Hey BeefCake 94,
Welcome aboard David!
About this time last year I was lookin' for a small body guitar and tho I had a Lowden I had never played an Avalon. So after much research and a wealth of generous help from this forum such as Greypicker, JB and several others, my heart was set on an Avalon Gold S201. I found one and and I recieved it with a 2 day trial and fell in love with the lil' lass. The Avalon neck profile, classy understated look, gorgeous woods, and most of all beautifully balanced tone exceeded my expectations. So I'm sure you will be very pleased with your Goldie too and btw thats a great price! I can't say enough about the encouragement I found and you will find from the members of this forum, and the friendly folks at Avalon. They are no.1 in my book! If you would like to hear some wonderful players on a variety of sweet Avalon's, check out the Avalon Youtube channel. Be sure and look up Rick Jones YTC too, he really makes 'em sing!
Hope you get ur Gold and enjoy!
riverdog
btw I'm with Boombox, I tried about 5 different Larrives, and tho bulit nice, no comparison to the "CHARACTER" and many tonal colors of the Avalons. Also for me I liked the 44mm nut and radius of the Avs, versus the Larrivees flat radius.