[jwguitar]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

IMO a carved maple top, while likely providing explosive projection and volume, would be painfully bright to the point of harshness - that's why spruce tops have been favored for the last millennium; that said, finding an all-carved spruce/maple archtop in the $2K range is not terribly difficult. Eastman and Loar both have excellent instruments for under $2K, the former being more "modern" in tone/execution in the spirit of Benedetto/Buscarino et al., the latter being near dead-on replicas of Eddie Lang/Mother Maybelle Gibsons (including the vaudeville-era-correct 1-3/4" thick-V neck - IME you'll definitely want to play one of these before you take the plunge, as things can get physically unpleasant for some folks after a few minutes' play time); if you've got a hankering for a genuine Big-Band/early Bop-era comp box, non-cutaway New York-made Epiphones sell for significantly less than their Gibson counterparts, while sacrificing nothing in terms of either quality or tone - and if you need lots of acoustic cutting power and headroom without compression, one of these is the way to go. Arguably the biggest sleepers in the vintage guitar market today, very-good-to-excellent 16" Epis, as well as the occasional player-grade 17" Devon/Triumph/Broadway, can routinely be had for $1700-2200 depending on year/model - I've seen all-laminate L-48's and laminated-body/solid top L-50's selling for similar money, with nothing intrinsic to justify the added cost other than the "Gibson mystique"...

Hope this helps...

You might even try Vega guitars. They made some really good archtops in the 50's that are still sold within your budget. Guilds can be had for in and around that price too. The other option is to try and get a Japanese jazz guitar. For example Ibanez made a really good Joe Pass model in the mid 80s. That might be worth a bit more than 2000 but it depends on when it is being sold and who is selling. Archtop.com is a good resource to find a good guitar. I have bought from them before and I have never been let down.