First archtop recommendations?

[coolvinny]

I saw TWO Eastman 371's this week used at a local shop, $650 each. Were I starting in jazz and knew what I know now, I'd have grabbed one of those. Played great, sounded great, looked beautiful, priced right.

Totally agree. The 371's are super guitars. In Canada they seem to run about CAD$1,000 to $1,200 new. Well worth it!! They are serious guitars - don't let the price tag make you think these 371's cannot hang with the big boys. IMO they are the best deal going in a laminate archtop, and they have a surprisingly big unplugged sound (1 pickup version).

[Greentone]

For a guy just starting out with an archtop, and if he is on a tight budget, the Eastman or the Loar are pretty attractive instruments. I have played both and find them to be open, articulate, and very "archtop" sounding instruments--either with the set in pickup, or with a floating pickup.

OTOH, the Guild A-150 is also a very nice starting point--and it's by Guild. The DeArmond pickup is in a class by itself, too.

Whatever you get, don't make the mistake of under-stringing it because you have always used .10-.38 gauge strings on your Stratocaster, or whatever. Be sure to get yourself some Thomastik-Infeld Jazz-Swing .12-.50 or .13-.53 gauge strings. The tension of the strings are surprisingly flexible, yet they give an authoritative, jazzy sound. I can't stress enough the importance of adequately stringing an archtop. Skinny strings make whatever you buy sound wimpy.

[coolvinny]

For a guy just starting out with an archtop, and if he is on a tight budget, the Eastman or the Loar are pretty attractive instruments. I have played both and find them to be open, articulate, and very "archtop" sounding instruments--either with the set in pickup, or with a floating pickup.

I don't mean to say you are wrong or to quibble, but IMO - having owned (and still do) some very nice archtops, the Eastman 371 is the real deal. It is not an entry level or starter guitar by any means. It is, quite simply, a game changer for a giggle archtop (that happens to be plenty loud enough to practice on) - and I do not say that about most Eastmans, albeit nice instruments. I thought the 371 was much better than the 380 (laminate Pisano) model that I tried side by side. Sometimes a product just hits the sweet spot.

[jazz.fred]

I have played a 371 and was quite impressed with its tone and playability. Very nice guitar. However, I decided on the Peerless Monarch 16. Both are very good quality and are affordably priced.

[Hyppolyte Bergamotte]

My son Nico does live in HK.One of his friend visited the Eastman factory

He said they are very good luthier that working over there ,but a very poor quality control at the end of the chain .
finally , you can have in your hands a very good or poor instrument .
Always try 2 or 3 different same Eastman guitars,If possible
HB

[superdave]

Or have Lou from GuitarsnJazz pick one out for you like he did for me. I called him looking for an Eastman blonde 503ce. He had several and picked out a dandy for me !

[rabbit]

Does it feedback when too close to the amp or at higher loud drummer volumes?

BryBry,

Sorry, I can't say. I'm just a stay-at-home "kitchen musician" wanker & don't play out.

[mr. beaumont]

The Kingpins are pretty good about feedback. I mean, don't go playing "Stranglehold," but...

The model now that really looks great to me is the Composer, cutaway, single pickup. Philip Catherine has been playing one. I think if I needed a simple, no nonsense, gig ready jazz guitar tomorrow and had nothing else to start with, the Composer would be at the top of my list.

The Savoy looks great...I'd love to hear a good demo, see what that floater really sounds like. Generally, I look at guitars like that as being best for playing at home, floating pickup, no tone knob= PITA to dial in on the job, IMHO.

[greasy0015]

A store local to me has a Composer that I tried out last week. It was amazing. It comes with the Godin Tric case which is pretty nice actually, it's one of those backpack cases made of a really hard styrofoam with codura type cover. I love that stripped down look too. I just need to figure out how to sneak it into the house. This is not helping...

[BryBry]

The Kingpins are pretty good about feedback. I mean, don't go playing "Stranglehold," but...

The model now that really looks great to me is the Composer, cutaway, single pickup. Philip Catherine has been playing one. I think if I needed a simple, no nonsense, gig ready jazz guitar tomorrow and had nothing else to start with, the Composer would be at the top of my list.

The Savoy looks great...I'd love to hear a good demo, see what that floater really sounds like. Generally, I look at guitars like that as being best for playing at home, floating pickup, no tone knob= PITA to dial in on the job, IMHO.

I play with my tone fully rolled in . But yeah actually that was a concern for me too. Having the option of both is always nice because tastes change.

[mr. beaumont]

Tastes change, and rooms.

People ask me how I set my amp, and I tell them, "depends on where I am."

[Shook]

I don't think either guitar is a bad decision. I have a Godin 5th Avenue and it's a great instrument with flat-wounds on it.


With that said, have you held each guitar in your hands and played it? If there's something that you immediately dislike, that would help make the decision.

If both have been played and you really prefer the more expensive model, just save more. If you're a gigging musician, you can make the less expensive model work and trade up eventually, but if this is just a hobby, wait until you can afford the one you want. Otherwise, you'll buy the cheaper model and still want the more expensive one. At least that's how it works for me.

[coolvinny]

Depends a lot on the amp too. With my SS jazzy amps (incl ZT backups) I keep my guitar tone wide open as well, but if I'm plugging in to a random Fender amp I find I have to roll my tone back a fair bit - and that's after going to my default Fender tone settings which has the treble around 2 (out of 10).