Advice on 16" Archtop with 1.75" nut - Mark Campellone's Response on Scale Length

[Kelly77]

Folks: Could use a little help... I am searching for a very nice 16' archtop with a 1.75" nut and little beef on the neck.
I saw this Campellone and thought I would call about it on Monday. Does anyone here have experience with this model?

Thanks so much for your advice!

Campellone Standard 2016 Three-Tone Sunburst | Reverb

[Hammertone]

Folks: Could use a little help... I am searching for a very nice 16' archtop with a 1.75" nut and little beef on the neck. I saw this Campellone and thought I would call about it on Monday. Does anyone here have experience with this model? Thanks so much for your advice!
Campellone Standard 2016 Three-Tone Sunburst | Reverb

Mark runs a one-man business making top quality carved archtop guitars. He's widely recognized as one of the top archtop builders around, and has quietly been making excellent instruments for more than 30 years. This particular instrument appears to be an exact match for your requirements, in mint condition, and at an attractive price of $3,595 compared to $4,995, which is the cost of the same guitar new, as listed on his website [ed: as of 2017. Prices have changed a bit since then].

Mark used to accept all sorts of custom requests, but these days he focuses a limited set of specific choices for his guitars - body size, rim depth, scale length, nut width, neck construction, wood grade, trim level, and finish colour, all listed on his website.

Because Mark is a custom builder, his instruments are often built to order, to the specifications of customers. In the past, they would order them through one of his (very few) dealers, and they can still do that, but Mark is now taking orders and selling directly to customers. No point in guessing about specs on a used Campellone - just call the seller and ask away. Sellers are typically happy to provide information about nut width, neck depth at the 1st and 12th frets, scale length, and so forth. Or contact Mark directly - he's easy enough to reach by phone and email.

Here are my 17" and 16" Campellones, both with plenty of custom features:

[ptchristopher3]

Hard to imagine a better value in 2016 (and 2017) luthier-built guitars than a Campellone.

I LOVE a 1.75" nut and slightly voluptuous neck.

If you can get anything close to a competent measurement of the neck depth at the 7th fret that would help very much.

In my opinion.

Chris

[Artpulis]

Kelly, I totally agree with your desire for the 1.75 nut, and the difficulty of finding them. After looking, I had Heritage make me a 575 with the specs I wanted including the wider nut. Jay Wolfe is great at custom orders and it was well worth the wait for me. My price came in under the one you mention, but that was a year ago.

[Alter]

looks like a great guitar, but i would double check on that 24 1/2 scale if scale length is important to you, cause it is an unusual length and might easily be a mistaken 25 1/2

ps. i see in his website that he offers the 24 1/2 scale as an option though

[Mark M.]

I had that exact guitar and it was great. However, the neck was relatively on the thin side. So, I'm not sure from your post if that makes a difference to you. The extra nut width was nice for chord solos, etc. It's one of the guitars I regret getting rid of. But at the time I really wanted an L5 (no regrets about that) and had to sell the Campellone. I agree that the Campellones are a good value and are very high quality archtops.

[floatingpickup]

I had that exact guitar and it was great. However, the neck was relatively on the thin side. So, I'm not sure from your post if that makes a difference to you. The extra nut width was nice for chord solos, etc. It's one of the guitars I regret getting rid of. But at the time I really wanted an L5 (no regrets about that) and had to sell the Campellone. I agree that the Campellones are a good value and are very high quality archtops.

I have owned two Campellones (and played many more). The one I have right now has a 1.75" nut and mine is definitely not "on the thin side". In fact, I would say it is quite beefy. Mark builds terrific guitars.
Keith

[coolvinny]

Don't forget to ask about neck width at 14th fret or thereabouts, so that you have a sense of how wide it is higher on the neck where you'll mostly be playing anyway (not the 14th fret area, but the 5th to 12th area). Even on a 1.75" nut guitar that 14th fret can vary between approx. 2 1/8" and 2 1/4" (or sometimes wider if the nut is slightly bigger than 1.75" to begin with).

[Bluedawg]

Folks: Could use a little help... I am searching for a very nice 16' archtop with a 1.75" nut and little beef on the neck.
I saw this Campellone and thought I would call about it on Monday. Does anyone here have experience with this model?

Thanks so much for your advice!

Campellone Standard 2016 Three-Tone Sunburst | Reverb

That's looks very nice .. I've always found used Campellones to be very tempting and came close to ordering one new, but passed

I ended up with an 18 inch Campellone acoustic archtop with a 1 13/16 inch nut ... it's a very nice guitar .. a keeper IMHO

Good Luck

[Jabberwocky]

Mark Campellone builds the nicest L5s...

24.5" scale length is not Byrdland scaled but I wonder how it sounds in the lower register though.

My ha'p'orth of opinion is to hold out for a used Campellone Deluxe with a longer scale length and 1.75" nut width for about $4000.

Kelly77, I would approach Mark Campellone to ask about having one made for you. No point living with the decision made by another which may not work for you. It is $4995 for a Standard. Welcome to Campellone Guitars .

Moving out a used archtop with a 24.5" scale length is not easy. Any archtop that is not of the commonly accepted range between 24.75", 25" and 25.5" SLs meets resistance. You are not really saving anything if it does not work out for you. Get exactly what you want made.

