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  #31  
Old 12-17-2013, 07:15 PM
Archtop Guy Archtop Guy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Everettjago View Post
Has anyone played a Collings Acoustic archtop. The talk is he nails the design perfectly.
I've played one. Absolutely great guitar. But I would never say it's perfect because each guitarist probably has their own idea of perfect. Vintage Gibson, Epi? D'Angelico? D'Aquisto? Manzer? And many others! They all have their adherents and fans, they all have unique virtues.
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  #32  
Old 12-17-2013, 07:33 PM
uburoibob uburoibob is offline
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The Collings acoustic Archtops I have played have been incredible. I played a 16" that was as close to what I would imagine a brand new Loar L-5 would have been like.

Bob
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  #33  
Old 12-17-2013, 07:49 PM
uburoibob uburoibob is offline
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In general, the sensibilities are very different between wet (with pickups cut in) and dry (no pickups cut in). The basic conversation of tone of an acoustic Archtop is completely different than that of an electric guitar. Playability. Setup.

For instance... Which brand and formula of strings do you use? Bronze/phosphor bronze drive the spruce top of your Archtop the best. It would be highly unusual to use flatwounds on an acoustic Archtop.

Generally acoustic Archtops are a tad tight when you pick them up for the first time each day. How long playing acoustically each day before it turns into that incredibly sweet acoustic Archtop sound? With an electric Archtop, there is a vested interest in minimizing top vibration and keeping it tight - just the opposite of an acoustic Archtop.

Do you prefer a guitar with F-holes or a non traditional soundhole, such as Ken Parker's Archtop or Steve Andersen's oval hole?

Do you use your body to shape the tone acoustically - both your arm on he lower bout as well as your chest/belly against the back? If you use a floating pickup on your Archtop, what do you prefer?

Kind of a world apart. The answer of course would be to simply start appropriately themed threads.

In my humble opinion.

Bob
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Bob Martin

• Martin 00-42K Robbie Robertson
• Steve Andersen Emerald City Reserve
• Steve Andersen Little Archie (one piece back)
• Collings UT2K Uke
• Larrivee Soprano Uke
• 2 Ken Parker Flys
• PRS Hollowbody II
• PRS Santana
• PRS Mira X
• Joe Yanuziello Electric Guitar
• Tom Anderson Short-T Classic
• Fender Strat
http://bobmartin1111.com

Last edited by uburoibob; 12-17-2013 at 08:13 PM.
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  #34  
Old 12-17-2013, 10:38 PM
jimmy bookout jimmy bookout is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont View Post
Joe Pass' virtuoso album is a mic'd 175.
Well, that explains THE tone....(it's pretty horrible in my opinion). The playing is great, however. And it does show that one shouldn't try to mic an electric guitar (which an ES-175 is, period).

Jimmy
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  #35  
Old 12-18-2013, 07:33 AM
louparte louparte is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by uburoibob View Post
In general, the sensibilities are very different between wet (with pickups cut in) and dry (no pickups cut in). The basic conversation of tone of an acoustic Archtop is completely different than that of an electric guitar. Playability. Setup.

For instance... Which brand and formula of strings do you use? Bronze/phosphor bronze drive the spruce top of your Archtop the best. It would be highly unusual to use flatwounds on an acoustic Archtop.

Generally acoustic Archtops are a tad tight when you pick them up for the first time each day. How long playing acoustically each day before it turns into that incredibly sweet acoustic Archtop sound? With an electric Archtop, there is a vested interest in minimizing top vibration and keeping it tight - just the opposite of an acoustic Archtop.

Do you prefer a guitar with F-holes or a non traditional soundhole, such as Ken Parker's Archtop or Steve Andersen's oval hole?

Do you use your body to shape the tone acoustically - both your arm on he lower bout as well as your chest/belly against the back? If you use a floating pickup on your Archtop, what do you prefer?

Kind of a world apart. The answer of course would be to simply start appropriately themed threads.

In my humble opinion.

Bob
I prefer both. I've got over-sized F-holes on mine.
I have a floating mini-humbucker.

Maybe I need two archtops, one acoustic & one electric.
Right now, I've got Elixir electric coated strings on my big archtop. I've
used phosphor-bronze a lot on it. But if I plug it in w/PB's - the first &
second strings are 15%-20% louder than the other four.

In my recordings, I always use the archtop plugged in. I really have
no use for a purely acoustic archtop. But if I'm not recording, if I'm just
sitting around and showing it off to people, I'd prefer to have the phosphor-
bronze strings on it.

