spruce-topped thin line hollow body

**Jim Soloway** · 12-06-2012, 01:17 AM

We've made several but their not particularly affordable-ish, they're not production guitars and we're not accepting orders right now. But other than that, I suppose these would qualify.

**Jabberwocky** · 12-06-2012, 05:51 AM

Originally Posted by rpguitar

About that H575, which took the guy a year to procure from Heritage as a custom order, did you see this:

"Unfortunately, there's a radio station transmitter next to our house that kills my amplifier, so I can't get the H575 to perform to its full potential. As a result, the guitar has had little use and is in like new condition."

Really!!?

Selling his H575 is the least of his problems. If it kills his amp, it will probably kill him in time too. Maybe he enjoys having multi-headed children...or sprouting extra arms and legs.

Do radio station transmitters do that to you? Or is that a myth too?

**kamlapati** · 12-06-2012, 12:55 PM

Eastman Jazz 16. Hard to find, but I got lucky on one here on the forum.

**2bornot2bop** · 12-06-2012, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by kamlapati

Eastman Jazz 16. Hard to find, but I got lucky on one here on the forum.

killer buy it was too!

**mr. beaumont** · 12-06-2012, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Jabberwocky

Selling his H575 is the least of his problems. If it kills his amp, it will probably kill him in time too. Maybe he enjoys having multi-headed children...or sprouting extra arms and legs.

Do radio station transmitters do that to you? Or is that a myth too?

Yeah, that was a little weird, wasn't it? Sometimes the excuses people feel the need to put when they sell stuff...I like the craigslist admissions:

"This is an amazing guitar, probably the best ever made. But I need to sell it because I recently charged new DJ equipment to my mom's VISA."

**kamlapati** · 12-06-2012, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop

killer buy it was too!

Absolutely, unbelievable, killer, steal. Good guitar too.

**feet** · 12-06-2012, 11:24 PM

oh boy. lets see if i can cover it all-

heritage: admired from afar for years. years! but what's available used is kinda generic for me and i'd be compelled to go custom. but as you saw, the prices and wait times are crazy, and there's no guarantee i'll like the end result. and it'll be my fault, making it that much more insulting. but i had sent out some speculatory emails in the past and... lets just say that my tastes and budget don't line up. and they attract alien signals, apparently.

hofner: there's been a few hofners that have gotten away from me, including, as hammertone suggests, a thin president that i was outsniped for on ebay. i think the old commitees(?) with the birdseye backs and pearloid are some of the prettiest things ever, but a huge risk these days, if you could even find one. hofners kind make me want to settle for whats out there because its a good deal on an amazing guitar and not because its what i want, exactly. i'm trying to avoid that. but its difficult. i still perv on them a lot, here and on ebay, and sigh longingly.

soloway: i remember i asked once about spruce tops and received a gentle, paternal rebuke on the matter, but your stance has softened since. i'm glad, though its a non-issue now. but i looked long and hard at that black one you had in the emporium a few months back. long and hard is an accurate description about my feelings toward it, but again, it would have been me conforming to what's available and not the other way around.

prs: they have a weird, douchey stigma because of how they are generally used to me. i find them beautiful in an unremarkable way, the way you'd be fine if your parents bought a camry, but you wouldn't seek one out for yourself. kinda like the electric version of a taylor. never wrong, never out of place, but never really doing it for me.

that aside, i spend a magical evening with a spruce hollow body model into a dr z of some kind at a guitar center once. i couldn't tell which was the one i was in love with, but when the guy started vacuuming the room i was in, i realized the store had closed 20 mins ago. they both were gone the next time i came back in.

collings: i was violently thrown from the soco bandwagon when i saw the prices. then the eastside bandwagon ran me over before i could recover. the sad part is that a soco would be perfect, but spec'ed out the way i would, it would be north of $6k. they would make a hollow spruce version with a giant head, right? or would it have to be a 2 pup eastside?

77: i'll look into this further, but i get the feeling i'd be better served by finding some mij epiphone instead. who knows? i'll poke around.

eastman: never seriously looked because i've never gotten a strong "i want that" vibe from anything i've seen so far. and i saw a pisano in person the other day and i somehow wasn't impressed. the fact that the owner had left it in standing water and the side rims were warped that the binding fell off notwithstanding (air conditioner mishap, its sitting at my tech's), it didn't look like an expensive, high quality guitar.

thanks for all the help, guys. this is fun and informative.

