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Old 05-07-2021, 08:59 PM
blue blue is offline
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Default fun archtop comparison. Expensive to "affordable"

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Old 05-14-2021, 08:37 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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That was very informative! A lot of great sounds in there!

I really liked the sound of that hand-wound Kent Armstrong pickup on the Heritage Sweet 16. The Gibson L5 sounded very good, too!

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Old 05-14-2021, 09:53 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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My impressions (YMMV):
  • I was least impressed with the Heritage H-550 and the 16-inchers: the laminated 550 sounded one-dimensional and constrained to me, and the small-bodies lacked the frequency range I look for in a jazzbox - although I could live with that Armstrong-equipped Sweet 16 in a big-band comping situation, where the stronger mids and quicker response might sit better in the mix...
  • The Hofner strikes me immediately as a distinctly "European" guitar - there's just enough Gypsy mojo to make it a good solo instrument in the right hands, and while Makis Ablianitis is unquestionably a fine player, IMO this guitar needs someone with a less mainstream, more on-the-ragged-edge style to really bring out its hidden qualities...
  • Although the L-5 and the first Golden Eagle both have the classic carved-top/built-in PU big-box tone - the common Gibson DNA really shows through here - to me the suspended-PU Golden Eagle was the class of this group: rich but clear, crisp enough to cut through a complex arrangement but with sufficient tonal color and frequency extension on tap to make it a fine solo guitar, or accompaniment to a vocalist...
  • The Eastman 910 and D'Angelico Excel get my bang-for-the-buck nod: the former is more than competitive with the suspended-PU Eagle, albeit not quite as rich to my ears (or my wallet, hence the tradeoff), while the $1400 D'A was reminiscent of some postwar 17" all-laminated ES-150's I've heard - viable acoustic response that's well-reflected in the amplified tone, if in fact a bit lacking in volume (easily corrected at the amp, BTW)...
  • The Super Eagle reminded me immediately why I love 18" archtops - that "tone-you-can-eat-with-a-spoon" that you'll never achieve with a smaller box - and why I hate twin built-in pickups (and their associated controls) on any carved-top instrument; with a suspended Armstrong like the Sweet 16 this one could've been far and away the class of the field - and the fact that TMK it still sells for substantially less than its Gibson Super 400 counterpart would merely be icing on the cake...
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Last edited by Steve DeRosa; 05-14-2021 at 09:58 PM.
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