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Old 08-25-2019, 11:53 AM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Staten Island, NY - for now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mot View Post
...What's a good entry level and/or a high end arch top (or flat top) to begin/continue this journey of finding the ultimate six stringed guitar? I'll consider anything from expected price to name brand so I can settle on a good place to start. I have played a couple of ok arch tops and lots of quality flat tops and am still looking for the holy grail.
As far as flattops are concerned, a quick trip over to the General subforum will get you all the advice you need - and IME plenty that you don't...

In the archtop camp, you can get your feet wet for around $500 with the Godin 5th Avenue - an all-laminated good-sounding 16" entry-level box in the mold of the old Harmony/Kay student guitars of the '40s/50s, but made to the usual high Godin standard of QC and tone - bearing in mind that you're not going to achieve the tonal complexity of a solid-wood instrument. $1500 or so will get you an all-solid/all-carved Chinese-made Loar LH700 (a near dead-ringer for a Lloyd Loar-era Gibson L-5) or Eastman AR610, designed by the late Epiphone expert Jim Fisch and a latter-day version of the circa-1950 Epiphone Devon with its spruce/mahogany construction (a great option if you prefer a sweeter, mellower tone for vocal accompaniment or chord-solo work), as well as player-grade non-cutaway 16" comp boxes from Epiphone/Gretsch/Guild (Gibsons - with the exception of the all-laminated L-48 - tend to be priced higher overall); IMO $2000-4000 is the sweet spot for the used archtop market - here's where you'll find the classic working players' 17" Epiphone (Triumph, Broadway)/Gibson (L-7, L-12)/Guild (A-150, A-350)/Gretsch (Synchromatic 300/Constellation) jazzboxes from the Big Band/Bop eras...

Once you reach the $4000-6000 mark you start getting into the prestige models from the major labels - vintage Epiphone Deluxe/Super Deluxe/Emperor, Gibson L-5/Super 300/Super 400, Gretsch Synchromatic 400/Eldorado, Guild A-500 - as well as modern "entry-level" hand-carved instruments from individual luthiers (Triggs, Campellone, etc.); IME the latter represent particular bargains in today's market if you're looking for a "lifetime" archtop, often selling for significantly less than their major-brand counterparts (price a top-of-the-line Campellone Deluxe, versus a new L-5C from the Gibson Custom Shop, and you'll see what I mean). This, however, is where the rabbit hole begins: crack $7500 and you're moving into both collector-quality vintage stuff and "big-name" modern makers, and it just goes up (way up - as in mid- to high-five-figure bracket for an excellent-condition D'Angelico/Stromberg/D'Aquisto, or a new Benedetto/Monteleone) from there; this is also, with some notable exceptions listed above, where you're going to find that sweet, rich, creamy, "tone you can eat with a spoon" that represents the Holy Grail for hardcore archtop aficionados with any real consistency...

The bottom line here is what works for you - tone, size, price, long-term ownership prospects; in the meantime, here's an example of one of those ultra-high-end drool boxes - well worth four pictures:









Scharpach Vienna Apex.
$35K.
Several years' wait.
Only guitar I'd even consider spending that kind of money for.
When St. Peter shakes my right hand I want him to hand me one of these with his left...
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