[Jabberwocky]

2006 Campellone Standard Asking $3750 but you can always do better with some negotiating. Nut width looks wide.

2012 Campellone Standard Asking $3795. Ditto.

[rio]

Eastman always comes to mind when talking about 1 3/4" nuts. But that Campellone looks great.


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[skykomishone]

I've played one recently and loved it.

[jads57]

Mark Campellone builds great archtops in the Gibson Tradition! The one's I've played had relatively thin depth necks. If it's 1&3/4's" width then say .850 1st fret to near 1" at 12th fret it will feel full. Otherwise at 1&11/16th's width go for at least .875-" 1" spec.

Another suggestion being that the US $ is strong against the Euro. Have a European Luthier like Frans Elferink etc. custom build you a guitar. That's what I ended up with and am extremely pleased !

[medblues]

Mark answered my emails about his guitars after about a second of sending them, I am saving money for a custom build, hopefully he won't retire before that happens.

[Max405]

Mark runs a one-man business making top quality carved archtop guitars. He's widely recognized as one of the top archtop builders around, and has quietly been making excellent instruments for more than 30 years. This particular instrument appears to be an exact match for your requirements, in mint condition, and at an attractive price of $3,595 compared to $4,995, which is the cost of the same guitar new, as listed on his website.

Mark used to accept all sorts of custom requests, but these days he focuses a limited set of specific choices for his guitars - body size, rim depth, scale length, nut width, neck construction, wood grade, trim level, and finish colour.

I've played many of Mark's guitars, including 16" versions like this, and they are consistently excellent instruments. My own Campellone is a lovely 17" acoustic archtop built with a few custom features for its previous owner.

many a fine guitar has been perched on the famous love seat of tone.
That is one of the nicer ones..
with a Barbera transducer installed, it could all the guitar a serious player could ever need.
I LOVE the color.
Hammer, what is the scale length?
Joe D

[bmw2002]

Mark answered my emails about his guitars after about a second of sending them, I am saving money for a custom build, hopefully he won't retire before that happens.

As a retirement present to myself I recently had Mark build a 16" standard thinline for me. As noted, he is very responsive, accommodating, and extremely pleasant to deal with. It was a great experience and, while not inexpensive, the process resulted in a guitar I'll likely play for a very very long time. Highly recommended.

[Hammertone]

...Hammer, what is the scale length? Joe D

scale - 25 1/2" -
nut width - 1 27/32" (corrected from earlier info)
rim depth - 3 3/8" (corrected from earlier info)

[Bluedawg]

scale - 25 1/2"
nut width - 1 13/16"
rim depth - 3"

IIRC from our previous discussions about the 1 13/16 nut width .. your guitar was built by Campellone for the same player as my Campellone

and our fingerboards and decorative bits are rosewood as opposed to ebony

[Hammertone]

IIRC from our previous discussions about the 1 13/16 nut width .. your guitar was built by Campellone for the same player as my Campellone
and our fingerboards and decorative bits are rosewood as opposed to ebony

Yes. Both were built for a customer in Ontario and ordered through Murch Music, one of Mark's retailers at the time. I was working from memory re: rim depth and go it wrong - mine actually has a rim depth of 3 3/8", not 3"

[floatingpickup]

Yes. Both were built for a customer in Ontario and ordered through Murch Music, one of Mark's retailers.

Hammertone: I remember both of those guitars when they belonged to the former owner. I have actually played your oval hole guitar. Very nice. One of my Campellones came from the same store. I believe they have a new one in stock right now. I think it's a 16" Standard IIRC.
Keith

[Hammertone]

Hammertone: I remember both of those guitars when they belonged to the former owner. I have actually played your oval hole guitar. Very nice. One of my Campellones came from the same store. I believe they have a new one in stock right now. I think it's a 16" Standard IIRC.
Keith

I've played both of them! I was working on a complicated trade for the 18" one, but it fell through. I subsequently found the 17" quite by accident and grabbed it. The two guitars are both configured as acoustics but sound quite different. If memory serves, the 18" is x-braced and has a surprisingly balanced and bright sound. The 17" is parallel braced and really different sounding - more punch and thump, really balanced sound, but not bright at all. Both wonderful instruments.
Hooray for Murray!

[Kelly77]

Here is Mark Campellone's response to my question on the scale length....What a great guy...took him a few minutes to respond!

"Thanks for your interest in my guitars, Kelly - I standardly offer short, medium and long fingerboard scales - the short fingerboard scale is actually 24.6", essentially the same as what you'd find on a Gibson ES175, ES335, etc. Gibson usually calls this scale 24&3/4 but they can vary slightly - I've seen some Gibsons that are a true 24.75 and some that are a little under - if you're OK with the scale of an ES175 you should have no problem with the neck on this guitar.

As for scale length affecting tone, theoretically it can, but to such a small degree that it's not a major consideration.

Hope I've been of some help."

[Jabberwocky]

Here's why Scale Length Explained | stewmac.com .

24.625" effective SL according to Rule of 18.

[Marty Grass]

Take a look at this custom Heritage 575. It has a 1 3/4" nut, 24 3/4" scale, spruce top, mahogany back.

Heritage H575 Guitar Custom built Spruce Top 1-3/4 inch neck | eBay