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  #31  
Old 10-10-2018, 07:02 AM
gmr gmr is offline
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I completely agree with you, Rockabilly. I really liked mine, do wish I’d kept it! I played monels on mine too. These new Epi archtop models are way more Mother Maybelle than Freddie Green, but Mother Maybelle is more to my musical tastes, so it works fine for me.
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  #32  
Old 10-10-2018, 11:10 PM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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Originally Posted by gmr View Post
I completely agree with you, Rockabilly. I really liked mine, do wish I’d kept it! I played monels on mine too. These new Epi archtop models are way more Mother Maybelle than Freddie Green, but Mother Maybelle is more to my musical tastes, so it works fine for me.
Just got mine back from my local luthier who is outstanding. It was good before I sent it to him, but now the action is sublime. I can hardly put it down. He recut the nut, leveled some frets a bit, and reshaped the archtop base to perfectly fit the top. He did tell me that I would enjoy it more with medium strings instead of the lights, but my hands can't take the abuse
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  #33  
Old 10-11-2018, 06:44 AM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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Originally Posted by Rudy4 View Post
Hi Silly,
Another great conversion! These older low-dollar ply archtops are perfect instruments for use as octave mandos.

Here's the Youtube demo of my Kay conversion. I found a take-off Taylor GS Mini neck that served as a quick and easy conversion.

https://youtu.be/fXlbFMIsDgA
Hi Rudy,
Great sound on your Kay - with a Taylor neck? What scale length?

BTW - the Hofner is not a ply top -solid and carved. 25" scale.
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  #34  
Old 10-12-2018, 08:31 AM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silly Moustache View Post
Hi Rudy,
Great sound on your Kay - with a Taylor neck? What scale length?

BTW - the Hofner is not a ply top -solid and carved. 25" scale.
The Taylor neck was purchased cheap on Reverb as a "take off". It was from a GS Mini that has a 23-1/2" scale length neck. I narrowed the neck, drilled 2 new tuner holes between the existing holes and installed a new head stock overlay. I also found a like new set of tuners on e-bay that someone took off a GS Mini when upgrading the tuners.

All the other details of the conversion are present at the web archive of my old website although the photos aren't there:

http://web.archive.org/web/201603281...pageMando.html
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  #35  
Old 10-18-2018, 05:04 AM
Frankieabbott Frankieabbott is offline
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Originally Posted by rockabilly69 View Post
what do you think...

Nice looking guitar. But I hope the owner of the credit/debit card in this pic realises they may have compromised their bank details. I can't quite make out the numbers.....but people with better eyesight.............................

Last edited by Frankieabbott; 10-18-2018 at 05:09 AM.
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  #36  
Old 10-18-2018, 05:17 AM
wezzywest wezzywest is offline
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Love Gillian and Dave, the `Harrow and the Harvest` album is superb. Dave Rawling`s accompaniment is as good as it gets.
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  #37  
Old 10-18-2018, 11:33 AM
godfreydaniel godfreydaniel is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rudy4 View Post
Hi Silly,
Another great conversion! These older low-dollar ply archtops are perfect instruments for use as octave mandos.

Here's the Youtube demo of my Kay conversion. I found a take-off Taylor GS Mini neck that served as a quick and easy conversion.

https://youtu.be/fXlbFMIsDgA
Sounds great. Nice picking.
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  #38  
Old 10-26-2018, 07:12 AM
Philphool Philphool is offline
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I'll admit that David was the reason I got interested in small bodied archtops. I admit that I don't play my 1933 Epi Blackstone very often, although I should.

I haven't played an Olympic. Has anyone compared the Olympic to a Blackstone as far as sound, etc.?

Last edited by Philphool; 10-26-2018 at 07:55 AM.
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  #39  
Old 10-26-2018, 10:00 AM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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I'm in the "he didn't cause me to get into archtops, but he reminded me..." group.

One of the things that he reminded me of, is that they sometimes fit into contexts that you don't think of as conventional use for an archtop. Until Rawlings, you didn't see them mixed with flat top acoustic much. As it is with much attractive playing, we often imprint on the instrument as the cause of the sound (ignoring the player's impact) but in this case it opened up minds to reconsider this kind of instrument.

