Quote:
Originally Posted by RichardP
Thanks again, Steve, for the input...I believe the Kingpin and amp are pointing out some lack of precision on my part. When I strum and sing along with my friends on the Taylor, precision gets swallowed a bit and is not as noticeable. After some good time last night with the Godin I am liking it more and more...
Jeff's bit on the Kay gives me another look at the acoustic sound...
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My pleasure, and I think you put your finger on the major reason archtops lost their popularity with the advent of rock-&-roll and the concurrent folk revival of the 1950's; in their prewar heyday acoustic archtops were considered virtuoso instruments and, in addition to their pre-eminence in the jazz world (a status they
never relinquished BTW) there was a flourishing school of "classical archtop" guitar, which in its original form drew from the earlier American school of classical guitar exemplified by the likes of William Foden, Vahdah Olcott-Bickford,
et al. (rather than that of Segovia and his Spanish contemporaries, which would become the accepted concert style and instrument), as well as the parlor, "light classical," and vaudeville music of late-19th/early 20th century America. In addition to transcriptions of well-known classical repertoire, a number of guitarists of the day produced original compositions in a late-Romantic style - music which, while largely out of fashion today, still retains its technical and artistic merit eighty or more years later. Bear in mind that the original Gibson L-5 archtop guitar of 1923 was in fact envisioned as a "classical" instrument both tonally and visually, intended as a part of the mandolin orchestras of the late vaudeville era and designed for hall-filling acoustic projection in the days before electronic amplification; were it not for Segovia's sensational American debut in 1928, the plectrum-style archtop guitar - with its violin-family looks and construction - may well have become the accepted "classical" guitar. As with any instrument so intended, however, archtops are merciless in exposing any technical deficiencies - which would render them anathema to players whose articulation, timing, left-hand precision, etc. are not equal to the demands; when I was actively teaching, I used the '47 Gibson L-7 I owned at the time to take the steam out of many a would-be shredder, who masked his/her deficiencies behind a wall of massive distortion and layered effects - and the fact that you take the position you do above tells me you've clearly got the right outlook, that you recognize which areas need improvement and plan to address them...
BTW there are a number of recordings of "classical archtop" period pieces on YouTube, either in the original (by the likes of Harry Volpe, Al Hendrickson,
et al.) or re-recorded by contemporary revivalists; in addition, you might also want to check out some of the work of Eddie Lang (both solo and with Joe Venuti on violin), Carl Kress and Dick McDonough, Tony Mottola, and George Van Eps, among other. Finally, there's an excellent collection published by Mel Bay, entitled
Masters of the Plectrum Guitar, that should give you a taste of what might have been...