Gibson Archtops returning 2026?

[John A.]

The way my violinist friend put it is that guitarists are generally collectors. We all think we should have lots of nice guitars. So we think of it in those terms. Buying guitars is generally fun.

Whereas for a violinist buying an instrument is a major investment like buying a house. In general, you might have only one or two good ones. There’s a lot of stress and anxiety in making the purchase.

Some jazz guitarists are like that (Peter Bernstein) but I think most are not.

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Jazz guitarists tend also to play other genres that call for something other than an archtop with heavy gauge flatwound strings. A more apt comparison might be to violinists who play multiple styles and have different instruments (e.g., modern and period instruments, with and without pickups, etc.) and bows.

Of course many guitarists do have multiple essentially redundant electric guitars for no real practical reason. Collecting and/or just for the fun of it are certainly a big part of that.

But even for a part-timer like me, an archtop + something else electric + something acoustic is not entirely an indulgence. I can fairly honestly say I only have two more guitars than I need, which is downright ascetic if you ask me.

[jads57]

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to all here,and thanks for the conversations. The greatest part is we all get to do more than listen to music and play it.
So no matter what your preferences, we are all very fortunate indeed!

[SierraTango]

So the guy who paid $35k for the cello have $50 a night gig like the guy who just bought $35k Benedetto? Lol!

I don't even open my Benedetto's case for less than $100 LOL!

[pawlowski6132]

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to all here,and thanks for the conversations. The greatest part is we all get to do more than listen to music and play it.
So no matter what your preferences, we are all very fortunate indeed!

here here

[nyc chaz]

I don't even open my Benedetto's case for less than $100 LOL!

I know a guy who is a top touring pro for rock acts and a little while back he played a pizza parlor we frequented as kids for $65.This is not a restaurant but a hole in the wall mostly standup pizzeria.With the cost of living in NYC,there's no gig too small.

[Arnesto]

I generally agree with a lot of this, but as a Lincoln driver, I have to take exception with it being lumped in with Buick and Honda. Ford would have been a better fit there. I'd put Lincoln in the same category as Cadillac, I.e. elite brands of yesteryear.

where’s vw?

[Unclegrumpy]

I don't even open my Benedetto's case for less than $100 LOL!

Must make it hard to practice

[DawgBone]

I know a guy who is a top touring pro for rock acts and a little while back he played a pizza parlor we frequented as kids for $65.This is not a restaurant but a hole in the wall mostly standup pizzeria.With the cost of living in NYC,there's no gig too small.

That's unreal unless it was a 45 minute solo set. I'm not anywhere close to NYC and the only gig I take that is less than $125/man is a place 15 minutes away. 3 hour solo gigs in this area are basically 150-200 minimums.

[SierraTango]

Must make it hard to practice

I just open the case every couple of weeks and throw in a piece of meat lol

[Stringswinger]

The only gigs I still do pay me $100 per hour. Anything less than that and I will pass. I have played tons of fifty dollar gigs, most of them back in the 80's.

[Christian Miller]

Jazz guitarists tend also to play other genres that call for something other than an archtop with heavy gauge flatwound strings. A more apt comparison might be to violinists who play multiple styles and have different instruments (e.g., modern and period instruments, with and without pickups, etc.) and bows.

Of course many guitarists do have multiple essentially redundant electric guitars for no real practical reason. Collecting and/or just for the fun of it are certainly a big part of that.

But even for a part-timer like me, an archtop + something else electric + something acoustic is not entirely an indulgence. I can fairly honestly say I only have two more guitars than I need, which is downright ascetic if you ask me.

I think at a push I could do pretty much all of my gigs on 4 instruments.
- an acoustic jazz guitar (macaferri, probably)
- a tenor banjo
- an electric laminate jazz box
- an electric of some kind (probably tele or 335)

Honestly these days it’s rare I get a call for anything that isn’t a jazz gig of some kind. I wouldn’t mind it, but here we are.

But every so often you get a call for a nylon string or something. I do have more guitars than this mea culpa.

I think having one guitar is a real statement of purpose and identity. I respect it. I daresay even then most have an old strat or something stashed somewhere in case they need it.

We are collectors otw. The nature of electric guitar encourages it with all the pedals and so on.

That said I don't find myself feeling much of an impulse these days to buy more instruments. I tend to walk into guitar shops go 'meh' and walk out again. My relationship with it is different now. I have good equipment now, am generally happy with my live sound, and purchases like new guitars need to be justified with gigs where I would play them.