I've never really got to grips with an appropriate purely acoustic sound from an archtop, but I enjoy them at low volume with a magnetic pickup plugged into a clean amp, which is a sort of semi-acoustic thing.
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  #40  
Old 11-11-2018, 08:38 AM
printer2 printer2 is offline
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Liked their music but I did not realize he played an archtop till I looked for a small size one to see if the size could sound good. Eventually I want to build one for myself.
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  #41  
Old 11-23-2018, 10:08 PM
bkepler bkepler is offline
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I've always liked archtops but came to them from having them mistakenly show up in "parlor guitar" eBay searches years ago. I was drawn to the smaller ones so when I did see his Olympic, I thought it hit things right. I'd always liked the sound of their two guitars together, occupying different sonic space.

I was able to jump on a 1934 Olympic recently and Dave Rawlings is definitely the reason I bought it. Simply enough, I probably wouldn't have known about that model without him.

I've only played it with others once so far and it performed as expected. It was a fairly large bluegrass jam and I didn't have to work as hard to pick those lead lines. They cut through the mix better.

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  #42  
Old 12-16-2018, 05:58 PM
Pablomago Pablomago is offline
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Back in High School, a friend had an Epiphone archtop that someone had refinished metallic blue. We had it strung with silk and steel strings and it was a communal beach guitar for a long time. I was recently back in touch with her after all of these years and she still has it and it's still blue. I've offered to have it stripped and lacquered, but for now she's happy keeping it as is.

I'm looking for a less expensive archtop, maybe with a floating pickup or old DeArmond or something. I've seen a few of those Epiphones pop up and they aren't too pricey. Maybe I'll get one. But not because of Dave. I need a guitar for playing swing rhythm guitar.
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  #43  
Old 12-16-2018, 08:25 PM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pablomago View Post
Back in High School, a friend had an Epiphone archtop that someone had refinished metallic blue. We had it strung with silk and steel strings and it was a communal beach guitar for a long time. I was recently back in touch with her after all of these years and she still has it and it's still blue. I've offered to have it stripped and lacquered, but for now she's happy keeping it as is.

I'm looking for a less expensive archtop, maybe with a floating pickup or old DeArmond or something. I've seen a few of those Epiphones pop up and they aren't too pricey. Maybe I'll get one. But not because of Dave. I need a guitar for playing swing rhythm guitar.
The entire Epi line is currently being sold at a discount, so it may be a good time to jump in, although don't expect the Epis to dazzle you with their performance.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...intage-natural
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  #44  
Old 12-17-2018, 01:51 AM
PHJim PHJim is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gmr View Post
We just had the privilege of seeing Gillian And Dave in a small venue in OKC. I am a big fan of their music. Their vocals and their playing are so complimentary to each other.... it’s uncanny, really. I bought one of the new Epiphone Olympic modelS when they came but sold it when we sold our home and I needed to thin my herd. I regretted it that day and still do. I know a lot of archtop affficianados are not fans of the new Epi’s but for what they are, they do a very nice job, and I don’t think the intent if them was/is meant to be a faithful copy of their originals, but even still, the Olympic is quite nice. And plugged in, that thing sounded big! Oh, and that was one of the better concerts we have ever seen. David and Gillian are incredibly gracious and kind, engaging, and supremely talented in their musical genre.
Oddly enough, both David and Gil refuse to modify their instruments. Gillian explained in an Acoustic Guitar interview, that she would not change her old J50, and that is why she has the strap fastened at the headstock, the adjustable bridge with ceramic saddle still in place and she plays through a mic rather than having a pickup installed.
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  #45  
Old 12-18-2018, 02:25 PM
Epiphonist Epiphonist is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PHJim View Post
Oddly enough, both David and Gil refuse to modify their instruments. Gillian explained in an Acoustic Guitar interview, that she would not change her old J50, and that is why she has the strap fastened at the headstock, the adjustable bridge with ceramic saddle still in place and she plays through a mic rather than having a pickup installed.
Gillian's J50 actually has a strap button installed although she doesn't use it. Dave uses a strap button on his Olympic. See pic.

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