**Hammertone** · 12-07-2012, 04:03 AM

Originally Posted by feet

oh boy. ...
hofner[/U][/B]: there's been a few hofners that have gotten away from me, including, as hammertone suggests, a thin president that i was outsniped for on ebay. i think the old commitees(?) with the birdseye backs and pearloid are some of the prettiest things ever, but a huge risk these days, if you could even find one. hofners kind make me want to settle for whats out there because its a good deal on an amazing guitar and not because its what i want, exactly. i'm trying to avoid that. but its difficult. i still perv on them a lot, here and on ebay, and sigh longingly.
....

Oh, these. Yeah, they are cool.

If you like the idea of the old Committee, but prefer a modern guitar, you could always find one of these - it has a smaller body, carved spruce top, Committee-style birds-eye back and rims, perloid binding and Committee headstock. There's one for sale in the Gear For Sale area of this very forum. :^)

**2bornot2bop** · 12-07-2012, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by feet

heritage: admired from afar for years. years! but what's available used is kinda generic for me and i'd be compelled to go custom. but as you saw, the prices and wait times are crazy, and there's no guarantee i'll like the end result.

Yep, those prices on those H's are really crazy.

Listen, there are as many or more individuals receiving their orders at 4-5 months as those waiting a year. It's an archtop...what's your rush.

Originally Posted by feet

eastman: never seriously looked because i've never gotten a strong "i want that" vibe from anything i've seen so far. and i saw a pisano in person the other day and i somehow wasn't impressed. the fact that the owner had left it in standing water and the side rims were warped that the binding fell off notwithstanding (air conditioner mishap, its sitting at my tech's), it didn't look like an expensive, high quality guitar.

So your standard of judging an archtop is to look at a used one from a distance, and determine whether it passes a standing water test? Got it! Why not sample an undamaged one before passing judgement.

No offense, but that is one of the "really craziest" things I've seen written on this or any forum.

**goshawk** · 12-07-2012, 01:23 PM

In addition to the El Rey, Eastman also makes the T14X series. The only one they have on their website right now is the T146, which has a 16 inch lower bout, carved spruce top and is 1-3/4" deep. If you hunt around, in the past they also made the T145, which has a 15" lower bout.

**Jim Soloway** · 12-07-2012, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by feet

soloway: i remember i asked once about spruce tops and received a gentle, paternal rebuke on the matter, but your stance has softened since. i'm glad, though its a non-issue now. but i looked long and hard at that black one you had in the emporium a few months back. long and hard is an accurate description about my feelings toward it, but again, it would have been me conforming to what's available and not the other way around.

It's always about context. Here's one that we're working on now.

**Bluedawg** · 12-07-2012, 01:47 PM

Originally Posted by Soco

I tried one as well, it is incredible, expensive but you get what you pay for.
I just got an eastside(I have a soco deluxe too).
Matt Artinger is making some nice spruce-topped thinlines as well.

I could go for a Collings flattop ... I think you get what you pay for there

and I own a Collings CL Deluxe solid body .... great guitar, but I'm still a little iffy on getting what I paid for ... at least they are less than or equal to the price of a Gibson R9

I loved the Collings archtops I've played .... but it's difficult for me to jump on one when they make new Gibson archtops look affordable (at least when it comes to the Gibson street prices) .... and I think Gibson is still doing a fine job with their archtops

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 12-07-2012, 02:00 PM

Late to the party here, but could you explain why your gassing for a spruce top in particular? Some of these are laminated -- does it really make a difference then?

**Jabberwocky** · 12-07-2012, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by Bluedawg

...
I loved the Collings archtops I've played .... but it's difficult for me to jump on one when they make new Gibson archtops look affordable (at least when it comes to the Gibson street prices) .... and I think Gibson is still doing a fine job with their archtops

Ain't that the truth. I love Collings guitars but their prices are out of this world.

Collings guitars sound urbane. I would like them to lack some manners sometimes. It reminds me of a properly brought up child trying to talk tough with the hell and leather crowd. Close but the edge is missing.

Love the Collings Ivoroid knobs though.