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Old 07-27-2016, 01:29 PM
MC5C MC5C is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Tatamagouche Nova Scotia
Posts: 1,136
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I recently built a 17" traditional archtop, mahogany back and sides with a curly redwood top. I carved it to the Benedetto recipe but varied the bracing to be a kind of triple X - one brace right on the center seam in the middle of the normal X brace. I carved the braces quite light. The sound is very transparent, kind of shimmery and clear sounding, with good balance and rather astounding power. You can get single note volume that hurts your ears, it's by far my loudest guitar. I went through many string sets of widely varying gauge and type, and settled on Ernie Ball Aluminium Bronze in .011 - .052. Every time I tried heavier gauge and higher tension strings the guitar lost all it's character and just sounded tight and flat. The best it ever sounded was actually when I put some heavier gauge strings on, and tuned down to D. It was awesome, but I wanted to play in standard tuning. So that old wives tale of you need to play heavy strings on an archtop does not always apply.
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Brian Evans
Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia.
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