Bluegrass on an Archtop

[Robin, Wales]

Oh I love this!

[RomanS]

Wow, what a great sounding guitar (playing is great, too).

[CopyCat]

Very nice indeed.

[mrjop1975]

Thanks for passing that along Robin, much appreciated

[RJVB]

Surprise surprise, it sounds good!

In a similar vein:



(IIUC she owns an archtop by a traditional, contemporary west-coast builder who's name I forgot but she never seems to use it.)

[Robin, Wales]

That just sound lovely - Molly is such a class player and singer. The guitar has a beautiful timbre. Compared to this L5 it's the bass side timbre that I'm missing on my Godin

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

That just sound lovely - Molly is such a class player and singer. The guitar has a beautiful timbre. Compared to this L5 it's the bass side timbre that I'm missing on my Godin

It's hard to get a better sound than that of a well-preserved L5 signed by Lloyd Loar, I think most people will recognise that even if the archtop sound isn't their cuppa. Compared to that a Kingpin sounds a bit as if it's stuffed with who knows what

But every time I look at this recording I get the impression Molly isn't thrilled at all...

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by RJVB

But every time I look at this recording I get the impression Molly isn't thrilled at all...

Perhaps she is just having a bad day! This could have taken multiple takes for the film crew to get !!!

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Perhaps she is just having a bad day! This could have taken multiple takes for the film crew to get !!!

Maybe it's because the guitar was clearly out of tune, but time was tight?

Who knows. She's an amazing player in any case, and nobody should be surprised that an L-5 Gibson archtop sounds wonderful for bluegrass.

It was good enough for Mother Maybelle Carter, after all.

HE

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Maybe it's because the guitar was clearly out of tune, but time was tight?

HE

LOL! I'm not surprised that Eli still has the tuner clipped on to his Rincon archtop in the OP video. That instrument is fitted with banjo planetary tuners!

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Maybe it's because the guitar was clearly out of tune, but time was tight?

Erm, a player of her stature should be able to correct the tuning by ear and (almost) on the fly ...

[Silly Moustache]

Ok, I know that this is primarily abut the archtops and how they can be used for all sorts of styles, ( Gibson '34/5 F hole anyone?) but I muust put a word infor Ei West's playing style.

I was fortunate enough to see Eli with Cahalen twice in the UK, and love both of them together, and separately, but Eli's melodic and often surprising runs and fills always thrill and delight me :



Similarly when he plays the octave mando :



Eli, it seems, likes to jog, and as I was pulling in to the carpark at the last gig I saw them, he ran straight in front of me .. looking the wrong way in a country where we drive on the left (?) - so we are lucky to still have him!

Loved the sound of his "Roy Smeck" style flat tops - can't remember who built his gear now.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

...The guitar has a beautiful timbre. Compared to this L-5 it's the bass side timbre that I'm missing on my Godin...

Originally Posted by RJVB

It's hard to get a better sound than that of a well-preserved L-5 signed by Lloyd Loar, I think most people will recognize that even if the archtop sound isn't their cuppa. Compared to that a Kingpin sounds a bit as if it's stuffed with who knows what...

The Godin 5th Avenue is an all-laminated guitar from the early-2K's, worth about $500-750 on the open market depending on condition...

The Gibson L-5 is a hand-carved/tuned century-old instrument, designed/signed by arguably the Stradivarius of fretted instruments and worth $150K+/- :

https://reverb.com/item/71172195-gib...ard-shell-case

The Godin is a great little guitar for the price, far superior in QC and playability to the postwar student archtops on which it is modeled - and I'd have it over the old Harmony Broadway on which I learned any day...

The Loar L-5 is a world-class instrument in every respect, which forever changed the status of the guitar in popular music - and for many players remains the criterion by which all other archtops are judged...

Big difference...

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

The Godin 5th Avenue is an all-laminated guitar from the early-2K's, worth about $500-750 on the open market depending on condition...

The Gibson L-5 is a hand-carved/tuned century-old instrument, designed/signed by arguably the Stradivarius of fretted instruments and worth $150K+/- :

https://reverb.com/item/71172195-gib...ard-shell-case

The Godin is a great little guitar for the price, far superior in QC and playability to the postwar student archtops on which it it modeled - and I'd have it over the old Harmony Broadway on which I learned any day...

The Loar L-5 is a world-class instrument in every respect, which forever changed the status of the guitar in popular music - and for many players remains the criterion by which all other archtops are judged...

Big difference...

Awww - Can't I have an L5 for $500 to $750?

My Godin is doing a wonderful job at gigs. I would like to try something carved though - just as a comparison.

[L50EF15]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Awww - Can't I have an L5 for $500 to $750?

My Godin is doing a wonderful job at gigs. I would like to try something carved though - just as a comparison.

Keep a look out for a Gibson L50. It’s a solid carved top and back, and while it was considered a student grade instrument when new, Frank Vignola calls it a poor man’s L5 for a reason:

https://youtu.be/TNODaar4Tls?si=MAmFlsuAjGpZ6j4r

I’ve had mine, a 1960, since 2001 and it’s still my favorite. It’s versatile and can handle any style. In fact, now is the time to grab one if you can because the prices are going up. I see them these days going for $2500 to $3000; mine (in Very Good + condition) was $1000 back in May of 2001 from the much missed Mandolin Brothers.

L50s are fairly plentiful as the model ran (in its definitive f-hole form) from about 1935 to 1970.