Is The Loar LH-700 worth the 1k difference with the LH300?

[gerardo1000]

I have two archtops, among these is a Loar LH-300, solid top, laminated back and sides, that I like quite a lot. I play only acoustic. I have seen some great videos on youtube of a guy playing a Loar LH-700-- all premium solid wood archtop. His name is Daddystovetop.Here is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CKd3232Asc
I am aware that you cannot be 100% confident with a Youtube video because of all the tweaking that one can do to the sound. So I'd like to have the opinion of forum members who had the luck of playing both the cheaper LH-300 and the top of the line LH-700. Is the LH-700 worth spending an additional $1000 compared to the Loar LH-300? Thanks.

[mawmow]

I would answer that it depends on what you play...
For fingerstyle, probably. daddystovepipe is a great player.
If you strum jazz, probably not as told me a talented and respected musician who comps his Loar LH-300 in a jazzy band with winds.
Anyway, LH-600 (or 650) would also do it at half price of a 700.
Did you read my post about the 700 ? A chance I got it for the price around a 600, I'd say and that I can make my own setups (I saved many buck !)

[tdq]

When I was looking for my archtop I tried the 300, 600 and 700, side by side. In my opinion the 600 was definitely superior to the 300, but the 700 was pretty much the same at the 600 (at least on the ones I tried). I decided that a LH600 would work fine for me but then a used 700 came up for a really good price and got that one. I would definitely go the 600 over the 300 if I could, but wouldn't fork out the extra bucks for a 700 (unless, like me and mawmow, you get lucky). Like mawmow I also had to do a bit of my own tweaking to get it to play how I liked.

[Prof_Stack]

When I was looking for an old archtop, the place also had a new LH-700 for about $1500. It was very impressive for a new guitar, having much of the classic archtop sound.

I would save up the money for the 700 if I were you. But, an LH-600 would sound pretty much the same but with cosmetic differences.

[mr. beaumont]

There is a big jump in quality between the 300 and 600 series, when it comes to The Loar's acoustic archtops.

The 600/700's differences are pretty much cosmetic, but the 700 looks quite a bit nicer. Very cool guitars, really the only instruments in the budget market that go after (and achieve much of) the sound of a 1930's archtop.

Only word of warning would be that the neck is a pretty pronounced "V." I couldn't get along with it-- which bummed me out, so I sold the 600 I had. I really should have kept it and just used it as a rhythm guitar, with my thumb wrapped around the neck...but the guitar sounded so good I wanted to use it for single note playing too, and then my hand got fatigued quickly when my thumb was on the back of the neck.

[paddybrumson]

I'm agreeing with the sentiments so far. I've played a bunch of 300s and most were iffy on the QC, especially the neck angle. I took a chance on a used 600 online that turned out fine. Good neck set and no major QC issues. I also played a used 700 at the local Guitar Center that seemed a bit over priced and really didn't sound any better than my 600. So, yes, 600 and 700s are a big step up from the 300 and opting for a low priced used 700 would be the only reason to bypass a 600. That said, if you have a decent 300, there isn't much else out there in that price range that sounds as good, including the Gretsch and Godin archtops, which may have better build quality, but miss that vintagey thing the Loars have.

[gerardo1000]

I agree on the Loar archtops tone. In addition to the LH-300 (which I bought used and luckily it's flawless with perfect neck angle and set up) I have an only acoustic Godin 5th avenue, and I owned a Gretsch New Yorker only acoustic.
The Gretsch New Yorker had some build quality flaws, as a tailpiece that was off center, and didn't sound so great. The 5th avenue is better, it has a bright sound and it is quite loud, but I do not like the strings spacing at the bridge, quite narrow (53 mm) because I often play fingerstyle. But the Loar LH-300 is definitely the best of these three I really love it. If the LH-600, as several members say, is a big step-up, well that will be in my future! Thanks.