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You might be a vcandidate for the TI Plectrum strings too...in lighter gauges, the G, D and A string are flatwound, but bronze flatwound for a warmer tone.
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02-17-2012 11:33 AM
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I'll put them in the cue, thanks
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Does your L5 have a V-shaped neck? The LH700 does.
And considering the price difference, does your L5 sound like this? (some reverb has been added, but nothing else) Plectrum Guitar Rob MacKillop ~ guitars, lutes, ukuleles, banjos
If not, it doesn't sound like an L5...but I do think it sounds good for the price.
One more thing: I've never had a problem with Thomann or Loar, and have no business or friend contacts with either of them.
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Dear Rob, Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
Many thanks for your advice, and it has helped me decide, I somehow thought the "V" neck was not what I'm looking for, I'm 76 years now but at 18 Years my Musical Family gave me a 1927 Kalamazoo, which does have this "V" neck and I never could cope with its size and shape.
After many years of wishing, I have only just got my L5 3 months ago, which is without doubt the most comfortable neck I have ever had, the neck on my "Switchmaster" is similar but that's purely electric, the L5 will never be for sale from myself personally, but for traveling and other reasons I'm looking for a second guitar to practice with, as the L5 is so valuable.
I was hoping the LH-700 would suit my requirements, so I'm looking for either a 40's L12 or if possible something cheaper that has the same neck as the 40's L5's, as near as possible, I'm not expecting the sound to be as good from a reasonable priced guitar if it is then that would be a bonus.
I might take a look at the Eastman site
I visited your Website and enjoyed some of your video's you have a very nice restful style.
You should look for a wonderful film called Le Illusionist, I'm sure you will enjoy seeing cartoon images of your wonderful City.
Yes I'm a Jacques Tati Fan.
Best Regards
Tony,
Home
1964 Switchmaster, 1927 Kalamazoo Archtop, 1936 L4 (Roundhole) 1946 L5,
2007 Gitane Lulo Reinhardt.
I'm now looking for where I can find some talent.Last edited by Arny; 08-08-2012 at 12:03 PM.
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Tony, that film is much loved here, as is Jaques Tati!
Best wishes,
Rob
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Well, 1½ hours of work to set a new guitar up to your personal taste is not that bad as I see it. Setup preferencies vary a lot. I see no need for the shop to fit new strings when I almost certainly will replace them as the first when I recieve the guitar. Restringing to your personal liking and adjusting the truss rod to fit the new string tension is in my opinion a necessity with new instruments. Nuts should be cut properly - but they often are not, sometimes not even in custom made instruments (Chris = PTChristopher has written a lot about this). Originally Posted by Arny
Thomann is a very good web shop, and they have almost everything you'd ever need in one place. Their logistics are in check and they deliver fast and accurately. I can buy very little in the small town where I live, so I buy almost all my strings, picks, guitar electronics etc. from them. They have never let me down, and I have used their return policy one or two times - no problem with that either. But of course - like it has been said in a previous post - being an immensely huge web shop, they are box shifters, not luthiers. I have never bought at guitar from them, but I wouldn't say I'd never do it. I was tempted when they had an L5 WesMo at a good price a little over a year ago. If I should do it at some point, I'd certainly be prepared to do / have done some setup work (but then, I have done that to each and every of my guitars after I got them home, new and second hand, even those I custom ordered from luthiers).Last edited by oldane; 08-08-2012 at 12:50 PM.
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I never said they did not give a good service, in fact it is first class and obtaining an instrument at such a reasonable price allows one to take it to a Luthier of specialist shop and have the job completed. Originally Posted by oldane
But
I disagree with you regarding specialist Luthier's expensive or cheap, most will give you a great very playable instrument other wise you would walk out and not pay for something that was not up to the Standards or Specs that were agreed when deciding on what the instrument is to be.
And some cheap guitars can be very good, I have yet to find a badly set-up K.Yairi Alverez guitar. straight from the dealer. I have recommended many of these and none have required very little further work.
Most of the posts here will state that they purchased a guitar that was badly set-up whether Thomanns or another dealer, these posts clearly state that they took their guitar to either a Luthier or a Specialist and were then happy with the guitar after.
We must always remember that:
One mans meat is another mans poison.
Doc Watson to Freddie Green, they both preferred a very high action, and most players today would discover that Doc's or Freddie's instruments unplayable so would require a set-up.
By the way I'm not a Luthier or a very good player, I'm actually a record Producer/Engineer who specialized in working with Guitar PlayersLast edited by Arny; 08-08-2012 at 01:15 PM.
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Sweet guitar with great color. I have considered the the 700sb series after viewing the Paul Mehling video but,after seeing yours perhaps a 700 natural?