For example, I bought a banjo this year for gigs and it has already paid for itself several times over.

[2bornot2bop]

Look at you diehard’s, posting on Christmas!

[Christian Miller]

Someone this year asked me if I played ‘normal guitar, like on a tele’ and I was like YES SIGN ME UP… PLEASE


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[jads57]

I don't even open my Benedetto's case for less than $100 LOL!

Well I guess $100 in California is about equal to $50 in the Midwest.
But then again I only play a lower priced Benedetto Bambino,Lol!

[AllanAllen]

Well I guess $100 in California is about equal to $50 in the Midwest.
But then again I only play a lower priced Benedetto Bambino,Lol!

I was in California this summer. $100 is $100 now.

[Rickco]

That's unreal unless it was a 45 minute solo set. I'm not anywhere close to NYC and the only gig I take that is less than $125/man is a place 15 minutes away. 3 hour solo gigs in this area are basically 150-200 minimums.

I was having a chat with Andrew York and his wife shortly before one his performances, when I asked him about his practice routine he laughed and said he was taking coffee house gigs on the condition they didn't advertise or tell anyone who he was, it was often a break from practicing home alone, Les Paul did the same thing in his later years playing a bar in Jersey for fun and jamming with all comers. I was a part time "pro" but steadily kept busy for 50yrs, most of the guys I played with were full time pros/educators that mostly complained about the venue, management and pay and almost never played for fun. I played with George Van eps nephew for several years he told me George told him "whatever you do dont go into music" so he became a professor of mathmatics and happy part time bass player. Certain things pair nicely, money and music not so much...

[jads57]

I was in California this summer. $100 is $100 now.

Well maybe in terms of groceries? But certainly not in Housing or Insurance.

[Stringswinger]

Well maybe in terms of groceries? But certainly not in Housing or Insurance.

Not to mention taxes. 9 percent sales tax on top of 9 percent income tax on top of $1.50 per gallon gas tax on top of crazy high vehicle registration fees.

Then you have the crazy high cost of services. Auto repair shops here in San Francisco charge $200 per hour or more. Plumbers and electricians charge even more.

And don't get me started on the high cost of utilities.....

It costs some serious coin to live in the Goden State these days. Bring gold and lots of it if you want to live here.

[Mick-7]

Not to mention taxes. 9 percent sales tax on top of 9 percent income tax on top of $1.50 per gallon gas tax on top of crazy high vehicle registration fees.

Then you have the crazy high cost of services. Auto repair shops here in San Francisco charge $200 per hour or more. Plumbers and electricians charge even more.

And don't get me started on the high cost of utilities.....

It costs some serious coin to live in the Golden State these days. Bring gold and lots of it if you want to live here.

Some things never really change. Way back in 1937, Woody Guthrie wrote a song about it (Do Re Mi)

California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got that do re mi.

[SierraTango]

Not to mention taxes. 9 percent sales tax on top of 9 percent income tax on top of $1.50 per gallon gas tax on top of crazy high vehicle registration fees.

Then you have the crazy high cost of services. Auto repair shops here in San Francisco charge $200 per hour or more. Plumbers and electricians charge even more.

And don't get me started on the high cost of utilities.....

It costs some serious coin to live in the Goden State these days. Bring gold and lots of it if you want to live here.

Well stated SS. I'm a third generation native Californian, so I've seen many changes here in my 69 years. It astounds me to look at old family photos from the 1920's around Pasadena where I was born-my Grandfather and Great Uncles on horseback riding in the "Old West".

I've lived in other places however have always missed my home state and family so return was inevitable. I am fortunate enough to have made some financial moves in the past to keep me in California till I die. I discovered several years ago that if you look for some of the hidden gem areas that are bit under the radar your retirement funds go much farther. Were I live is ideal for me-I'm 2 1/2 hours from the coast, 3 hours to Dodger Stadium, about 4 from the Bay Area. The icing on the cake-fantastic local motorcycle roads. The not so good-jazz desert. They want both Country and Western here. However I've been able to overcome some of that and been gigging steady for 15 years around here. I love my home state.

I saw my Niece and her S.O. at Christmas. They are in their 30's and can't wait to get out of California. The only thing I could say to them-like Arnold-"You'll be Back"

[garybaldy]

I know a guy who is a top touring pro for rock acts and a little while back he played a pizza parlor we frequented as kids for $65.This is not a restaurant but a hole in the wall mostly standup pizzeria.With the cost of living in NYC,there's no gig too small.

Did he use a $300 guitar?

