Acoustic Archtop video/sound clips

**Greentone** · 07-28-2014, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by GoergeBenson

Hmmm, after Mr B's posting I'm not sure what counts as acoustic anymore, in regards to the thread.

That Godin has been recorded acoustically but it is not an acoustic guitar.

I thought we we're recording acoustic guitars?

That's a good point, GB, but remember that Joe Pass recorded (inadvertently) his vols. 1 and 4 of Virtuoso with his ES-175 acoustically. (The engineer screwed up the direct track of the electric version of the 175, so all they had at Pablo was the second, mic'd acoustic track. That's the version that we all know and love.) After all these years, folks still scratch their heads and wonder, "what the heck kind of guitar was Pass playing on Virtuoso "1?

I have recorded an ES 125T, believe it or not, acoustically, with interesting results. Sort of the reverse of Keith Richards recording an acoustic guitar into an overdriven cassette deck for the lead guitar track on Street Fightin Man. That's a Gibson J50.

**bananafist** · 07-28-2014, 02:32 PM

Have to say, purely personally, although I like the sound of the Monteleone Woody Mann played, the best sounding to my ear is still the Parker Frank Vignola played.

Of such things are dreams made.

**Greentone** · 07-28-2014, 02:32 PM

Hey, Marty Grosz reminds me of the entertaining style of one of my mentors: Ronnie Holloman, lounge singer/guitarist from Daytona, Florida back in the 60s and 70s. I have described elsewhere in this forum how he used to play that old swing (Bing?) style of guitar on his Grimshaw acoustic and/or his 1938 non-cutaway Gibson L-5 (given to him by an admiring fan). I never played the Grimshaw, but I sure admired its pulsing tone in Ronnie's hands. I did play the L-5, though. It was extraordinary. Like Grosz's guitar, it was a real boomer. Though a 17" Gibson, I would rate it louder and more projecting--with very strong bass (unusual for an archtop)--than any Super 400 or other 18" archtop I have played. Moreover, I am pretty sure it was actually louder than all of the Epiphones I have played--and they were serious projection machines. Every now and then an L-5 comes along that is just the perfect rhythm machine. I guess that's why D'Angelico, Stromberg, and Epiphone all aimed at it when they designed their guitars.

destinytot · 07-30-2014, 08:22 AM

I use Marty Grosz tuning. I'm only scratching the surface, but I'm working on joining the dots. BTW, love this thread.

**Klatu** · 07-30-2014, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by destinytot

I use Marty Grosz tuning. I'm only scratching the surface, but I'm working on joining the dots. BTW, love this thread.

Who is that playing guitar and singing? He's got a great voice for such material.

**Greentone** · 07-30-2014, 02:16 PM

Gosh, this takes me back. 20+ years ago, I used to do society gigs with an upright bassist. At one place, the home of a university president, we would settle down for a set of acoustic songs, every week. I'd play acoustic archtop. The university president had come up years before playing guitar in a big band. He was a good singer. Anyway, during this part of the evening the president would sing old songs like "Talk of the Town," "Jada," "Moonglow," etc., and we would accompany him. Folks ate it up with a fork and spoon. The thing I enjoyed most was the opportunity to show folks the old, acoustic archtop style of playing in a role that was supportive of a singer.

The singer, who is in his nineties, at this point, is still going strong. I had lunch with him the other day. He was the original owner of my ES-175 actually. I am the second owner. Side note: right after the war, this fellow used to go every night to see and listen to Django in Paris. Django was his inspiration in playing guitar. I guess, then, I can consider myself Django's musical bastard grandson, through my mentor/bandmate.

destinytot · 07-30-2014, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by Klatu

Who is that playing guitar and singing? He's got a great voice for such material.

It is I - and you're very kind to say so!

**Klatu** · 07-30-2014, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by destinytot

It is I - and you're very kind to say so!

You got it. By the way, I checked out your website, and it's quite weird in a good way.

destinytot · 07-30-2014, 02:41 PM

I guess, then, I can consider myself Django's musical bastard grandson, through my mentor/bandmate.

**Klatu** · 09-26-2014, 08:58 AM

Here's a Trenier motif guitar for your listening pleasure.

**Klatu** · 09-26-2014, 09:05 AM

Here's a Tom Bills guitar. I think this would have had a monster tone if had been recorded better. I really like the leaf inlays on this one.

**riovine** · 09-26-2014, 11:33 PM

Here's a few of me & my Campellone, guitar was less than a year old in the vids,
it's just gotten better sounding & warmer as the years have passed.

**campusfive** · 09-30-2014, 02:27 AM

Hey guys, I just recorded a video-blog/lesson about Allan Reuss-style chord melody solos, and I figured it might be a good fit for the thread:

Just playing my same old 2004 Eastman 805, with some a Blue Chip TD40 pick and some Martin SP 80/20 13's, with the high E bumped up to a 14. Just had it set up my buddy Dave Rutchinsky at Westwood Music, and it's amazing how perfectly it plays from stem to stern. (The set up was so inspiring, it's part of why I recorded this lesson!)

**monk** · 09-30-2014, 10:57 AM

Good job, Jonathan!

I love the sound of your Eastman.