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Originally Posted by brad4d8
I'm a Loar fan, probably always will be. The LH-300 has a solid, hand-carved spruce top, w/maple back and sides, laminates of maple, that is. The 600s and 700s are now FAR better in terms of fit and finish, and they redesigned the bridge, so you can take the action down as low as you could possibly want it. The solid wood models, 600, 650, 700, have a definite L5-ish "reverb" to them, a natural and beautiful thing stemming from the design, the carved back and top, the high-quality wood, etc. I don't hear this in the Eastmans I have played, and I love Eastman guitars -- but the solid wood Loars have an almost magical tone. Well, like the old L5s.
I just got an LH-650, a blonde, and run through a Roland 40-watt cube, this thing sounds sooooo sweet I have hardly put it down since I got it. If you want a blonde Loar, get it if you can find it NOW, cuz they don't make 'em any longer.
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+1 on this. Last year Steve Zook had a blonde LH-600 that was just gorgeous. I was in touch with him about it and if I remember he was letting it go for $1100 with case, and I passed because at the time I was sure I wanted one with a pickup. I ended up with a pretty damn nice LH-550 in burst, but I now am kicking myself over the blonde. I think you can still find his Youtube videos of it. Originally Posted by Kojo27
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Originally Posted by Mike Anderson
+1 on this. Last year Steve Zook had a blonde LH-600 that was just gorgeous. I was in touch with him about it and if I remember he was letting it go for $1100 with case, and I passed because at the time I was sure I wanted one with a pickup. I ended up with a pretty damn nice LH-550 in burst, but I now am kicking myself over the blonde. I think you can still find his Youtube videos of it.
Yes! Saw the Zook video, and wow, what some maple flame -- wish I'd grabbed that one, too. Amazon quietly had 2 blonde 600s for sale during this period, kept them a loooong time, finally sold them. They had 2 blonde 650s at giveaway prices (got one for $1031, which was $100 off - they still have another as of this writing, for 1131.) Sweet! Action out of the box was 1.5 mm at 12th fret, not a buzz anywhere. Nice flame on back, too - no like Zook's, but nice. The 650s have a small "normal" neck - not the V-shaped chunk the 700s have. A little quieter, too, but amplified, wow...
Congrats on the 550! Those are becoming rare.
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I love my blonde lh-600...
G
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Geert, I remember finding your original thread on getting the Armstrong on your 600, and it was definitely the first option I was considering for my next purchase. I researched for something like a year before I finally pulled the trigger on the LH-550.
Kojo27, thanks for the positive thought about the 550. It really is nice, sounds wonderful (especially with a really heavy pick), great neck. Has the "Designed by Greg Rich" label inside:
That was a nice "Autumn Leaves"!
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Some "disillusioned" person is trying to sell a blonde 550 on eBay for $7,700 last time I checked - why? Because it has a serial # of 3! It's the third one ever made! Don't you want to pay nearly $8,000 for it? Originally Posted by Mike Anderson
Hey-ho.
Didn't know the 550s were made in Korea. The 550s came first, by themselves, you know. A year or two later the 600s and 700s appeared, China-made.
What kind of strings are you using on your 550? Just curious. (Thanks re Autumn Leaves : )
kj
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That price is delusional - mine was $800 including TKL hard case.
Thanks for the info on model releases, didn't know that. Mine is strung with D'Addario nickel mediums, .13 to .56. I really had no idea what I was doing with strings on this guitar, coming from a nylon fingerpicking background and trying to learn swing rhythm, but it turns out to have a really nice chop with a 5mm pick that just sounds right to me.
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I bought my self on line at Thomann's a the Loar LH700 VSB May last year. Due to price and finishing ,setting and playability, I am quit happy with it. it arrived in good condition and exept for the allready mentioned non sprayed spot underneath the neck I could not discover any flaws or any damage.
meanwhile a local luthier mounted a scratchplate,a Benedetto S6 floating pickup and Schatten thumbwheel volume-and tone controls hidden underneath the scratchplate and a Switch craft jackplug entrance at the tailpiece end.
i use the guitar for jazz in small groups and bigbands and it sounds great both for rhythm playing and soloing.
i changed the Chinese made strings for 012 D'Addario flatwounds.
I can tell you that I also own a suberb Gibson L5 WesMontgomery and an Aria Pro II Herb Ellis jazzer but at most of my gigs and even recordings the the Loar is with me !
mine came with the light and handy canvas gigback.came Maybe I was lucky but like to share this with you !Last edited by Albertinho; 04-13-2013 at 04:52 PM.
