# Larrivee closing Vancouver factory-so sad



## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=316430


----------



## doriangrey (Mar 29, 2011)

wow, that sucks...that is sad


----------



## davewrites (Oct 22, 2013)

Sad day. 

I wonder if I could get a tour before they close.


----------



## Krelf (Jul 3, 2012)

Hopefully their Canadian sales figures will suffer. I don't like companies that turn their backs on the nation and people that helped them get where they are. 

Interesting to note that there is no mention of the closing in the "NEWS" section of the Larrivee site.


----------



## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

I've always wanted a larrivee. Not any more.


----------



## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

Krelf said:


> Hopefully their Canadian sales figures will suffer. I don't like companies that turn their backs on the nation and people that helped them get where they are.
> 
> Interesting to note that there is no mention of the closing in the "NEWS" section of the Larrivee site.


There is a store owner here in Ottawa who told me Jean Larrivee is an out and out capitalist and will make any move necessary to suit himself. Now that he has established a foothold in the USA ,the Vancouver factory is redundant.


----------



## hjr2 (Sep 5, 2013)

Hopefully we don't see offshore Larrivee's


----------



## wintle (Mar 25, 2008)

I don't care if they offshore production or what they do now.

I always try to buy Canadian when I can, and always thought Larrivee's were good bang for the buck.

I am tempted to sell mine now, and I can tell you I won't buy another.


----------



## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

That's disappointing--don't know that I would have bought one any way--but it was cool to claim them as ours.
And it was cool that such nice guitars were made in Canada.

Well we still have Godin--for the most part, and we have many smaller makers spread across the country.


----------



## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

hjr2 said:


> Hopefully we don't see offshore Larrivee's


Then we would call them Rarrivee's.

Apologies in advance if you find this offensive...but I could not help myself.


----------



## elliottmoose (Aug 20, 2012)

rollingdam said:


> Then we would call them Rarrivee's.


Terrible!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## b-nads (Apr 9, 2010)

I'm glad mine is a Canuck...I was always very happy with the fact that one of the best sounding acoustic I've ever played and own were built in Canada, by a Canadian company. This won't make me like my guitar less, but it sure as hell will impact future purchases.


----------



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I owned a Larrivee for a couple years it was a nice guitar. If I still had it I wouldn't sell it because they closed the Canadian factory. I think that's silly. If I ever come to want another Larrivee that won't even be a consideration. As far as I'm concerned the owner of the company can do what he wants with his company. If he starts selling off shore guitars he'll probably make a boat load more money. The guitar market is much bigger for the low end crap than it is for the guitar I spent $3,500 on.


----------



## Gary787 (Aug 27, 2011)

davewrites said:


> Sad day.
> 
> I wonder if I could get a tour before they close.


There is probably just grumpy old John there chopping wood with his shirt off. Looking for Facebook photo ops. I feel sorry for him. He has gone from Canadian fine guitar maker to saw mill operator.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

b-nads said:


> I'm glad mine is a Canuck...I was always very happy with the fact that one of the best sounding acoustic I've ever played and own were _*built in Canada, by a Canadian company. *_ This won't make me like my guitar less, but it sure as hell will impact future purchases.


_*Built in Canada, by a Canadian company, b*_y a number of people, some of whom were born in other countries.


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Steadfastly said:


> _*Built in Canada, by a Canadian company, *_ by a number of people, some of whom were born in other countries.


That's what this country *IS. *Unless you are an aboriginal person, your ancestry dates back to somewhere else.

Sad to see yet another display of corporate greed. Selling out your countrymen to make even more money. You cannot tell me that Larrivee was not making profits.

Time to re-school as a Luthier maybe...I need a career change...Somebody needs to provide jobs *HERE*


----------



## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Most of the guitars were being built in California for the last decade or so anyways.. I believe it was only the lowest price '03' series that were still made in Canada. Still kind of sad to lose that Canadian connection.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Scotty said:


> That's what this country *IS. *Unless you are an aboriginal person, your ancestry dates back to somewhere else.


