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#3
03-23-2016, 05:04 PM
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Bill Collings ? Slaman?
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Silly Moustache, Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer. I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom! 
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#4
03-23-2016, 05:52 PM
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Another vote for Mark Campellone, also John Webb...
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"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased)
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#5
03-23-2016, 06:04 PM
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These threads are always popularity contests. Almost no one has played more than a handful of the contenders. Besides, not unlike flat tops, there are a variety of approaches to the arch-top, with entirely different targets in mind. For many, the more like a flat top the better, for others given volume, the less like a flat top (clear and clean as opposed to full and warm) the better. For still others, feedback resistance and the quality of the PU as well as the "Brand" are everything. Most makers specialize in one form or another, and a few (I am one such) build for different targets every time.
My advice is to play as many as you can understanding what YOUR target is. The Santa Barbara event next fall promises to have a great many arch-top makers in attendance, and would be a great place to get a grip. I hope you'll play mine while you're there.
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#6
03-25-2016, 07:29 AM
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Best Handmade Archtop
No doubt---Brad Nickerson, building in a small shop on High Top Mountain in Leicester just outside of Asheville, NC.
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#7
03-25-2016, 07:46 AM
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With a response that insightful and a reputation as he has, I would wager dollars to doughnuts that Bruce would build you a KILLER arch-top.
NO affiliation or interest, just an educated hunch. Chris
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The Electrics check The Acoustics Tom Doerr - Trinity. Flamed Maple under Swiss Tom Doerr - M/D. Braz under Red
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#8
03-25-2016, 09:10 AM
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I also think Bruce is spot on regarding these threads becoming "popularity contests" that may or may not make recommendations of relevance. “Instrument for the money” is a tough one to quantify isn't it? There are a number of archtop luthiers who make some high standard models with less decoration at lower price points but which one is "best" for you is frankly unanswerable.
Like flat top guitars, custom archtop guitars should be designed with a particular player’s needs in mind. Are you a solo player who plays chord melody? Are you playing in a swing band and need to punch through? Are you looking for a pure acoustic guitar or something that is electric and somewhat resistant to feedback at volume as well? All of these will influence an answer. We tend to readily understand performance differences in flat tops based on size and sometimes choices of woods, but with archtops we tend to classify them simply by size (e.g. 16', 17" and 18" etc.) and by maker. Decisions regarding body size, depth, arch profile, thickness/contouring, bracing, scale-length, bridge and tailpiece all can influence the sonic performance of a guitar. What is most important is 1) the client being able to articulate a clear performance target and 2) the luthier having the prospective discussion skills to ask the "right" questions and downstream execution skills to adjust their "system" to create a guitar to fulfill to target. There are a number of luthiers who can do this with differing levels of success. Some luthiers prefer to replicate what they have done well in the past aesthetically modified to your preferences and if you like it, so be it. Others have the skills to adjust their systems to suit a client's needs (Bruce falls into this category for example). My $.02
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A bunch of nice archtops, flattops, a gypsy & nylon strings… Last edited by iim7V7IM7; 03-25-2016 at 01:40 PM.
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#9
03-25-2016, 12:45 PM
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Another vote for the "OP's question is unanswerable, at least as-asked". It's a golden age of luthiery, for sure. Get out and try some. As Bruce S. noted above, a wide range of approaches, and results, are all excellent. Having myself the good fortune to own, for 11 years now, a Bill Comins archtop that had 3 other owners in the first 7 years of its existence---I can vouch for "beauty is in the ears of the beholder"! Enjoy the search!
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"In all human work, the wise look for virtues and fools look for flaws." -Jose Ramirez I
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#10
03-25-2016, 02:48 PM
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#11
03-25-2016, 05:05 PM
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The OP asked for best archtop for the money. That's why I mentioned a couple of builders who offer archtops at relatively low price points.
Ken Parker makes a great archtop, but they cost as much as the house I grew up in.
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#12
03-25-2016, 09:06 PM
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I disregarded "for the money" as meaningless. For "X" money would mean more, but my experience is that budgets such as that are self imposed, arbitrary, and easily overcome when "X+1" is clearly superior. Vanishingly few of my customers have any expectation of spending time in the poorhouse, but if they did, imagine how enhanced that experience would be with one of my guitars for company.
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#15
03-26-2016, 08:48 AM
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Me. I build fully customized guitars built to the customers specification, unique woods (including highly flamed spalted maple from my firewood pile) and I charge cost. I am, of course, my only customer...
 I am just finishing a curly redwood, mahogany, birdseye maple neck traditional non-cutaway archtop. Brian
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Brian Evans Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia.
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