**Klatu** · 10-09-2014, 09:13 AM

Jonathan,

Thanks for posting the video. You're a monster player with terrific tone. In my world, your video and others on Youtube would confirm that Eastman archtops are on par with those coming out of most high end guitar factories. However, I'm afraid that in the real world, they will never reach the levels of prestige as their more costly counterparts due in large part to their affordable prices and place of manufacture. It seems to me that there is still a strong prejudice that higher cost equals higher quality that will be very difficult to overcome.

Last year I visited Jay Wolfe's shop in order to test drive an Eastman 810CE that he had in stock. Since I'd dealt with his on several occasions to buy Heritage guitars, I trusted his instincts on guitar setups and quality control. That said, I was able to play the Eastman side by side with some of his finer Heritage guitars, an old 1960s Epiphone Howard Roberts, and even an old non-cut D'Angelico, and the Eastman sounded every bit as good as any of them.

**campusfive** · 10-09-2014, 10:45 AM

Thanks, K.

But you know, I also feel like the proper set up of a guitar make such a huge difference in tone, especially acoustically. It was a real object lesson for me when I FINALLY got my guitar set up properly after having it for 7-8 yrs. I always assumed that more=more, so the action was cranked super high, but the truth is that there is a sweet spot where volume and tone are at their best, and anything higher or lower either doesn't force the guitar to speak, or just over-forces it so the tone suffers.

I've done about 5-6 fly out gigs in the last couple months, and I've been choosing to fly with my ES-150, and where possible, borrow an acoustic archtop from friends when I arrive. Worst case, I clip my lavalier mic/gooseneck combo onto the ES-150 and it sounds ok. But, more often than not, somebody in the local scene has a Loar LH600 I can borrow. I've played 4 different Loars in the last couple months, and the strings and set up make all the difference.

One was particularly dead sounding, and I asked the owner if I could re-string it. I swapped the dead, gunky bronze 12's with my favorite Martin SP 80/20's in a 13 gauge. I was going to tweak the truss rod, but the neck's natural response to heavier strings was the perfect adjustment. With my amateur ability, I adjusted the basic intonation, and played it for about 30 minutes before going off to dinner. When I got back from dinner, I showed the guitar to the owner, and he couldn't believe it was the same guitar.

I've also gotten to borrow some really nice instruments as well, including a great '44 L7 and 2007 Triggs 17" New Yorker. The L7 was set up almost perfect and spoke very well. The Triggs was owned by a guy who had ditched straight-ahead jazz for gypsy jazz and hadn't played the Triggs in years (his friends told me it was on stand in the corner with clothes hanging off it). It had flats, and sounded dead and boxy. I couldn't get my favorite SP's, but I had a spare set of Martin Tony Rice Monel strings, and so I threw them on. It sounded tremendously better, but it still wasn't "there". I then tried cranking the action, and it got louder, and louder, but the tone was boxy and forced-sounding. I lowered the action back to where it had been, and then played it hard for a 4-hour big band gig. The next day it had opened up tremendously. Even mid-way through the night it was better. Here's a video of the Triggs in action - like almost every video of my bands playing on youtube, the focus is the dance contest going on, not the band, but you can hear the guitar clear as day. Guitar solo starts at just about 2 minutes, so feel free to skip to that, although the clarinet and trumpet playing on the first chorus is pretty bad-ass.

FYI, we were in New Orleans and only 4 of the guys were my regulars, and the rest were really amazing New Orleans trad players. We had to fake a tune for this slow dance contest - it's not very many cities in america where you can call Sidney Bechet's "Egyptian Fantasy" and everybody in the big band knows is cold. It was pretty amazing.

Here's one other video from that event. The guitar is a bit too loud, but you still hear the band pretty good. And again, the focus is entirely not on the band. Still, I suppose so many of the clips of "Freddie Green"-style are very relaxed, and this...isn't.

**backdrifter** · 07-08-2015, 08:07 PM

I've been searching through old threads to see what I've missed since I'm still relatively new here. I came across this wonderful thread and figured it was worth another look! Here's a great video that I enjoy. I love hearing the Collings AT17 and the old 16" L5 side by side. Great playing too!

**Klatu** · 07-09-2015, 12:30 AM

Good post. I was surprised to hear the disparity in volume between the two guitars. Were I to have guessed which was louder before they began playing, I would have thought the 17" instrument would have the edge, but it was easily overtaken by the smaller Gibson.

**Bluedawg** · 07-09-2015, 01:10 AM

The dance videos remind me of some of my swing gigs in Tucson ...

I had to keep reminding myself not to watch the young ladies dancing or I would lose my place in my music

LOL

**backdrifter** · 07-09-2015, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by Klatu

Good post. I was surprised to hear the disparity in volume between the two guitars. Were I to have guessed which was louder before they began playing, I would have thought the 17" instrument would have the edge, but it was easily overtaken by the smaller Gibson.

I thought the same thing. I think the smaller L5 cuts in that mix better. Also though, watch the two of them play. Greg is definitely playing with a heavier hand than Kit, who seems to play with a lighter touch. The AT17 does sound fuller and warmer than the L5, but I agree completely, in that video, the L5 certainly seems louder by a wide margin. I'd love to hear them both played by the same player back to back. And I'd gladly accept either, if anyone would like to donate such guitars to me!

**campusfive** · 07-09-2015, 10:33 AM

Kit's a great dude, and I make it a point to stop by the shop for a jam whenever I'm in Denver. It's a great idea to do a video series with guests to show off the guitars.