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  #1  
Old 09-07-2020, 03:24 AM
Howard Emerson Howard Emerson is online now
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Default A vintage L-5 in the Apse........

.....or whatever this section of an old church might be called.

In any case this is Fabio Mittino doing a very nice impression of Al Valenti.........google him.



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Last edited by Howard Emerson; 09-12-2023 at 03:47 AM. Reason: wrong name corrected
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Old 09-07-2020, 08:35 AM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Most contemporary players are unaware that there was an entire school of "classical archtop" guitar that flourished from about 1925-1940, and upon which Mel Bay would base his well-known method; when I was learning in the early-60's the book covers bore a statement that they were in fact designed and intended to place the plectrum-style guitar "in the same class as the violin, piano, and other 'legitimate' instruments" (and if you've never hung around in certain so-called "serious" music circles it's difficult to imagine the pejorative attitude directed toward the guitar, even in its "classical" incarnation)...

FYI, in its original form the classical archtop movement 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 such as the adaptation presented here (albeit more in the Segovia tradition), a number of guitarists of the day (including the aforementioned Mr. Valenti) produced original compositions in a late-Romantic style - music which, while largely out of fashion today, still retains its technical and artistic merit nine decades later. Bear in mind that the original pre-Advanced L-5 archtop guitar in the video 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 - and I'd love to hear this piece on a nice old 18" non-cut Gibson Super 400/300, Epiphone Emperor/Super Deluxe, D'Angelico New Yorker, or Stromberg Master 400, with their broader dynamic and frequency range (particularly in the lower register)...
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Old 09-07-2020, 09:53 AM
Bluemonk Bluemonk is offline
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This is a beautiful refutation of the widely held idea that archtop guitarist are, of necessity, harsh and strident. In the right hands, they can produce exquisitely sweet tones.
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Old 09-07-2020, 01:44 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluemonk View Post
This is a beautiful refutation of the widely held idea that archtop guitarists are, of necessity, harsh and strident. In the right hands, they can produce exquisitely sweet tones.
I've been an archtop guitarist on-and-off since 1962...

I've never been accused of being harsh and strident...

In the right hands, I've also been known to produce some exquisitely sweet tones...
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Last edited by Steve DeRosa; 09-07-2020 at 01:51 PM.
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Old 09-07-2020, 02:10 PM
Bluemonk Bluemonk is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa View Post
I've never been accused of being harsh and strident...

In the right hands, I've also been known to produce some exquisitely sweet tones...
You'll have to cut me some slack. When the temperature hits 90+ degrees, my brain cells go on vacation.
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Old 09-30-2022, 02:39 PM
Keith Lee Keith Lee is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluemonk View Post
This is a beautiful refutation of the widely held idea that archtop guitarist are, of necessity, harsh and strident. In the right hands, they can produce exquisitely sweet tones.
Think "coaxing the velvet" or some similar term applies to smooth archtop tone

Personally, musically, I often embrace the harsh and strident, at least at times...

We are "swinging the swampy gospel blues" on a 1953 L-50 which works great for adapting hymns and playing new songs - wife plays serious Cajun washboard (she's Cajun) and the L 50 needs cut / chop/ explosive loud without sustain, great for chunking and string riffing and slide...

But when played with a different technique, you can flat pick beautiful things

Only limitation is imagination and maybe technique of the player
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Old 09-30-2022, 05:52 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Lee View Post
Think "coaxing the velvet" or some similar term applies to smooth archtop tone...

Personally, musically, I often embrace the harsh and strident, at least at times...

We are "swinging the swampy gospel blues" on a 1953 L-50 which works great for adapting hymns and playing new songs - wife plays serious Cajun washboard (she's Cajun) and the L 50 needs cut/chop/explosive loud without sustain, great for chunking and string riffing and slide...

But when played with a different technique, you can flat pick beautiful things...

Only limitation is imagination and maybe technique of the player...
Here's a few good examples of both techniques - the first set by fellow AGF'er Jonathan Stout (AKA CampusFive), one of my favorites among the new generation of younger archtop players, the second by Romain Vuillemin and a textbook illustration of how virtually identical instruments (they're both using prewar, New York-built Epiphone Emperors - Mr. Stout switches to a '41 Gibson L-5N for the duet clip while his partner handles the Epi) can sound radically different depending on the player's individual approach:





While I won't get into an in-depth analysis here in the interest of brevity (see my comments about "classical archtop" above for some further background), orthodox archtop pick technique is derived from orchestral-string bowing technique, and my rationale for choosing the above examples of the two contrasting approaches: the round, mellow sul tasto reinvented as "coaxing the velvet out" (the "glide-rather-than-pick/stroke-rather-than-strum" approach in Mr. Vuillemin's videos, to which you refer in your comments) versus the sul ponticello hammer-down of Messrs. Stout and Rossi, much like that of a Paganini seeking to extract the last ounce of volume from his instrument and project it to the farthest reaches of the concert hall by consciously emphasizing the upper frequencies - and the very reason I've always believed that an archtop player should, in spite of personal preference (BTW I'm a "velvet" guy myself ), be well-acquainted with both...
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