 15″ is in peak playing condition.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.78 in String Spacing 2.31 in Woods Spruce, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare2003 Laskin Cubists Jumbo, Brazilian Rosewood/Bearclaw Sitka Spruce
One of the greatest builders of our time, Canada’s own William “Grit” Laskin is known across the globe for transforming the art of instrument inlay from the purely decorative to the downright artistic. Today we have his “Cubists” Jumbo, built in 2003 with Brazilian Rosewood back and sides and a Bearclaw Sitka Spruce top. Laskin’s work has attempted to plumb the depths of artistic exploration for decades now, and it hasn’t reached the bottom yet. His engraved inlay here is a series of colorful Cubist art objects across the fretboard and the headstock inlay is borrowed from Spanish Cubism painter and sculpter Juan Gris’s work, with its asymmetry and pastel palette. Ringing in the soundhole is the square, the circle and the triangle, the geometric shapes that are fundamental forms of cubism, and a pencil offset towards the lower bout.
You can read even more about the Cubists build process and Grit’s inspirations in the second collection of his work, Grand Complications.
Everywhere else, the instrument has more traditional lines, with the addition of both an arm rest bevel and an upper bout soundport. Flatpicked, this instrument roars, with a much more well-rounded sound than its inlays’ angles would suggest. Thanks to the time-honored combination of Sitka Spruce and Brazilian Rosewood, the tone is rich and articulate, with a low-end that is fabulously clean and balanced with the other registers. This is the kind of guitar which will always stand out in a crowd–and that’s before you even play the thing. This guitar comes with the original Calton hardshell case.
Here’s an performance video of the Laskin Cubists Jumbo played by Clive Carroll! https://youtu.be/9uHNnGTRRhg
Check out our previous demo of this lovely number here: https://youtu.be/MVJtocr16SE.
Additional Demo: https://youtu.be/r-v8sJcrYA4
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.6 in Nut Width 1.81 in String Spacing 2.188 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare2021 Laskin Paul’s Vision, Brazilian Rosewood/Sitka Spruce
For this our latest custom Laskin build, Paul collaborated with Grit on a concept exploring the therapeutic effects of nature and music in the light of our recent global pandemic. The result is this meditative piece sprawling along the fretboard, with a blue sea of present day issues offset by a sunset-clad musician seated at the headplate veneer.
The body features chocolate-dark, Old Growth Brazilian Rosewood and AAAA Sitka Spruce on top, plus Grit’s trademark Laskin arm and rib bevels for creature comfort. A stadium-shaped soundport at the upper bout; florentine cutaway; silver Gotoh tuners to round out the package.
The tone of this Mid-Size build is balanced and articulate, with great balance across the registers. There’s a sweet bump in the lower mids that makes the voice pop. In addition to the artistry up top, this Laskin has a gorgeous, engrossing sound that is an excellent option for fingerstyle work in Standard, as well as altered tunings.Other keywords: lutherie, luthier, inlay, marquetry, inlay art, cv-19, covid, fingerstyle, bespoke guitar, 280920, hoffee
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.125 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Rosewood - Brazilian pre-CITES Add to Compare2011 Laskin “Blueprint for Curves,” Brazilian Rosewood/Sitka Spruce
The very definition of functional art, Grit Laskin’s guitars. Each one a piece unto itself, and this 2011 “Blueprint for Curves” is no exception. This guitar is featured in Grit’s book, Grand Complications (find it here), and explores his process in pulling this piece together with his client: “an element common to many of the themes we had debated was curves: the curve of 1930s cars, mid-twentieth-century industrial design, the female nude, Art Deco sculpture, and, of course, natural plant forms. So that became my theme, Curves. I went to work.”
And what work he did. The center of the fretboard is the scene of the actual blueprint, and as the waves of the fretboard extension and the Bugatti of the headstock come in contact with the blueprint they are reduced to line drawings to share space with a female nude and fibonacci sequence. The body of the guitar is comprised of gorgeous Brazilian Rosewood and a tight-grained Sitka Spruce top, with Grit’s trademark arm and rib bevels.Other keywords: lutherie, handmade, inlay art, guitar art, gotoh, calton, fingerstyle
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.188 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare2004 Laskin Mid-Size “Boxer,” Ziricote/Sitka Spruce
With Grit Laskin’s guitars, we have high expectations. For such incredible art inlaid across the body, the voice must be equally incredible to compete. This 2004 Mid-Size model is proof: Grit’s aesthetic is indeed matched by his tone. We love the voice of this Ziricote-and-Sitka–Spruce guitar, be it picks or fingertips. The arm bevel and soundport keep it playing easy, and the inlaid boxer at the headstock offers a stunning visual companion on those rare moments when this guitar won’t be played. And when it comes time to bring this guitar along with you wherever you go, it comes in a custom Calton flight case for worry-free protection. This Laskin has opened up sweetly since 2004, and it’s got a clean and well-balanced response that’s a delight to feel and hear.
