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Groyniad:
Congrats on your new guitar!!! Please post some pictures if you can, I am sure she is a work of art...
Wyatt:
I have 2 Triggs guitars..A 16' inch with a Tom Holmes Humbucker build in (2000) and a 17" archtop (1999) with a floating Kent armstrong that looks just like yours, except it has "Cats Eye" sound holes. It has a three piece top and Frequensator type tailpiece
Both guitars are a rootbeer color...they play and sound wonderful..
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12-10-2010 11:02 PM
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It arrived safe and sound - I took it out on a gig on Friday night. It was amazing - handled feedback very well despite being very lively and having great sustain. I'll try to break it down in a later post - after I've had longer to get to know it. Acceptance period ends tomorrow - I'm in no doubt about keeping it.
Excellent pictures of the guitar itself can be found on Bill's website - here:
Classic Model Archtop | Comins Guitars
I'll take some more and include them in a review...
It's a beautiful sunburst with light coloured ('Macassar'?) ebony fret board, pickguard and wood binding throughout. Better made than I knew a guitar could be.
more soon
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Hi, you may have already purchased a guitar since you posted this Oct 2010. I bought an Andersen guitar on July 15, 2010. Ironically, that same day I had played a Comins. I tried one Comins at a place called Archtop.com (I live in Seattle, so I was able to try out several of their guitars) and I also played four used and one new Andersen at Steve's shop. The Comins was not as well taken care of as the used Andersen's, but it was the best choice at Archtop.com in my opinion. However, the Andersen's were a different story. I could have purchased anyone of them! They were all noticeably better than anyarchtops I had ever played.
Originally Posted by Groyniad
I think if you go with a Comins, Andersen or any other reputable builder you should be satisfied. The reality to me is that there is a certain point where these instruments may not get better but just different!(?). There was a $16,000 (twice the amount of money I had saved up) Benedetto at the place I played the used $5,500 Comins and the Comins was a better guitar in my opinion.
I personally think the year is worth the wait, but I did get lucky and buy used. Steve Andersen has three used guitars on his website as of the date of this post.
The following post is a review I did of my own Andersen:
Good Luck! I am not a wealthy man, and I saved up a good while to get this guitar, but my only regret is that I did not do this when I was younger!<g>.
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Sorry for the late post to your previous post. I see that you have already purchased a guitar (I wonder why it didn't show up when I was reading the thread). Anyway, congratulations on your new guitar and I hope you enjoy it for many years. Best regards, Butch Originally Posted by Groyniad
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Just as well you didn't go for a Manzer, 2 years wait to get on her waiting-list list, to then eventually get on her waiting list.............I don't have that many playing years left....!
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the sound is in the fingers!!!!
guitar...d'aquisto...
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Here's a pic of my Comins Classic. It is a total revelation - like Butch I only wish I'd got one sooner. I was lucky to pick this up second hand because it had all the specifications I needed.
A really great guitar is all about weight - not too heavy not too light. Too light and its zingy and sparkly and responsive acoustically but doesn't work amplified; too heavy and it may work amplified but it is dead (so even the amplified sound suffers.) My top priority is amplified tone - and I got the feeling the Andersens were a touch on the light side for my needs. The Comins is perfect. The neck in particular has more weight to it than we are now used to - but it is no base ball bat.
I also changed my solid state rig for a tube rig (Rivera Jazz Suprema) and that is also a revelation. All in all I'm in guitar heaven. By the way the Garrison Fewell videos in this thread are absolutely invaluable resources - they have turned me on to a whole new approach to the neck and to harmony (which I didn't think was possible after all these years).
thanks everyone - hope the picture comes out okay.
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+1 on Andersen guitars. Considering that some big name builders are charging $10,000 for a archtop, Steve's guitars start to seem pretty reasonable. I also live in Seattle and have played pretty much every custom builder there is. Andersens are def the cream of the crop IMO. By a large margin, workmanship, materials, playability, but MAINLY SOUND! Everyone of his guitars just has SOMETHING. Ive visited his shop, played all his models, and had him do a setup on my 40' Epi for me. Money WELL spent! He is the one setup I ever payed for where when I changed the strings a few times, it still played GREAT! The guy is seriously a genius.
One that isnt talked about enough is Trenier. I think if I was looking for a traditional D'Aquisto style guitar, he would be the obvious choice. Meticulous workmanship and very well rounded sound.
I am personally more of a vintage guy because of the mojo of some of those. And you dont have to worry about putting knicks in the top as much. But the Andersen stuff does still tempt me. If I ever came into some big money, I would def be giving him a call.
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Jim Triggs and Mark Campellone make great guitars at very competitive prices.
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I'll post a sound clip of my Jimmy Foster Basin Street tomorrow night. It may be interesting to some folks because of the unusual wood combination he uses on the smaller 15' archtops (Cedar/Mahogany). I'll record it without any eq or reverb.
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This seems as good a place as any to post a few pix of a lovely Andersen 17. Since the last post, a stickie has been posted somewhere around here that lists archtop builders - it's a long list and getting longer. And, since the last post, Steve has folded up his tent and retired. Tempus fugit. His instruments will carry on for many, many decades to come. This guitar has a 24 3/4" scale, 1 11/16" nut width, Engelmann spruce top, and is as good as it gets for modern acoustic archtop.
Last edited by Hammertone; 07-27-2025 at 02:59 PM.
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Is this yours Hammer NGD?
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Stunning example
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Not really a NGD. I have a deal with a friend - everytime he decides to sell it, I will buy it, then we'll undo the deal when he inevitably changes his mind. We amuse ourselves endlessly in this manner. Originally Posted by deacon Mark
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How does it sound compared to your Super 400c?
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Well, the Andersen is @25years old, 17", 3" rim, 24 3/4" scale, x-braced. My Super 400 will soon be 90 years old, 18", 3 3/8" rim, 25 1/2" scale, x-braced. Physically very different guitars, and predictably very different-sounding as well. Originally Posted by deacon Mark
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You did not answer my question which one sounds better period.
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Here's another lovely handbuilt acoustic archtop guitar - a Dana Bourgeois A-350 that belongs to a friend of mine. Dana built a few of these as well as the A-500 (same guitar with more inlays, IIRC). This one is from 2007, built with European spruce and maple. Like the Andersen, it's a lovely "modern-sounding" archtop, very light, very responsive, not suited for big band rhythm pounding, but great for everything else, IMO.
Last edited by Hammertone; 07-22-2025 at 04:39 AM.
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The '37 Super 400 sounds better. Originally Posted by deacon Mark
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I would LOVE to see a thread of all of your guitars Originally Posted by Hammertone
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Im also an admirer of Comins guitars and his playing, congratulations. 2 luthiers that werent mentioned but are building at the same level as all those mentioned here so far are Solomon and Lombardozzi. I recently acquired one of each, just as all those above stunning in every respect. Hammertone can confirm on the Solomon.
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