Sigma Guitars - Cheap Archtop

[Jx30510]

Excellent review ! Thanks very much for your insights

[Jx30510]

Just another question
Do you have an idea of the weight ?

[shpalman]

Just another question
Do you have an idea of the weight ?

About 2.4 kg.

[Mick-7]

So if anyone knows of nickel-free jazz strings which aren't flat-wound and work with magnetic pickups? (It seems like the highest gauge of round-wound stainless strings tends to be 11, with plain g. I have those on the Gretsch.)

You could try these: Ernie Ball Cobalt Not Even Slinky Electric Guitar Strings

[garybaldy]

That might be my fault.

Actually probably not because I ordered my SATA 200 E from them at the beginning of October, shipped to Italy, and there's anyway one in stock right now. The import tax was about €30.

It's a 16-inch body by the way.

Whilst scrolling through this thread and seeing the top of the photo, for a split second I thought it was the guitar's bracing!

[Jx30510]

Thanks shpalman! That's pretty light, which is good sign.

[Mick-7]

You could try these: Ernie Ball Cobalt Not Even Slinky Electric Guitar Strings

Replying to my own post....

These aren't nickel free but sounded interesting (they're non-bronze acoustic strings) so I just ordered a set:
Martin Retro Monel Acoustic Guitar Strings | zZounds

if anyone knows of nickel-free jazz strings which aren't flat-wound and work with magnetic pickups? (It seems like the highest gauge of round-wound stainless strings tends to be 11, with plain g. I have those on the Gretsch.)

Also, have you tried nickel strings that are coated? (with a polymer or whatever) There are few companies that make those.

[shpalman]

Yes I'd have been interested in monel strings for the authenticity - I know Jonathan Stout uses them - except they seem to contain even more nickel. I haven't tried coated strings, I wonder how long the coating actually stays on for. I notice heavy gauges are available but they tend to have plain g strings but I also read somewhere that guitarists back in the day were using banjo strings to get themselves plain g strings.

At some point soon I'll get myself a tenor banjo though, and learn to play it in CGDA. It feels like it's what the songs need.

[Christian Miller]

Yes I'd have been interested in monel strings for the authenticity - I know Jonathan Stout uses them - except they seem to contain even more nickel. I haven't tried coated strings, I wonder how long the coating actually stays on for. I notice heavy gauges are available but they tend to have plain g strings but I also read somewhere that guitarists back in the day were using banjo strings to get themselves plain g strings.

At some point soon I'll get myself a tenor banjo though, and learn to play it in CGDA. It feels like it's what the songs need.

It’s not too bad, but then I feel the basic expectations of banjo performance in jazz are quite basic provided you have a good sense of time. Of course there are virtuosi, and you can get into it as much as you like, but you can play the gig.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[garybaldy]

Yes I'd have been interested in monel strings for the authenticity - I know Jonathan Stout uses them - except they seem to contain even more nickel. I haven't tried coated strings, I wonder how long the coating actually stays on for. I notice heavy gauges are available but they tend to have plain g strings but I also read somewhere that guitarists back in the day were using banjo strings to get themselves plain g strings.

At some point soon I'll get myself a tenor banjo though, and learn to play it in CGDA. It feels like it's what the songs need.

In a recent post on a Facebook thread JS says he uses Martin SP 80/20 12s with thicker 1st and 2nd even though Monels are more authentic.

[Jx30510]

Hi Shpalman ! If I may ask, how are you bonding with your Sigma after a few weeks? Has the guitar loosened a bit, or "opened"? It is a solid top, so if it's like an acoustic flat top, the sound should change overtime ?
The 400 version, fully acoustic, and P90 are in stock.. still on the fence.
Bit strange there's nothing about these anywhere.

[shpalman]

Hi Shpalman ! If I may ask, how are you bonding with your Sigma after a few weeks? Has the guitar loosened a bit, or "opened"? It's a solid top, so if it's liké acoustic flat tops, the sound changes a overtime ?
The 400, full acoustic and P90i are in stock, and still on the fence.
Bit strange there's nothing about these anywhere.

Hello, yes I do feel like it has "opened up" a bit, and I know that spruce-top classical guitars need that. But it might just be a feeling. Its acoustic performance just isn't like that of a flat top, and I don't know if the full-acoustic 400 would be better for that (would the top without the pickup be thinner?). I'm using a microphone but even then I struggle to be anything other than just barely audible when everyone is playing (which is authentic I suppose).

But for the versatility I think I'm glad I got the E version. For playing on the sofa at home, it's probably better that it's not massively powerful.

I have the feeling that they're only selling a few of these. The online retailers maybe have one of each in stock, and then after a few days one of them might go out of stock, and then come back in stock a week or two later.

Also, I just bought a tenor banjo.

[Jx30510]

Ok, thanks! Yeah, I 'm still not sure about the non P90 version.
Honestly I don't think the guys carving the tops of these guitars go over the carve-tap-carve-tap process like masterbuilders?
Who knows...
But all in all I think getting one with a P90 widely opens up the versatility of its usefulness.
And hard to know if the non pickup version sounds that much better acousticaly, but l kind of doubt it

[Little Jay]

Curious about their ES-125 knock off… on paper the specs are even better and more luxurious than the real thing…..




Sigma guitars is doing a good job I think. I own a Sigma J45 copy (the JM-SG45) and I am very impressed by the quality of that guitar, both in built and sound. Reviews online are generally very good, some prefer it over the Gibson original (I doubt I would though).

The only drawback of Sigma guitars - at least to me - is the width of their necks in general and especially at the topnut: 45mm. That’s quite big for me, I much prefer the standard 42mm. With my JM-SG45 it helped a lot to round off or roll the fretboard edges, that gave the neck a much more comfortable feel, and I can get along with it now. Also made me realise micarta is pretty identical to real wood and can be worked the same way ;-)

[shpalman]

Seems like there are some The Loar guitars (600, 700, 309) back in stock at thomann.

[shpalman]

Meanwhile, I put Ernie Ball Stainless Steel Power Slinky 11-48 strings on the Sigma. It's much better. I really didn't enjoy the flatwounds, this feels a lot more alive. There's a subjective feeling of more acoustic volume too. Still not enough to compete acoustically with the rest of the band, though, unlike the banjo. Similar to the Giulietta Vox Giulietta , but less boxy.

The intonation on the plain G isn't great, of course, because the bridge is compensated for a wound G, but I can deal with that.

[Jx30510]

Wonder how the Sigma compares to the Loar LH700..

[shpalman]

Wonder how the Sigma compares to the Loar LH700..

The right Sigma to compare to the LH700 would be the SATA-400; this one with the pickup is more like the LH309. But the Loar is cheaper than even the laminate-back-and-sides ATA-100E.

I didn't consider the SATA-400E to be worth it over the SATA-200E, it just looked like cosmetic differences. Of course I want to know what the differences between the Loar LH600 and LH700 are, but I doubt there's anyone who's tried both the Sigma and both Loars from the revived production.

[shpalman]

(but from gear4music the Sigma came with a nice hard "Guardian" case and even the lowest one in the range comes with a gigbag; the Loars on thomann don't seem to come with either.)