The obvious solution is to buy another archtop. But I have too many guitars
already.
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Last edited by louparte; 12-18-2013 at 07:39 AM.
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  #36  
Old 12-18-2013, 10:41 AM
s2y s2y is online now
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If you can convince my wife that I should have an all acoustic archtop, I'm all ears.
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  #37  
Old 12-19-2013, 08:23 AM
FloridaGull FloridaGull is offline
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I have a Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II - 2 P90's - and I've played a "plain" 5th Avenue - a factory second (note: all Godin guitars - including acoustics - marked with an "S", "SF", or "FS" at the end of the serial number are factory seconds - cosmetic blemishes only), and I really like it, too. "Plain" 5th Avenues are about $519 street - I think he has this one priced at about $450 now - it's been there awhile - I go back and forth debating whether I should see how low he'll go to "get rid" of it...
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  #38  
Old 12-19-2013, 09:42 PM
louparte louparte is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FloridaGull View Post
I have a Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II - 2 P90's - and I've played a "plain" 5th Avenue - a factory second (note: all Godin guitars - including acoustics - marked with an "S", "SF", or "FS" at the end of the serial number are factory seconds - cosmetic blemishes only), and I really like it, too. "Plain" 5th Avenues are about $519 street - I think he has this one priced at about $450 now - it's been there awhile - I go back and forth debating whether I should see how low he'll go to "get rid" of it...
How much difference in unplugged tone can you detect between the Kingpin
and the plain 5th Avenue?

At $450, that guitar is a deal.
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Youtube

France (Film Musique & Fantomas)
---
Guitars: (2007) big Vietnamese archtop; (1997) Guild F65ce,
(1988) Guild D60, (1972) Guild D25, two other Vietnamese flat-tops and one classical.

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  #39  
Old 12-20-2013, 10:47 AM
FloridaGull FloridaGull is offline
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Now, I have my Kingpin II strung with D'Addario Flatwounds (XL Chrome) for the electric tone, but the guitar came with roundwound jazz lights - in between I replaced them with a set of acoustic phosphor bronze strings to enhance the acoustic only-sound.
With the acoustic strings, the Kingpin sounds quite nice - but the "plain" 5th Avenue does, IMHO, have a bit more volume/tone - and my wife (who sat in front of me during the "comparison") thought the "plain" model had slightly better projection...
Now, realize I play primarily fingerstyle - if you are mainly a strummer, YMMV...
I think it would be useful to have both...
This guitar is (or was, if he sold it) at K&A Guitars in Jensen Beach, FL - http://www.kaguitars.com/index.html - phone 772-334-2220 - ask for Ace - tell him Chris (the Walden guy) recommended you - and, he's had that guitar for more than a year - so negotiate well... ;-)
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  #40  
Old 12-25-2013, 12:20 PM
drive-south drive-south is offline
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There's certainly room to discuss both "carved-top acoustic" and "pressed arch-top" guitars in this sub forum. As long as people know the difference. Unfortunately many people don't.

Most "arch tops" are pressed tops and made of laminated wood aka plywood. They have very little in common with a carved top guitar.
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  #41  
Old 12-25-2013, 12:40 PM
uburoibob uburoibob is offline
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This thread I am linking to below should illustrate what a carved top acoustic Archtop, which is very different from a pressed wood Archtop like a 175, is supposed to sound like. These guitars are worlds apart. Pressed wood Archtops have more in common with solid bodies than acoustic guitars. And yep, I am quite surprised how many people don't know the difference - yet...

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=318273

Bob
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• Martin 00-42K Robbie Robertson
• Steve Andersen Emerald City Reserve
• Steve Andersen Little Archie (one piece back)
• Collings UT2K Uke
• Larrivee Soprano Uke
• 2 Ken Parker Flys
• PRS Hollowbody II
• PRS Santana
• PRS Mira X
• Joe Yanuziello Electric Guitar
• Tom Anderson Short-T Classic
• Fender Strat
http://bobmartin1111.com

Last edited by uburoibob; 12-26-2013 at 04:47 PM.
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  #42  
Old 12-25-2013, 08:09 PM
greenchimneys greenchimneys is offline
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Wow, this thread has really sparked some debate! I have to say, this is exactly how I feel about the subject:

"As long as people know the difference. Unfortunately many people don't.

Most "arch tops" are pressed tops and made of laminated wood aka plywood. They have very little in common with a carved top guitar
."

I was showing a guy at work a picture of a D'Angelico acoustic archtop that was featured in an ad in a recent issue of "Guitar Player." I said "this is the type of guitar I play." He said "Oh, I thought you only played acoustic?" I replied "Yeah, I do!" Its not easy not being like every other acoustic guitarist...
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  #43  
Old 12-26-2013, 04:20 PM
s2y s2y is online now
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Gotta remember that archtops are a bit of a niche instrument and hardly used by the general public. Outside of jazz bands, I haven't seen many. I don't know if I've ever seen an acoustic archtop at any of my guitar shops growing up.
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  #44  
Old 12-26-2013, 04:38 PM
Spook Spook is offline
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Given that the only topic of discussion in this forum for awhile has been the purity of the acoustic archtop, there is a bit of room for electrified variations.
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  #45  
Old 12-26-2013, 04:45 PM
uburoibob uburoibob is offline
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I think that, given some of the comments, a lot of folks don't know the difference. There is plenty of room to talk about everything. And it seems that those of us wanting to talk about ideas unique to acoustic Archtops are simply creating threads to do that. All is good.

Bob
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Bob Martin

• Martin 00-42K Robbie Robertson
• Steve Andersen Emerald City Reserve
• Steve Andersen Little Archie (one piece back)
• Collings UT2K Uke
• Larrivee Soprano Uke
• 2 Ken Parker Flys
• PRS Hollowbody II
• PRS Santana
• PRS Mira X
• Joe Yanuziello Electric Guitar
• Tom Anderson Short-T Classic
• Fender Strat
http://bobmartin1111.com
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