Epiphone Masterbilt Olympic Archtop Acoustic-Electric

[slide496]

Looking for a smaller archtop - I tried a larger one and it sounded more like a dread, anyone know if it's the same complaint with this?

Any recommendation for a small size contemporary model that I should look at?

Best to All,
Harriet

[Black Squirrel]

I have one of the Olympics, Its Brilliant. I have a ton of high-end stuff around and I play this little guitar almost too much. It does have a Real big neck, which for me is always a good thing.

[danielou]

I like my Olympic---it does not sound like a dread. I had also bought the Zenith which I returned because of some dead notes. The olympic is more midrange heavy-- lots of overtone and quite interesting.

[BoneDigger]

I own the Century Deluxe, which is probably the larger one you played. I see it more as a crossover, and not purely archtop, but certainly more archtop than dread. It has aunique tone, as do all of the Masterbilt archtops (modern). The Zenith sounds great, and has a little less of the dread tone.

[gmr]

I owned one of the new Masterbilt century Olympic models. It was a very nice guitar. It was plenty loud. I liked the big neck. I liked the mid-range tone of the guitar. Very nice change of pace in an acoustic guitar.

[slide496]

Thank you for the replies. I will check it out then and see if it works for me. Glad to hear you are pleased with your models!

Best to all,
Harriet

[paddybrumson]

I'll throw in my two cents. I have some archtops and was also looking for a smaller one for a couch guitar. The Olympic is a perfect size and though the neck is substantial, it is very comfortable and easy to play. The neck and play-ability may be it's best feature. First, it is heavily built. Weighs more than a comparable flat top that size. It's tone sort of resembles a wooden resonator in that it's very mid-rangy with a slight nasal quality. The pickup and preamp won't knock you out either. Takes a lot of EQing to get an acceptable sound through an acoustic amp. This is a guitar that I would highly recommend trying out before you buy. Not of lot of options for new smaller archtops out there. You might try an acoustic Godin 5th Avenue. The thinner body makes it easier to play and though it's all laminated wood, doesn't sound too bad. Different sounding than the Olympic, but worth a look. Any thoughts that this new Olympic bears any resemblance to a vintage one like Dave Rawlings plays will be disappointing.

[slide496]

Originally Posted by paddybrumson

Any thoughts that this new Olympic bears any resemblance to a vintage one like Dave Rawlings plays will be disappointing.

That's the way I felt sort of about the larger model and the larger model only worked for me as an electric and even then...

Best to all,
Harriet

[Prof_Stack]

I used to feel that guitars had to have solid woods to be decent sounding. Playing some older laminated guitars (back, sides, and even top) altered my thinking quite a bit.

Now with a Godin 5th Avenue Jazz model, all laminated, I am impressed with the acoustic output of this 16-inch model. The floating pickup does a nice job when I plug in.