That is the point. We are not Canadians, Chinese, Russians, Chilleans, etc. We are all people and when we go back far enough we are all related.

Is there greed? Yes, and there has been for over 6000 years.


----------



## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

I don't currently own a Larrivee, but have owned several in the past, including two built by Jean himself (a L10 Deluxe and a classical). One of the finest, a 000-50, was made in the US and one of the ones I sincerely regret passing on.

Larrivee is a family owned and operated business and decisions will be made based on what is best for both the family and the business. As the business volume is so much larger in the US it shouldn't come as a surprise that a consolidation move would favour that direction.

Jean has a long and storied past, pioneering many of the facets of guitar making we take for granted. He has also left a legacy of scores of excellent builders who he helped along. I have owned guitars built by some of his charges, and they have been some of the best. 

Best wishes to Jean and family in working to keep the brand and the business viable.


----------



## Gary787 (Aug 27, 2011)

Mathew Larrivee made some comments on the Larrivee forum 

_"You are for the most part right in this statement - The importation of guitars into the united states requires many hurdles. First you have brokerage on guitars which is around $20/ea. More importantly you have the US Fish and Wildlife Service; any guitar containing bone, mother of pearl, or abalone, or other exotic flora and fauna requires clearance AND inspection. The inspection is $145 per guitar, per dealer. So if we ship 10 guitars into the united states it adds $1450 to the overall cost of that shipment. This alone doesn't necessarily bother me as the regulations are there for a reason, but obviously we have to pass that cost on to you. This in turn prices out of the market, and limits what we can do on -02 and -03. This is why it is extremely rare to see -03's with abalone/pearl, and was also the reason why we added the wooden inlays to special -03's. I would not be surprised to see more special edition -02/-03 with pearl / abalone / bone as a result of this production change. I should make very clear that while USF&W is only a US issue, each country has their own import requirements and issues (The VAT comes to mind). The CITES portion of the shipping doesn't really effect us in Canada as all of our Brazilian was brought to the US in 2002 with CITES clearance."
_
_"It is a very difficult business climate out there right now - the music industry is hurting as a whole. It's been feast or famine for many. Visiting a NAMM show tells you this in very short order. Many big names are not going anymore. We haven't exhibited for 3-4 years - though there may be an announcement about that shortly. "_

*Hey I am a proud homer if they want to leave Canada I will waive goodbye. I still have lots of Canadian made choices. *


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Gary787 said:


> Mathew Larrivee made some comments on the Larrivee forum
> 
> _"You are for the most part right in this statement - The importation of guitars into the united states requires many hurdles. First you have brokerage on guitars which is around $20/ea. More importantly you have the US Fish and Wildlife Service; any guitar containing bone, mother of pearl, or abalone, or other exotic flora and fauna requires clearance AND inspection. The inspection is $145 per guitar, per dealer. So if we ship 10 guitars into the united states it adds $1450 to the overall cost of that shipment. This alone doesn't necessarily bother me as the regulations are there for a reason, but obviously we have to pass that cost on to you. This in turn prices out of the market, and limits what we can do on -02 and -03. This is why it is extremely rare to see -03's with abalone/pearl, and was also the reason why we added the wooden inlays to special -03's. I would not be surprised to see more special edition -02/-03 with pearl / abalone / bone as a result of this production change. I should make very clear that while USF&W is only a US issue, each country has their own import requirements and issues (The VAT comes to mind). The CITES portion of the shipping doesn't really effect us in Canada as all of our Brazilian was brought to the US in 2002 with CITES clearance."
> _
> ...


With those regulations, it is understandable why they want to move to the USA. I wonder, though, how Godin does it? Perhaps they eat some of the costs.


----------



## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

```

```



Steadfastly said:


> I wonder, though how Godin does it? Perhaps they eat some of the costs.


Godin isn't generally using mother of pearl, abalone or bone. They also have some of their manufacturing in the US.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

gtrguy said:


> Godin isn't generally using mother of pearl, abalone or bone. They also have some of their manufacturing in the US.


