Customer service ain't what it used to be, then again Fridays aren't the same. Take Black Friday for instance. It 1869 it meant a calamity when the US president halted trading in Gold and the price dropped by 18%. In 1951, the year I was born, Black Friday was first used to describe the Friday after the US Thanksgiving when workers called in sick in order to gain a four-day weekend.

By 1975, retailers took over the term and now it connotes a day (or more likely week) when shoppers attempt to secure bargains, more often online. I was one of those bargain hunters this year who received a notice from Larrivée Guitars who were offering some deep discounts on a number of demo and b-stock acoustic guitars. I've long been an owner of Larrivée Guitars — I have three. Recently the prices have escalated beyond my limited means, but it never hurts to look.

One model — an all-mahogany OM40 model with a sunburst satin finish caught my eye. I'd always wanted an all-mahogany guitar and this one was described as a demo model, lightly used. There was only a single photo of the back of the guitar. I debated the purchase for less than a day, then went ahead and ordered the guitar. What sealed the deal for me was that the price included all taxes and free shipping from Vancouver, a city less than half a day's drive from home.

The next day, perhaps with a tinge of buyer's remorse, I went to the Larrivée website and filled out the online contact form, asking for some additional pictures of the guitar. To my surprise, I received a phone call a few hours later from Larrivée.

"I'm pleased to tell you, your guitar is not a demo, but brand new and customized as well." Apparently it had been ordered by a dealer who had gone out of business and was sitting in the Vancouver warehouse. He would be glad to open it up before shipping the next day and send me some pictures.

I asked who I was speaking to and he replied, "Junior, Jean Junior." Jean Larrivée, the founder of the company, is his father and began building guitars in Canada over fifty years ago. For a time he built guitars in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria but a number of years ago moved the plant to Oxnard California. Jean senior still works in the factory, along with another son and some of their grandchildren.

His wife Wendy does the exquisite inlay on the guitar headstocks. In a recent documentary, Jean said that every guitar made by them is worked on by at least four and up to seven members of the family and are meant to last at least a century. "We build heirlooms meant to be passed on."

Junior still lives in Vancouver and handles some of the distribution. The next day, he texted and told me the guitar was on its way. In his message he wrote, "Rings like silver, Shines like gold."

The guitar arrived two days later by courier and looks and sounds as good as Jean Junior described. I can't remember the last time I received a reply from a business to an online request for information, let alone got a call from the founder's son.

~ Pat Buckna, author of: Only Children: A Family Memoir — available as a Kindle e-book and in paperback.