NGD: Larrivee Bakersfield (T Style electric)

[J Ritt]

Hi Guys,

I've been trying to pick a nice T-style guitar for a while now. I have a couple of Strats, SG's, LP's, Semi-hollows, and acoustics, but I just haven't yet found the right Tele. I bought a Fender Baja a few months back (which is now up for sale), but I just couldn't bond with the narrow neck. I've only been playing for roughly a year, but I've discovered that I'm much more comfortable with wider, thicker necks. I have large hands, and I feel cramped and get fatigued on thinner, narrower necks. I've also found that I really enjoy the body cuts of a Strat. Playing them feels very natural and comfortable to me.

During my search I stumbled across the Larrivee Bakersfield. On paper and in pictures, it looked like a potentially excellent fit for me. It has the thicker, wider neck, and the body cuts I was seeking. It is also loaded with quality bits and pieces from a reputable manufacturer. That said, I couldn't find a ton of firsthand info about them. That is likely because of the newness of these guitars, and the fact that Larrivee is much more well-known for their acoustics. Many of the posts I did find focused on the neck. More specifically, there seems to be some fear out there that the neck is too large to be playable.

I figured I'd post up some info on the one I bought, particularly focusing on the neck since that seems to be a point of concern for some. Hopefully this will help anyone who is considering this guitar. I lined it up with a few of my other guitars for comparison. That said, it is really tough to capture the similarities or differences between necks in photos. Primarily it is an issue of perspective. When you look at them from different angles, they appear dramatically different. That said, I figured something was better than nothing to accompany my impressions, and I tried to take the shots from a decent angle.

I just picked my Bakersfield up used, here on the forum. It is the single coil version with the maple neck/board. I threw a micrometer on the neck, and came up with 0.91" at the first fret. It gets slightly thicker up towards the 12th, but only goes up to about .96" on mine. To me it feels like a thick C profile. Out of the guitars to which I compared it, the profile of the neck felt most similar to a Warmoth '59, just a bit wider and a touch thicker (someone else made the same observation elsewhere on this forum). Again, it's tough to get good perspective, but I did my best.

I pressed the edge of both necks up against a right edge, and did the same with the ruler so everything was square. You can see the difference between the Warmoth 1.6875" and the Larrivee 1.75".

Warmoth 59 nut


Bakersfield nut


Warmoth 59 on left, Bakersfield right


The next pic shows a Fender Baja on the left, and the Bakersefield on the right. I'd say the thickness is fairly similar on these two, but the Baja is considerably narrower with a soft V.

Next up is an LP style guitar (Bacchus Classic BLP-STD) with what I would call a '59 profile. It's hefty, but not a bat. It is definitely not a slim 60's though.



Finally, here is a Fender Strat with a Modern C profile. Here it is obvious that the Bakersfield is much thicker, and the rosewood board on the Strat only makes the maple portion of the neck look even thinner than it feels.

Overall, I find the Bakersfield neck completely playable, but it does take a few minutes to adjust when switching between guitars. The neck feels very comfortable in my hands for both chording and lead licks. Bending is easy because of the sizeable frets and radius.

I won't wax poetic about any other features of the guitar yet, since I'm early on the honeymoon. I will say that the quality is top notch. The other brands I own are Gibson, Fender, Yamaha, The Heritage, Bacchus (Japan), and Martin. This guitar feels every bit the quality of the others, and better than some. Everything is super tight and tidy, and the pics obviously speak towards the quality and beauty of the woods used. The guitar is very light overall (7.3 lbs. on my scale), and physically well balanced. It is possibly the most comfortable to wear out of my collection. My first impression is that the guitar sounds fantastic and very 'Tele-like' through my Fender Super Champ and Fulltone OCD.

Hopefully that is of help to anyone considering these guitars. Feel free to ask any specific questions. Thanks.

[J Ritt]

Requisite beauty shots:








This one is disturbingly phallic, but shows off the flames nonetheless...lol.

[small axe]

looks very nice indeed, love the grain....enjoy that

[ElectricMojo]

A big congrats.
The Bakersfields are absolutely incredible.
Enjoy!

[fritferret]

i own one of these, too. i never liked teles until i played one of these. larrivee's making top notch electrics. there's def. another one of these in my future.

[fritferret]

oh, congrats!

[J Ritt]

Thanks guys!

i own one of these, too. i never liked teles until i played one of these. larrivee's making top notch electrics. there's def. another one of these in my future.

You know, I was sort of in the same boat. My guitar teacher is a bona fide Tele-aholic. His #1 gigging guitar is a Fender '52 Reissue, and he loves them above all other styles of guitar. I tried a couple of his Teles, and they just didn't do much for me in terms of playability or sound. He's watched me buy a bunch of nice instruments over the past year, and I think it has been slowly killing him that none of them have been keeper Teles. He's actually going to get to see it for the first time tonight at my lesson, and I'm expecting sparks to fly. In fact, I fear I may not even get it back (at least for a while)! That's okay though, this beauty feels a bit wasted on my fumbling hands anyway.

[EunosFD]

Excellent writeup. I've had my eye on these since Larrivee announced them as I prefer big, wide necks. The quality looks excellent & the grain figuring on that body is beautiful. Congrats.

[eddie101]

Very nice. How $$ is the guitar and what kind of pups are in it? Thanks, Ed

[J Ritt]

Excellent writeup. I've had my eye on these since Larrivee announced them as I prefer big, wide necks. The quality looks excellent & the grain figuring on that body is beautiful. Congrats.

Thanks. My teacher played it for a while last night and was a big fan. He particularly liked the bridge pickup.

Very nice. How $$ is the guitar and what kind of pups are in it? Thanks, Ed

These go for about $1600-$1700 brand new I believe. Mine was obviously a bit less than that since it was used. Thanks.

[cnardone]

Looks super cool. I love my D-19. I bet I'd love this tele too.

One question. I had a G&L with a one piece neck. It sounded awesome!!! But, the neck moved liked crazy. I sold it for this reason. I know there are many factors, but I've been scared of 1 piece necks ever since. Any feedback on how stable the neck is / are?

cmn

[J Ritt]

what kind of pups are in it?

It has Seymour Duncan custom shop pups.

Full specs can be found here.

[mody]

Fantastic guitar!

[J Ritt]

One question. I had a G&L with a one piece neck. It sounded awesome!!! But, the neck moved liked crazy. I sold it for this reason. I know there are many factors, but I've been scared of 1 piece necks ever since. Any feedback on how stable the neck is / are?

cmn

The neck feels super stable to me. The neck pocket is about as snug and clean as any bolt-on neck I've ever seen (see pics above). I've only had a few days, but I've barely had to touch the tuners, despite plenty of bending, and transporting to my lesson with weather changes, etc. Finally, these necks are quarter-sawn, which should enhance stability as well.

[ford]

I'm probably way behind on this.. but when did Larrivee move their shop to the USA?

My acoustic was made in Canada.

Oh yeah.. that is a great looking tele style guitar.