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I owned a Loar LH 650 but returned the guitar after a short time because of flaws in the finish, frets that overlapped the neck and a loose pickguard that took more than tightening the attachments to repair. I liked how the guitar sounded and played but the fit and finish was too far off to be acceptable. I think Loar almost makes a fine guitar but some quality control issues are the problem. I am currently working with Gibson to have a finish problem on an expensive guitar corrected, so this kind of thing can happen with any brand of instrument.
I would consider buying a Loar if I could inspect and play the instrument before purchase, an internet order is just too risky. By the way, I liked the modified gig bag/soft case/whatever, it offered great protection and was not an issue for me.
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So sorry to hear this Jazzpicker. The more stories like yours I hear, and there seem to be plenty, the more convinced I am that I was lucky to get a good player with really oustanding fit and finish. I guess things just went a bit in the tank when they moved from Korea to China. I gather you don't see "Designed by Greg Rich" labels any more.
On the downside, the previous owner of mine broke the nut at some point and - Jesus wept - glued it back in with Krazy Glue instead of spending a few bucks for an Allparts replacement. And the seller (a real bricks and mortar guitar store) failed to mention it in their eBay ad; maybe why I got such a nice price.
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I just played an Eastman ar905 and it was awesome compared to the other acoustic archtops at the store. But upon reflection it seems that Eastman acoustic archtops are a differentanimal compared to the others I played. Perhaps it's the voicing. The Eastman came a cross as being sonically like a sound hole acoustic while the others I played which included a Gibson l7c and another boutique guitar were voiced to have what might be considered a vintage tone. I had wanted the Eastman but it was so close sounding to my dreadnaught (ie the spectrum of sound is very brilliant as opposed to being mid ranged focused) that I'm now thinking a Loar may be more what I'm looking for as I want that more traditional archtop midrange sound. Originally Posted by Norman931
I wound up finding a great deal on a used Eastman acoustic non-cutaway archtop, and can't put it down; I'm even taking it to gigs without an amp. None needed! Now the bug has bit, and I want another Loar too (had to send one back due to warped neck).
Last edited by TheGrandWazoo; 10-10-2013 at 08:47 AM. Reason: G D autocorrect!
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You are correct: the Eastman is voiced "modern" to sound more balanced, more even, and have a "sweeter" tone. The Loar is modeled after an original Gibson L5, and like the older instruments you mentioned, it's built like those. This partially comes down to the parallel bracing—which gives it the aggressive bark, and partially to the massive neck—which gives it the volume. The Eastman is x-braced so doesn't have the same projection but has a more flattop quality. Originally Posted by TheGrandWazoo
If you want a 20's/30's-sounding acoustic jazz guitar, the Loar is the only game in town for around $1k.
@Jazzpicker: I know your post was from awhile ago. Loar's prices have shot up dramatically in the last year and i'm wondering if that is because they have tightened quality control, or because they have established themselves enough to stop the discounts. Either way i see much less complaining on forums about the Loar quality. I can only hope that means things have improved. There is nothing like it on the market!
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Making my living repairing guitars I have come across a few of these. Not very impressed. To me, they have "China" written all over them. Very hard to specify but the overall impression is very "plastic" if you know what I mean.
Don't get me wrong, they are quite playable and ok considering the price but nothing you wouldn't get with any other Chinese brand. Don't expect to get anything even close to a vintage Gibson they are trying to look like.
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I don't actually; though it seems like you are trying to make a sweeping statement about origin of manufacture. Concrete details would be great. My Eastmans and Yunzhis have China written inside of them. Originally Posted by TinaB
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Actually, Chinese archtops like Eastman and Yunzhi use more wood than the plastic used on their US counterparts. It appears that Loar is making some fine guitars as well. Overall, some very good archtops are coming out of China so I have no idea what you mean. Originally Posted by TinaB
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Just played two more Loars the other day, a 309 and a 350.
The 350 was terrible...high frets, buzzing, ugly wood, gaps in binding......the 309 was great but the P90 is pretty weak and muddy.
The Loar remains "try or order from someplace with a good return policy" for me.
as for Eastman, aside from one really lousy playing/sounding 371 I came across, the quality has been so good on the ones I've played that I'd consider a sight unseen order in a heartbeat.
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I think if I went with a Loar it'd be the 700 or nothing while with an eastman I'd easily settle for the 605. The less accoutrements the better. Still waiting to play a Loar though so we will see.
As as much as I'd like to buy a quality archtop from a US Luthier I can't spend that kind of money and finding an inexpensive Kay or the like on eBay is an even bigger shot in the dark than ordering a Loar site unseen it appears. To hunt continues...
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