Looking to potentially buy a vintage archtop need some help.

[SuperB23]

I'm curious I played a few great Archtop guitars in my life but not a ton. I've played 1940 A style D'Angelico that I really liked a bunch. I've also played a couple Campellone 17" wide Archtops. I've played a few Heritage and newer Gibson Archtops that I didn't like quite as much.

I was looking at old 1930s Gibson L7s and Epiphone Broadways from the late 30s wondering what they would be like. I know a lot of the acoustics built in the 1930s are hard to beat so I would assume the Archtops from the same era are very lightly built and responsive??

I also noticed some good buys on old 40s and 50s Gretsch Synchromatic archtops.

I'm looking to stay under $3000 which I know is quite limited but I just wouldn't play it enough to warrant a $9000 Benedetto or something of that nature.

[MC5C]

Ken Parker, of Parker Fly and Archtop fame, says a lot of factory archtops from the 30's and 40's were "furniture" rather than musical instruments. He implies that in the Depression, they forgot how to make truly musical instruments and just churned out guitar like objects (interviews and such on his website with these remarks). With that said, some makers were turning out absolutely great instruments. I would say a Gibson L5 or an Epiphone Broadway will usually be a great instrument no matter when it was built. But in general factory archtops from that era are heavily built, extremely over braced, carved with copy-routers and just sanded to a finish rather than truly graduated and tuned. The D'Angelico's, Strombergs, the hand-made instruments, were what most pro players used, including Chet Atkins, who custom-ordered the first electric D'angelico. When I was shopping for a vintage archtop I played a dozen different ones, including some pretty decent carved top Gibsons, and bought a 1946 Epiphone Zephyr - a laminated top instrument with a pickup - based on superior acoustic tone. Whoda thunk? Just my opinions, of course.

BTW, you've already done the most important part - I always tell people looking to find their archtop to play the best ones they can find, irrespective of if they can afford them or not, to get the sound and feel of a really great guitar in their head. Only then can you compare that to what you find while searching.

Brian

[mr. beaumont]

I love Gibsons and Epiphones from that era.

An L7 is a very solid choice, and can be quite affordable compared to other gibsons.

[Steve DeRosa]

While Jeff makes a good point about the L-7 - I used to own an early-'47 white-label A-series version myself - if you're looking to stay under $3K in a 17" vintage archtop, IME a New York Epiphone would be your best bet dollar-for-dollar; for some unexplained reason - certainly not by any reasonable measure of tone or build quality - you'll generally pay 15-30% less for an Epi than you would for the comparable model in the Gibson lineup. I also find their necks easier to negotiate than just about any other production vintage archtop; whoever said "Louisville Slugger" was the name of the game (including the current Epiphone Century Series archtops) never played a good Epi - with some models from the '37-39 era routinely boasting 1-9/16" - 1-5/8" necks they were often the preferred instruments of virtuoso soloists, particularly those from the New York City area...

IMO unless you're especially enamored with the idea of the "pre-war" cachet, many of the real bargains here can be found in the post-war low/midline instruments; while not as consistent as the pre-1943 models (which Epi Stathopoulo himself play-tested and approved individually) a good '46-55 version can be every bit the equal (and sometimes the superior) of the '36-41 production, considered by many to be the zenith (pun intended) of Epiphone quality. If you're OK with the idea, I've seen very-good-to-excellent examples of the Devon, Epiphone's entry-level 17" non-cut jazzbox from '49-55, selling for under $2K; there's very little if anything in the New York lineup that'll give you more guitar for your money, and you won't find a 17-incher from Gibson at anywhere near the price...

[1Charlie]

Or, try one of the early Guild archtops from '53-'56, which were made by former Epiphone luthiers in NYC after Epiphone moved to Philadelphia.

17" laminated spruce tops, with laminated maple back and sides, and wide 1 11/16 to 1 3/4" nut. A full 25.5 scale. And well-respected Franz pickups.

For way less $ than a comparable Gibson or Epiphone.

[mr. beaumont]

If the guy wants an acoustic archtop, why are we recommending laminated top guitars!?

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by 1Charlie

Or, try one of the early Guild archtops from '53-'56, which were made by former Epiphone luthiers in NYC after Epiphone moved to Philadelphia...17" laminated spruce tops, with laminated maple back and sides, and wide 1 11/16 to 1 3/4" nut. A full 25.5 scale. And well-respected Franz pickups...

Sweet guitars - I've played a couple over the years - but I agree with Jeff that the OP is looking for a solid-carved acoustic archtop based on the makes/models he cites. BTW you'll notice that I didn't even mention Gretsch (I'm an ex-Brooklyn boy, my grandparents lived three blocks from the old 60 Broadway plant, and I've been an owner since 1964 so there's a certain brand loyalty) since many of the pre-1955 models had structural issues due to the company's use of kiln-dried woods, accounting in no small part for their second-rate status among contemporary players and their relative rarity on the vintage market. By the same token, although there's unquestionably a lot of New York Epiphone mojo in those early Guild acoustic archtops (which lasted through the mid-60's IMO) there just aren't enough of them out there in comparison to Gibson or even Epiphone (which also used a 25.5" scale on all its archtops FYI); IME when/if a New York or early Hoboken A-Series instrument can be found (other than the all-laminate A-50 - rumored to be under consideration for possible reissue BTW, based on a deepened version of the current T-50 platform), it's going to be priced accordingly if it's in any kind of decent shape - so unless you're a dedicated Guild aficionado, at that point you can land either a comparable Gibson or a higher-position/cleaner Epiphone...

[gltr]

How about this beauty?
A 1946 Epi Broadway.
https://www.archtop.com/ac_46bwy_117.html
Cheers

[SuperB23]

The main reason I was thinking 30s for an archtop was with Gibson and Martin flat tops the 30s were lighter built and more responsive, I didn't know if that fact transferred over to the Archtop guitars as well. Martin had lots of warranty work from their 1930s instruments and slowly beefed them up through the years of the 40s and 50s.

I appreciate the help in this thread. I was looking at a lot of the vintage 30s 40s and 50s Epi's on Reverb today. There are a lot of interesting models out there and available.

[bayoubengal]

I bought a '45 Epiphone Triumph for a shade over $1300 on ebay recently (I ended up with about $1500 in it after shipping and buying a case), so I can attest that Vintage Epi archtops can be a very good value.

[Jabberwocky]

The 16" Gibson L7 and the post-1935 L4 (with the f-holes) that replaced it in the catalogue are wonderful archtop guitars. Well worth seeking out.

In the same vein are the 16" L10 and L12. In 1935, these took on an extra inch of girth and became the 17" Advanced Model.