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Old 10-15-2016, 08:44 PM
Hot Vibrato Hot Vibrato is offline
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Archtops that have magnetic pickups mounted to the top are already compromised from an acoustical standpoint. Therefore I wouldn't worry much about a carved top vs. laminated, unless you want it to sound good acoustically, in which case of course a carved top with a floating pickup is ideal. Less expensive laminated acoustic archtops typically don't sound very good. It may not meet your budget, but Eastman is probably your least expensive option if you want an archtop that sounds nice acoustically. But for a good plugged in tone, the Gretsch guitars are possibly your best bet. I've been impressed with the look and sound of their budget archtops.

It should be noted that generally the more responsive an archtop is acoustically, the more feedback prone it will be plugged in. A delicate, carved instrument will howl at moderately loud volume levels. A laminated archtop with surface mounted pickups would be more suitable if you play loud, and if you really plan on waking the neighbors, a semi-hollowbody archtop would be the most feedback resistant choice (and the least "archtop-sounding" choice as well).
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