Archtops?

[Archtop Guy]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Acoustic sustain is not something they're generally noted for.

whm

No, gotta disagree here. Or at least add some conditions. The sustain thing for sure is is reported frequently, but it is not universally true. As a guy with several archtops in the house right now, 20 passing through my house in the last 20 years, and hundreds played, I think it's so much of an oversimplification as to be more misleading than helpful.

It's misleading because

• there are lots of exceptions

• sustain isn't the primary determinant of your tone anyway!

Since you say you like old blues, I'll use that as an example. Do those old Delta style players rely on sustain for their tone? Not in my opinion.

Anyway, I'm not so much into arguing, Check out the poorly played, poorly recorded clips on my website. If "no sustain" is the first thing that comes to mind then (maybe) I concede.

[Wade Hampton]

Archtop Guy, I wasn't trying to say that there's "no sustain" with archtop guitars, just that on the archtop guitars that I've played and (in one case) owned it's generally not as prominent a characteristic as it can be on flattop guitars. Which is why I phrased what I wrote as sustain not being something they're noted for. There's sustain, but usually not as much.

Obviously I wasn't as clear as I meant to be. I wasn't trying to give the impression that the note decay is as quick as it is on a banjo.


whm

[rpguitar]

Inspired by this discussion, I put up an audio demo of some acoustic archtop guitars along with some flattops for comparison. Here's a link to the thread, in case it scrolls off the main page (seems to happen quickly!).

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=236713

[Laser Bob]

Whenever you cut a hole in an archtop guitar (For pickups, tone and volume controls, etc.) you destroy a goodly amount of it's acoustic value. If you can find a contemporary guitar without holes cut in the top try it out - If not look around and see if you can find (and afford ) a vintage archtop - We have a 1940's Gibson L-7 in the shop right now ( dual pickups and control knobs mounted in the pick guard assembly - no holes!) and she's quite sweet acoustically and very bright and balanced when played through an amp - Best of both worlds eh?

B

[Bluemonk]

Originally Posted by Donuts

Hmm. I like to let bass notes linger a second or so [which is longer than you would think when you're recording it;] do acoustically played archtops last that long, or does it sound as if they've been palm-muted?

Generally speaking, I wouldn't say the bass on an acoustic archtop sounds palm-muted. While a flattop might give forth a deep rumble in the bass, an archtop will have a clarity to the bass register without that rumble. On a good, well-intonated archtop, the tone of the bass strings fretted high will sound quite close to the same note fretted lower on the thinner strings.

[Donuts]

Originally Posted by Laser Bob

Whenever you cut a hole in an archtop guitar (For pickups, tone and volume controls, etc.) you destroy a goodly amount of it's acoustic value. If you can find a contemporary guitar without holes cut in the top try it out - If not look around and see if you can find (and afford ) a vintage archtop - We have a 1940's Gibson L-7 in the shop right now ( dual pickups and control knobs mounted in the pick guard assembly - no holes!) and she's quite sweet acoustically and very bright and balanced when played through an amp - Best of both worlds eh?

B

Huh. That's troublesome. I was hoping to get one with a removable pickguard, i.e. with the pickup and controls cut into the body, because I like symmetry and don't use a pick anyway. I'm looking for a non-cutaway for the same reason, thought the extra acoustic volume helps. Is there a less obstrusive type of pickup, say, one that's attached to the fretboard and only has a wire hole going through the body?

I've lately been playing a friend's cheap old spanish guitar with a massive crack along the front - apply a little pressure and you can see inside - and I don't notice any tone or volume problems, apart from the fact that the treble strings are bloody plastic, so maybe I'm insensitive to this kind of thing. But it might be a different story with archtops - are they more easily put off-balance than flattops?

Originally Posted by Bluemonk

Generally speaking, I wouldn't say the bass on an acoustic archtop sounds palm-muted. While a flattop might give forth a deep rumble in the bass, an archtop will have a clarity to the bass register without that rumble. On a good, well-intonated archtop, the tone of the bass strings fretted high will sound quite close to the same note fretted lower on the thinner strings.

That actually sounds very appealing.

[Bluemonk]

Originally Posted by Donuts

Is there a less obstrusive type of pickup, say, one that's attached to the fretboard and only has a wire hole going through the body?

Yep. Plenty of floating pickups are in that configuration. Here's a pic of the highly esteemed DeArmond Rhythm Chief, no longer made, but there are plenty of modern pickups that attach to the side of the fretboard.

[Bluemonk]

Can we try this one more time? Voila!

[Bluemonk]

I'm gonna give this one more shot.