Suggestions for archtop
I was looking for a new sound that would be different and perhaps better than my Martin HD35, and I went to a local shop hoping to take home an archtop. I started in the $1500 range of new and used guitars, and went up to about $3500. None of them had an appeal to even tempt me to buy them.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a nice Archtop that would be good for a bluesy feel? |
Jazz blues sure. But keep in mind a typical archtop has just about nothing in common with an HD35, or any other flattop dread.
Personally I find solid carved Eastman archtops to be excellent and very hard to beat at their price point. |
Suggestions for archtop
Grab a nice cold beverage of your choice, take a deep breath, and sit back - this is going to take some time...
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Excellent replies. Thank you. Well thought and well written.
A Dobro was mentioned. I do have a 1937 Regal National Dobro style guitar that hangs in my music room. I take her for a spin now and then. It’s amazing how much sound comes from it, especially in the mid to high end. I don’t have much experience with archtops, but I’ll keep looking and I’ll consider your advice. One day I hope to find a special one that suits me. |
Back some time ago, when I got the archtop itch, I bought a '60s Harmony Monterey, still got it, and it is a great instrument. Look for one with an adjustable truss rod. Just sayin'
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Right now I've got a D'Angelico EX 63,a roundhole archtop.I really like it but am interested in an F hole archtop as my next.
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I own an Eastman AR503, and love it. Very high quality guitar. Plays and sounds glorious. It has a solid carved spruce top and laminate maple back and sides, which makes it more resistant to feedback when plugged in. The single Seymour Duncan Seth Lover is a great match.
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Steve's reply is perfect, and as always I learn a lot from his insight. I'll just add that my first archtop was a Loar LH309 and after awhile I sold that and ended up with a Godin 5th Ave Kingpin II and am much happier with the over all sound.
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My instructor calls me a Loar whore because I have a LH350 and a LH300. Yes I love playing both. Can't go wrong with a Loar.
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The Martin HD-35 is a sound I know. It's very similar to my old '67 D-35 but with a little more bass. For me, this is a very good sound.
Archtop guitars, at least acoustically, have a very thin sound in comparison. This is just not a sound I identify with at all. But I like the sound of a well played jazz guitar. The difference is amplification. Take a good archtop with a good pickup and run it through a very good sounding clean amp and you can get what I think is a great sound. This is how I use my Eastman archtop. I plug it into my good tube preamp and then run it through my very good PA system in my studio, and voila! I have a very cool jazz sound. I have an Eastman AR910CE, a really beautiful guitar. I should play it more! - Glenn |
A lot Used of ES-175s out there.
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Seek out a vintage Kalamazoo KG-31 made by Gibson during the Depression as their econo line. No truss rods, so you have to make sure the neck is straight. Based on the classic 16” L-5 archtop profile but with a pressed-wood arch, they are strummier and can be more in line with a bluesy guitar. *Great* for slide. You can find ‘em for under $1,500 - I did!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJyw9y33iZQ S |
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I'll also assume you're familiar with the "classical archtop" school that flourished roughly between 1925-1940, and upon which Mel Bay based his original method series; if you listen to some of the period recordings by Carl Kress & Dick McDonough, Harry Volpe, Tony Mottola, et al. I think you'll find their tone to be anything but thin - as much of which is attributable to the parallel-braced "advanced" instruments being used by the late-30's (if you're going to be playing in the cello register you need a similarly-sized guitar to produce the lower notes with any authority) as the orchestral-string-derived right-hand technique required to bring out the best in a good archtop (what the old-timers used to call "coaxing the velvet out"). I'm familiar with the Eastman line - had my eye on one of those for a while now - and while they're wonderful instruments in their own right they're coming from a very different place than a Big Band-era Gibson L-5 or Epiphone Deluxe both tonally and structurally, since it's assumed that they'll be used almost exclusively as amplified jazzboxes (as you do); that said, while you'll never match the woof and thump of an HD-35, IMO with some hard playing you can loosen up the top enough over time to provide a rich, creamy "tone-you-can-eat-with-a-spoon" for laid-back acoustic chord soloing - or the perfect accompaniment to your favorite, smoky-voiced chanteuse... :guitar:;) |
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It's entirely possible that I have never played a really good, well broken in archtop. I probably haven't. So your knowledge on this subject is very likely well beyond mine. On the other hand I heard Martin Taylor playing what he considered a classic Epiphone archtop, no pickup, just acoustically. I still thought the sound was thin. It sounded good with Martin Taylor playing it, but I find that I like his amplified sound much better. More depth. But that's just me. We each like what we like and sometimes there is no explaining it. :) Take care out there Steve! - Glenn PS: I did play a really old Gibson L5 once when I was in England. I still thought it sounded thin, but less thin than my Eastman. |
OP, are you looking to plug in or not?
What does "bluesy feel" mean? Uptown or delta? |
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