Advice on archtop guitar

[82Benedetto]

Woops, you're right. I was thinking of the Cheaper ES models (though, still not that cheap.)

Anyway, would still like to hear a comparison of that 5 grand gibson to a solid body with the same setup.

[jackmac]

see that there is a hand crafted laminated top gretsch guitar at guitar guitar for £8000!!
Gretsch Eddie Cochrane Tribute Custom Shop Relic (GUITARGUITAR)

[wizard3739]

Actually, I have owned many archtops, a 1929 D' angelico, a 64 Gibson Johnny Smith, a 60's Gibson super 400, and a few others, vintage but not as well known. I have also played several Benedettos, and other high-end acoustic electric instruments. All were excellent instruments but, IMHO, none of them compare with my Sadowsky "Jim Hall" model for tone , quality of sound for jazz and practical gig value. I have no feedback problems and the Sadowsky seems to "stay in tune" much better than any other guitar I have ever owned. I also have a Frankenstein version of a Telecaster with with a "Joe Barden humbucker" in the neck pickup that I use as a backup guitar and it sounds a lot like an Ed Bickert Tele clone. It also has no feedback problems and has a very "easy to play" neck (important to an old coot with arthritis).

best wishes,
wiz

[Meggy]

Originally Posted by Bill C

Just to clarify, as far as I know the guitars I'm referring to were all nitro finished.

My Ibanez is cellulose finished! But I still maintain it sounds clearly different to my solidbodies, with more of that jazzy acoustic quality in the amplified tone. 82Benedetto is going to want me to prove this by making recordings I imagine - I'm not going to go to this trouble, so he'll have to forgive me for that! Having said that, you can hear Joe Pass himself playing my guitar here:YouTube - Joe Pass guitar solo . This to my mind is a good example of a laminated archtop sound, surely not the same as a solidbody?

Non of this, by the way, is intended to denegrate the wonderful thing that is a nice handmade,carved-top jazz guitar! I'd love to own one myself one day.

[coolvinny]

Originally Posted by 82Benedetto

I know this offends some people here, but I don't see any use for getting a hollow body unless it's completely carved and fully acoustic (ie, no pickups drilled through that gorgeous top.) If you're going to kill the acoustic tone like that, you might as well get a solid body.

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, so no offense taken, but in my experience a carved top hollow-body with a built-in pick-up can still sound great acoustically. There is an undeniable loss of acoustic volume with a built-in pup, but not necessarily any change in the character or quality of the sound - if the guitar is built right.

I have all three: a carved pure acoustic archtop, a solid-body voiced for jazz, and a carved arch-top with a built-in pup...and 75% of the time I play the archtop with the built-in pup (and I play it acoustically, i.e. unplugged). If I'm playing with other instrumentalists, then I need to plug it in...but that would probably be the case with an archtop with a floating pup too.

[Doctor Jeff]

Originally Posted by jackmac

see that there is a hand crafted laminated top gretsch guitar at guitar guitar for £8000!!
Gretsch Eddie Cochrane Tribute Custom Shop Relic (GUITARGUITAR)

That price seems outrageous. Unless I'm mistaken, it's the same guitar listed here for a local craigslist sale?

NEW"GRETSCH Eddie Cochran Guitar TRADE?

Nice guitar, but not worth 9000 pounds!

[Geoffers]

Originally Posted by Reg

The only advice I can give is usually your first arch top is not the one you end up playing, and if your like most, it takes a while to get your technique together. Depending on how much you played your acoustic, was it a flat top etc... I agree with the posts above don't spend to much and like derek said play a lot of instruments, don't look for momentary gratification, jazz takes time... good luck Reg

Thanks Reg and everyone else who took time to advise me some months back.
I did a lot of hard thinking, especially in light of all your comments, and came to the conclusion that laying out £2,000+ on my first archtop might not be the best way to go. Another factor is the one of perception: if people see me sit down at one of the guitar clubs I attend to play a bit of jazz I've just learnt and they see a name like d'Angelico, Guild, Gibson, etc., the first impression is, "Wow. Must be some guitarist." - I'm not. I'm new to jazz.

So, having re-adjusted my budget, I finally purchased an Ibanez Pat Metheny PM35 last Saturday. What can I say? - I love it! Just the tone I was after, comfortable to play, nice to look at, not too expensive as a first jazzer ..... I could go on.

Only problem now is remembering all those modes in 5 different positions and applying them intuitively over whatever the tune may be. That's going to take time and patience.

[kamlapati]

Congrats on the new axe. Betcha you'll be back for a carved top acoustic one day!