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  #1  
Old 10-03-2011, 09:05 AM
chinmusic chinmusic is offline
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Default Anyone Using An Archtop For Something Other Than Jazz?

Just curious to see if anyone is utilizing an acoustic archtop in a genre other than traditional jazz. If so, what genre, why the preference for an archtop, etc.?

Input is greatly appreciated.
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  #2  
Old 10-03-2011, 09:11 AM
alembic1989 alembic1989 is offline
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Hi,
I have used an archtop for many years to play my Indian music with. I started with a Framus, which I used for my first 2 albums...but now use a one off custom one with sympathetic strings.
I have many flattops too but prefer the more strident qualities of the trebles, on archtops.
My guitar can be see in action HERE
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Old 10-03-2011, 09:32 AM
Rip Chord Rip Chord is offline
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Not me, but David Rawlings, for acoustic folk, old time country, bluegrass.

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Old 10-03-2011, 09:37 AM
jpbat jpbat is offline
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I am the very recent owner of an Eastman archtop, and my music could hardly
qualified as jazz (although swingy).
I don't need lots of harmonics nor lot of sustain.
After trying Macaferri's, then resonators, I wanted to try the archtop tone on my music. I'm beginning the journey.
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Old 10-03-2011, 10:00 AM
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Bruce Sexauer Bruce Sexauer is offline
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Michael Scheffler does.

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Old 10-03-2011, 10:08 AM
Bingoccc Bingoccc is offline
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Sometimes Josh does..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrv8C...layer_embedded It's a Gretsch.

Last edited by Bingoccc; 10-03-2011 at 11:25 AM.
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Old 10-03-2011, 11:07 AM
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devellis devellis is offline
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I'll occasionally fingerpick some blues on my Godin 5th Avenue. It has a raw kind of tone that works well for that stuff, especially when I want to play outside on the deck with my dog as the audience. Did that just yesterday.
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Old 10-03-2011, 11:45 AM
Howard Emerson Howard Emerson is offline
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I use my 1927 Gibson TGL-5 primarily for bottleneck:

http://howardemerson.com/music/tale-to-tell/15.mp3

It's a very unique instrument in that it was built as a tenor, but re-necked as a 6 string at the factory in 1933, so it has lighter bracing than an original 6 string would have required.

Pictured on the cover of my site here: http://howardemerson.com/ or you can watch a video of it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Gho...eature=related

Fast forward to the 3:40 mark to see and hear The Piping Plover Waltz.

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Old 10-03-2011, 11:50 AM
ewalling ewalling is offline
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I'm using my Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin CWII primarily to learn a few rockabilly/travis picking tunes. Right now I have Pat Kirtley's "Pickin' Like Chet" DVD, and I'm gradually getting to grips with his version of Chet's version of Mystery Train. I'm decked out with a Fred Kelly thumbpick and three Propik fingerpicks for this one!
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Old 10-03-2011, 11:52 AM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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For a while I was playing rockabilly and Tex-Mex music on a handbuilt acoustic archtop, but then I traded the guitar to Roy McAlister in exchange for the acoustic baritone guitar he built for me.

It's pretty interesting how different the response is on a high quality archtop compared to a high quality flattop. I had to learn how to phrase things differently when I was using it; it's very direct. Different breed of cat from a flattop, that's for sure.


whm
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Old 10-03-2011, 12:00 PM
T. Sphere T. Sphere is offline
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It's nice that this thread has come up, as it's a question I'm kind of asking myself right now. After years of playing electric bass and guitar, I switched acoustic six years ago. I play a Gibson super jumbo for strumming, a Collings OM for fingerpicking, and recently acquired an Eastman acoustic archtop just to explore it and see what I might be able to do with it.

After a 13-year hiatus of playing with others I've just begun working with a singer. We're working on songs -- jazz ballads, some bossa numbers, a couple of rock songs, etc. -- and I'm wondering if/how the archtop will fit it.

So thank for the links to recordings/performances in this thread. It's nice to hear what others are doing with an acoustic archtop outside of a swing/jazz band context.
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Old 10-03-2011, 12:07 PM
T. Sphere T. Sphere is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post
It's pretty interesting how different the response is on a high quality archtop compared to a high quality flattop. I had to learn how to phrase things differently when I was using it; it's very direct. Different breed of cat from a flattop, that's for sure.
whm
This is exactly what I'm finding.

It's also interesting how some songs will take on a different character when played on one or the other of the two.
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Old 10-03-2011, 12:17 PM
dirkronk dirkronk is offline
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My first guitar was an archtop...acoustic only, no pickups. I only got it because two other friends had gotten guitars, both archtops and both purchased from the Sears catalog. I was young and stupid enough to think that this was the kind of guitar I was supposed to get (hey...what did I know?). This was 1965, maybe early 1966, and I was 15. Me, I shopped the actual music stores, found my git used for twenty-five bucks...learned on it, but all the music I played on it was rock or pop or folk, even some sad attempts at classical, but not a single note of blues or jazz.

I do recall being less than thrilled with the sound of the archtop when I realized that I actually wanted something with more depth, projection, etc. Serious GAS then ensued. I eventually got a classical Hofner...then a Yamaha FG-180...then a no-name (but probably Harmony) 12-string...then a 5-string banjo.

My advice: stay away from those archtops. They'll make you confused and dissatisfied and acquisitive and poor.


Dirk
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Old 10-03-2011, 12:29 PM
ac319 ac319 is offline
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I have an archtop and it sounds great for blues and folk, rock. Old 1960 Harmony Monterey. No one in my house knows any jazz. My boyfriend started playing the finish off of it with his enthusiastic strumming. I am a lot more gentle with it . It is the house favorite.
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Old 10-03-2011, 12:37 PM
Bingoccc Bingoccc is offline
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My first real guitar guitar was a hand-me-down Kalamazoo archtop from the late 30's. You needed a pair of visegrips to form a barre chord on it. I didn't like the sound. I kept it almost 40 years but it became a ghost I had to exercise to move on. My wife let a junk dealer take it for basically nothing. I have to say I still miss it sometimes.
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