#16
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I'd be interested to see pics of your Comins and hear whatever you might have to say about it. I don't know that I can come up with the pasta for it and don't want to waste your time but, I'm interested, just the same. Thanks.
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Barrett |
#17
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This is NOT an endorsement, but there's a Colorado luthier named Gary Stroup that has his archtops listed on ebay. Do a search for Stroup on ebay and you should find a couple listed at all times. They run around a grand. I'm not too sure of the quality. . .the finish seems to be lacking, but he gets some good comments and some of the archies do look kinda nice.
I'm in the market for an archie myself. -Barry
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Mastering the guitar is extremely easy. You just keep playing until tiny beads of sweat begin to form on your forehead and your finger tips start to fall off. It's really just that simple! |
#18
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OK here's a question - who would the forumites here consider to be the leading modern archtop makers who produce a consistently good sounding unplugged tone and yet cost less than $7000?
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#19
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#20
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I checked ot his ebay stuff and followed up a bit. Very interesting guitars and has spectacular reviews on Harmony Central. I couldn't find his web page though. He says he has one. Have you seen it? I may just give him a call and pick his brain a bit..kinda feel him out. All the reviewing posters said he was very approachable and friendly. Thanks!
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#21
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Barrett |
#22
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You guys are talking about $7000 guitars and here I am playing my $100, (via ebay), 50 year old Silvertone archtop, still in mint condition with action not too different from my Taylors... In the Sears catalogue, brand new, it was $36. It even has a trussrod in the neck, something fairly uncommon for the time. It's all solid wood and was supposedly made by Kay at the time.
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#23
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Barrett |
#24
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Here's a couple of places to look:
http://www.phillipsguitars.com/ http://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/i...Models&q=&st=1 Sugar Bear |
#25
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Campellone--his basic model is around $3800, he's a really nice guy and he's been doing it for many years. At a time when your average solidbody, mass-produced electric guitar is pushing a few grand, a Campellone has to be the number one value in the guitar world today. Guess that's why there's always a wait. Comins--As I've said before...I directly compared mine (before purchase) to two original D'Angelicos, repro D'Angelicos, Andersens, Buscarinos, Zeidler, vintage Gibsons, etc. I preferred the Comins both amped and unamped. Bill's prices have been creeping up, but I think you can still score a few of his models under the limit. Andersen, Buscarino, and a few others are also very good and offer "economy" models. For laminates, you could pencil in Bill Moll, too. Take off the cost gloves and we can start talking Benedetto (pre-Guild), Monteleone, D'Aquisto, etc. Man, there are just too many good choices. Nilus |
#26
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http://www.stroupguitars.com/index.html ....sounds very interesting. One more thing...I noticed you DID NOT include Eastman...any reason?
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Barrett |
#27
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No experience with Stroup...it's one of those, "I'd love to personally know someone who bought one to see how it went" kinda situations. I think I'm too much of a brand guy (for better or worse) to take a chance like that. The guitars on his site just don't look polished (i.e. wood choices, obvious deformities in the body shape, etc.). Like you said, price and value are two different things. There are a number of guys looking to break into archtops...I mean who wouldn't want to make a living building just 20 guitars a year? For example, I saw that Lark Street (www.larkstreetmusic.com) has a few from a NJ luthier ("Garvey"). His guitars are in the $2K range. No experience with them either though.
I think I'm somewhat biased against Eastman by an admittedly illogical belief that the production of archtops shouldn't be offshored. For the same reason, I didn't mention the D'Angelico repros. I admit, those instruments might be as good, or even better than, some of the brands I nominated (at least in terms of cost and consistency). I just wouldn't buy one, especially not when something like a Campellone would only be marginally more expensive. I guess I'm just a stupid yuppie who justifies his outrageous expenditures with the naive assertion that certain things in this world should remain attached to a small, magical workshop. Marketing guys love me. Nilus |
#28
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Although I haven't gone on an acoustic archtop search myself, the ones that I've played that I like the best (because they were SO different from Gibson-like designs) are Tacoma archtops. They play and sound a LOT more like an acoustic, but have an archtop's plumbiness. Relatively cheap, too.
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#29
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It looks like my '69 Gibson ES-150 is going to auction above my ebay reserve so I'll be looking at Eastman AR805-CE and 810's (16" or 17"). I'll try to get out to Buffalo Brothers next week. The girl I do a patriotic act with got one this last summer and I checked it out through my Bose PAS, settleing in on an Ibanez Artist preset. I was extremely impressed with it's setup, balance, playability, and especially acoustic and amplified tone. Back off on it's volume knob and it gets great acoustic properties through the amp. Full up on the volume and it's more of a jazzer. I may not be the best source on archtops for over the years I've only had four; a '54 Gibson L-50, a '30's Epi, a '45 Gibson L-5, and currently a '41 L-50, but they certainly were nowhere near as nice as the Eastman AR805 I played. Well, maybe the L-5. |
#30
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Solid bookmatched carved sitka spruce top; carved solid maple back and sides with Venetian cutaway; solid one-piece maple neck; solid ebony fingerboard; deluxe bound body, fingerboard and peghead. Contoured graphite tailpiece and finger rest; black Gotoh 16X1 tuners; compensated adjustable ebony bridge; EMG floating humbucking pickup with thumbwheel controls and endpin jack.
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USMC RETIRED 2D Marine Division Infantry Weapons Chief 1997 Tacoma PM20 1998 Tacoma CC10 2001 Tacoma C5C 2004 Tacoma C1C 2004 Tacoma EMM30 "Forum Guitar" |