Classical on an Archtop

[Jacob Reinhart]

The Great Michael Chapdelaine playing Adelita on an Archtop.

https://youtu.be/yDYOdod0yGk

[Bluemonk]

And not just on any archtop. A Ken Parker archtop. Very special.

[nickv6]

Amazing tone from that guitar. Is he using the magnetic pickup?

[rmp]

It's not the arrow, It's the Indian.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by nickv6

Amazing tone from that guitar. Is he using the magnetic pickup?

There has to a microphone in use even if they are taking signals from a pickup because you can clearly hear Michael breathing.

He really has some serious ability. That sounds amazingly good.

- Glenn

[Bluemonk]

Originally Posted by rmp

It's not the arrow, It's the Indian.

Actually, it's both to some degree. You have some nice arrows there.

[Steve DeRosa]

FWIW most contemporary players are unaware that there was an entire school of plectrum-style "classical archtop" guitar that flourished from about 1925-1940, and upon which Mel Bay based his well-known method; when I was learning in the early-60's the method books bore a statement that they were in fact designed and intended "to place the plectrum 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 )...

By way of background, in its original form the classical-archtop movement drew from the earlier American school of (fingerstyle) 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, a number of guitarists of the day 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 L-5 archtop guitar 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...

If anyone's interested there are a number of recordings of these period pieces on YouTube (see below); in addition, you might also want to check out some of the work of Eddie Lang (both solo and with Joe Venuti on violin), Carl Kress and Dick McDonough, Tony Mottola (when he was a teenage whiz kid), and George Van Eps, among others. Finally, there's an excellent collection published by Mel Bay, entitled Masters of the Plectrum Guitar which, should anyone be intrigued enough to investigate this style further, will definitely keep you busy for a while - and give you a taste of what might have been...

Here's a couple of samples of "classical archtop" from back in the day:



- and a few from modern revivalists keeping this historic style alive:

[ceciltguitar]

Thank you Jacob, and thank you Steve, for sharing some great videos!

Thank you Steve, for sharing some interesting and important guitar history.

[tbeltrans]

Very interesting post, Steve! Thanks.

Johnny Smith claimed he could play anything with a plectrum that anybody could do with fingers. I have not yet found some of the purely classical solo material, but if/until I do, here are a couple that might whet the appetite for the subject matter at hand:





Tony

[Guitarplayer_PR]

Originally Posted by rmp

It's not the arrow, It's the Indian.

Imagine an Indian with no arrow.

Imagine another Indian with an AK-47

[THart]

I was just recently introduced to the playing of Maxim Cormier. Here he's playing Bach on a small body Weber archtop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R-aRYpLRa8

[Walter_in_BTV]

Originally Posted by Jacob Reinhart

The Great Michael Chapdelaine playing Adelita on an Archtop.

https://youtu.be/yDYOdod0yGk

And he is also playing a variety of tunes (including that one) on various of the Blue Guitars.

Here is the same tune, Adelita, on a Collings Archtop: https://theblueguitars.com/michael-c...plays-adelita/

and some of the other guitars
Lagrima on the D'Aquisto:

https://theblueguitars.com/michael-c...plays-lagrima/

Mark Lacey: https://theblueguitars.com/michael-c...ays-prelude-1/

Bob Benedetto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa56H6flNsw&t=7s

Linda Manzer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBO4clPB_9c&t=1s

and the Kim Walker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fNfbqC8c8o

[mr. beaumont]

The beautiful pairing of a great player and an amazing instrument. Made my day.

[Sage Runner]

Splendid Mastery on Display. Enjoyed watching this. Wish it was a bit longer Video, but a testament that a quality Arch Top can be very versatile. A high quality Arch Top with a slightly wider neck and fingerboard would be nice to have. I would still want a slight radius though for versatility. I looks like from watching a few videos on YouTube that Mirabella’ makes a Wider neck leaning towards classical finger board.