Other keywords: lutherie, luthier, guitar building, inlay art, inlay artist, artist, pearl, mop, dog inlay, schaller, mosaic
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.72 in String Spacing 2.125 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Ziricote Add to Compare2008 Laskin “Blue Notes,” Brazilian/Sitka Spruce
Grit Laskin’s work occupies a singular niche in the guitar world with his elaborate, bespoke inlay projects and ergonomic innovations. This petite 12-fret steel string from 2008 is Grit’s The Blue Notes, and comes to us with dramatically grained Brazilian Rosewood and Sitka Spruce, florentine cutaway, soundport, arm and rib bevels. We commissioned this guitar from Grit for one of our longtime clients. If you have a copy of Grand Complications (and if you don’t, why, snag one toot suite!), you’ll find a more extensive treatment of Grit’s process with this very guitar on pages 58 and 173, as well as 49 other Laskins.
Number one, a guitar has to sound good. In this, Grit delivers every time. The smaller air chamber and 12-fret neck combine for a clear balance between warmth and note definition, and playability is smooth and easy. We have recreated the artist’s statement here to best explain the scene sprawling across the headstock and fingerboard of The Blue Notes.
“The inlay art on this small Brazilian Rosewood cutaway steel-string is entitled The Blue Notes. This design is my riff on the theme of “Dream Guitars.”
Thinking about the theme—guitars, dreams, music—led me to the idea of young senses, the sensibilities of children in other words, being more open to their creative expression than many busy adults.
In the scene, viewed from above, we see shadowed adults hurriedly walking by, across the fingerboard, oblivious to the music around them (represented by the red notes, emerging from the soundhole). In one instance the music is destroyed, crushed underfoot.
The young sisters however see/hear/feel the music the adults miss—for them, represented by sky-blue notes. The music is not only sensed by them, but flows through them, hence the engraving that blends their skyward looking images with the notation
The background material is Tahitian Blacklip shell in laminate form. This is meant to represent the random grayness of the street.
The red notes are Red Coral stone; the blue are clear Torquoise.”Other keywords: inlay, inlay art, engraved inlay, artist, guitar art, art guitar, william laskin, lutherie, luthier
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.188 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to Compare1999 Laskin Mid-Size Steel String Flamed Koa/Sitka
Art affords us an opportunity to experience something greater than ourselves. Occasionally, there comes a piece of art which grants us one step further; to be able to enteract directly with that greater something. Any guitar from Grit Laskin’s Toronto bench affords the lucky player such a chance. Take this one, the portrait of a portrait artist (Grit himself) painting the portrait of someone’s daughter. To experience this guitar visually, the eye is instantly consumed, from the intensely-flamed Koa back and sides Sitka Spruce top, roping mosaic rosette, to the portrait itself, where it can rest and ponder the curve of the engraved hatch marks which underscore the child’s eyes. Ranging from Gold Mother of Pearl in her face and Tahitian Blacklip Pearl in his shirt, to the Walrus Ivory of the canvas and the numerous stones that make up the rest of the image, the headstock is alight with rich colors and the shocking verisimilitude of the human figures therein.
An instrument, however, is not simply an object for the eye: let your fingers come to land on metal strings and frets, and the ear is given its day in the sun. The trebles flow like clean water, and bass notes roll out from the soundhole with vigorous force, rendering fingerstyle arrangements lush and complex. Across all the strings, the balance is surgically precise, and the voice has a quality of profound clarity to let each note ring out. And ring out they will–the sustain is haunting in its duration and timbre. If you’re interested in a guitar which will inspire you with each glance and every strum, this Laskin will more than fit the bill. If you want a guitar which stands alone, both in terms of its aesthetics and its voice, look no further.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.19 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Koa - Flamed Add to Compare2000 Laskin DIY Brazilian/Sitka
We believe Grit Laskin can do anything when it comes to inlay. He has made true works of art out of nothing more than a few pieces of abalone and mother pearl, depicting scenes of life and history. This little gem is called the “DIY (Do It Yourself) Vine”. It is in Sitka Spruce and Brazilian Rosewood and shows the all too familiar “Vine” inlay being assembled and destroyed by various craftspeople. As always Grit has executed this inlay flawlessly and with great taste, we love it. This instrument was featured as the demonstration of the inlay work in Grit’s book “The Guitar Makers Canvas: the Inlay Work of Grit Laskin.”
Not only is Mr. Laskin an inlay artist, he builds one of the finest guitars you are ever likely to come across. Every single motif in the construction has been executed with the utmost precision. The matching pair of Grit’s famed “Laskin Bevels” for the rib and arm rests make this one delightfully comfortable to play and hold and his refined florentine cutaway ensures both a classic look and ideal playability all the way up the fingerboard. As icing on the cake, Laskin guitars also sound incredible – you will find a full and even voice here with great warmth, perfect for fingerstyle playing. This is a true masterpiece, one that is equally suited to being played or displayed. An extremely collectible guitar, we just can’t give this one enough praise.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.56 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.19 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Rosewood - Brazilian Add to CompareNew Laskin Southbound Brazilian/Sitka
SOLD, LISTING FOR DEMONSTRATION ONLY Grit Laskin’s work is brilliantly and masterfully executed in this, a tribute to the late, great Doc Watson. This is an instrument that conveys the entire music world’s appreciation for a man whose story and songs inspired and touched so many other lives. Made with with an incredible set of Brazilian Rosewood and premium grade Sitka Spruce, this one has already sold and is a true one-of-a-kind piece of art that sings. A Masterpiece.
SOLD Read moreScale Length 25.5 in Nut Width 1.75 in String Spacing 2.25 in Woods Spruce - Sitka, Rosewood - Brazilian