[PB+J]

I would buy a laminate 175 if it sounded good and wasn't outrageously priced. I'd buy an L7, maybe an L5 if it was really good. I would not buy a "relic" and don't care about nitro.

[Doctor Jeff]

Fair point Doc but back in the day would be the 1950’s not the 1980’s.
$175 in 1955 adjusted for inflation today is $2,150. So yes, they should be about @2k-2.5K. Manufacturing has increased productivity over this time so they should cost less to make but materials might have been cheaper so.. Let’s settle on $2.5K

Edit** I just read Stringswingers point about land costs, cnc etc.. Gibson mostly use their old press from the 50’s? To press their plates so no added cost there per se. CNC machine get spread across their entire range so hard to quantify what that adds but it does.
regarding land costs, if Gibson owned their factories, which they likely did, or should have (correct me if not), then that wouldn’t really matter.
It also depends on how much profit Gibson needed or wanted to make back then compared to today. Share holders, other costs etc..

In the end I could make a 175 for £1,000-£1,250. If I sold it for £3-3.5K ($4k US), then I make double my costs. Let’s say for arguments sake it costs Gibson $2k. If I had to take people off other models I made, like a 'Back To The Future $17,000 ES345, I wouldn't make the 175, there would be far much more profit in the ES345.
If I had to expand my workshop to make the 175, I'd hold off until I needed to expand to accommodate other models that need increased production, then I can fold it in with that.

That asks the question, should a 175 be $4K-5K? For me no but for some maybe. Limited run re-issues, A ‘Jim hall’ reissue. Little market attacks like that would probably be wiser. Then you can 3x your profit.

Back in the day for me not you, LOL…

[Doctor Jeff]

I don't think those list prices mean much. They certainly don't have much to do with the actual retail prices people pay.

I think that’s true. My memory is that 10+ years ago guitars were sold for at least 25% off MSRP. This was the case for a lot of non-essential products—woodworking equipment, sports equipment, etc.

Nowadays at least in my observation MSRP is sacrosanct. Unless there’s a special sale, the list price is the price, with a few exceptions of course—customer loyalty, etc.

[John A.]

I think at a push I could do pretty much all of my gigs on 4 instruments.
- an acoustic jazz guitar (macaferri, probably)
- a tenor banjo
- an electric laminate jazz box
- an electric of some kind (probably tele or 335)

For gigs and jam sessions (I’m about 50/50 jazz/blues these days), I could get away with just one electric. Semi-hollow is the most versatile, so call that a need.

An archtop is a strong preference for certain things, so call it half a need.

I almost never do acoustic gigs, but it’s good to have an acoustic guitar, and I do play mine a lot. I’d call it a need.

I never gig on bass, but I do use one frequently for home recording, so call that a need.

All else (I have two solid body electrics) is useful, but not truly needed. I do miss having a nylon string (mine was a victim of the 1-in-1-out policy), but I truly have no place to put more guitars.

Honestly these days it’s rare I get a call for anything that isn’t a jazz gig of some kind. I wouldn’t mind it, but here we are.

But every so often you get a call for a nylon string or something. I do have more guitars than this mea culpa.

Absolution granted. I’m a part-timer and am typically the leader on the gigs I do, so having something in case of a call is not really relevant, but for people who do have to respond to calls, it makes sense to have a different tools.

I think having one guitar is a real statement of purpose and identity. I respect it. I daresay even then most have an old strat or something stashed somewhere in case they need it.

Yup.

We are collectors otw. The nature of electric guitar encourages it with all the pedals and so on.

I think “collector” is a more a matter of mentality than number of possessions. I have a lot more shirts than I need, but I’m not a shirt collector. You can get a pretty nice shirt for not much money, so why not? Ditto for guitars (at least compared to other instruments), or overdrive pedals (I definitely have more of those then I need).

Collecting is different - it’s a psychological/emotional need for particular things and membership in a group of like-minded people.

That said I don't find myself feeling much of an impulse these days to buy more instruments. I tend to walk into guitar shops go 'meh' and walk out again. My relationship with it is different now. I have good equipment now, am generally happy with my live sound, and purchases like new guitars need to be justified with gigs where I would play them.

For example, I bought a banjo this year for gigs and it has already paid for itself several times over.

I’m in a similar place, except that my acquisitions don’t have to pay for themselves (I just have to use them). I actually don’t like having a lot of options, so for me there is such a thing as too many guitars. That and space constraints are good checks on whatever acquisition-for-acquisition’s-sake tendencies I have (wanna buy an overdrive pedal?).