I don't think any of the acoustics are made in the USA, are they? So the only thing would be the brokerage. They may even get around that by using their own truck to deliver their guitars to the USA warehouse in New England and doing the brokerage themselves.


----------



## Shark (Jun 10, 2010)

Gary787 said:


> Mathew Larrivee made some comments on the Larrivee forum
> 
> _"You are for the most part right in this statement - The importation of guitars into the united states requires many hurdles. First you have brokerage on guitars which is around $20/ea. More importantly you have the US Fish and Wildlife Service; any guitar containing bone, mother of pearl, or abalone, or other exotic flora and fauna requires clearance AND inspection. The inspection is $145 per guitar, per dealer. So if we ship 10 guitars into the united states it adds $1450 to the overall cost of that shipment. This alone doesn't necessarily bother me as the regulations are there for a reason, but obviously we have to pass that cost on to you. This in turn prices out of the market, and limits what we can do on -02 and -03. This is why it is extremely rare to see -03's with abalone/pearl, and was also the reason why we added the wooden inlays to special -03's. I would not be surprised to see more special edition -02/-03 with pearl / abalone / bone as a result of this production change. I should make very clear that while USF&W is only a US issue, each country has their own import requirements and issues (The VAT comes to mind). The CITES portion of the shipping doesn't really effect us in Canada as all of our Brazilian was brought to the US in 2002 with CITES clearance."
> _
> _"It is a very difficult business climate out there right now - the music industry is hurting as a whole. It's been feast or famine for many. Visiting a NAMM show tells you this in very short order. Many big names are not going anymore. We haven't exhibited for 3-4 years - though there may be an announcement about that shortly. "_


It is always _very_ difficult to compete in the US when you are based outside of there. They make it this way deliberately--and understandably--though they also create regulations that make it easier for their companies to operate in other countries. Ah, well. It is what it is. I totally get where Larrivee is coming from. It's nice to have local businesses, but as a company you have to be realistic about your options.


----------



## Gary787 (Aug 27, 2011)

Steadfastly said:


> With those regulations, it is understandable why they want to move to the USA. I wonder, though, how Godin does it? Perhaps they eat some of the costs.


Godin has no fantasy of competing with Taylor, Gibson or Martin. In fact I don't think they compete with Larrivee. They produce lower cost entry level guitars that hold up well to the other 4 but as players improve they for the most part seek something they perceive to be better. Its actually hard to find higher end Seagulls but they are great guitars with no bling attached. I personally think the bling reasoning is smoke and mirrors and Larrivee wants to simply be seen as an American guitar Company that competes with the other 3.


----------



## Ship of fools (Nov 17, 2007)

Looks as if they forgot where they came from and who it was that made Larrivee's known and that cheap excuse of importation to the US was nothing more then a great cheap excuse to close the plant here in Vancouver. Because it is a bigger problem bringing in guitars from the US then to export them there as they never had any exotic parts on the guitars that they made here unless it was for the Canadian market. If they thought it was bad before well with no Canadians buying from the Vancouver plant lots of money lost there.
There loss and ours also as we have seen a great number of older Larrivee employee's start to build on their own projects. We have one guy Ed from Halcyon who will soon be unemployed from Larrivee who has been building some kick ass acoustics and will have to train new folks to keep the market fresh here in BC and the rest of Canada.
OH well I wish them luck in the US and hope they realize that they might have made a giant mistake by loosing the Canuck market. ship


----------



## Krelf (Jul 3, 2012)

I wish Ed and all his colleagues the best of luck and hope they can capture the segment of the Canadian market once held by Larrivee. I may be wrong, but I believe many manufacturers get subsidies and tax breaks when they grow their businesses in Canada. Perhaps when these tax incentives expire, certain unpatriotic companies move out. I'm not saying that Larrivee is necessarily in this category, but I don't like it when companies who have relied on loyal Canadian buyers leave the country.

Unlike Ship, I don't wish them luck.


----------



## wmat (Nov 17, 2009)

Wow, that's some crappy news. I own an OM-0003R model that I love. I believe it was built at the Vancouver plant.


----------

