Suggestion for Archtop guitar

[kevets]

It's twice your budget, but I think a half of what it's really worth - I just got an Ibanez LGB30 (not sure what the L is for, but GB is George Benson). I got it from sweetwater and the fit and finish, playability and sound are all spectacular. It's perhaps only downfall (this being an acoustic guitar forum) is it's pretty quiet unamplified. Still, the tone unamplified is quite good, and a quiet alternative can sometimes be good for practice.

[terken]

For slide you could probably get an old Harnony/Kay/Silvertone/Regal for $500 with a decent neck. Stick a pickup on it and off you go with much mojo.

[vernon]

A good quality archtop (carved spruce soundboard) will run at least 3-4 times your budget used. A used Ibanez Artcore archtop (low end laminate) might be <$500 and doesn't sound horrible. I had one... it was okay as far as it went, but nothing like the real thing.