Topete y Caro Archtop Guitar

**Jim Soloway** · 04-05-2019, 05:47 PM

I got the archtop back from Topete y Caro yesterday with a more suitable setup and I started doing recording tests this afternoon. Sorry in advance to those of you who have heard previous recordings of this bit of music before but I'm planning to do a video of the full piece so it's what I'm experimenting with.

http://www.solowayguitars.com/Record...uperSmooth.mp3

**Gitfiddler** · 04-05-2019, 06:39 PM

Sounds beautiful and has nice sustain for an archtop.

**GNAPPI** · 04-05-2019, 07:14 PM

A N-I-C-E, BIG, full sound.

**citizenk74** · 04-05-2019, 07:39 PM

Sweet!

**mr. beaumont** · 04-05-2019, 09:06 PM

Oh man, it sounds wonderful. Perfect for your style as well.

**Jim Soloway** · 04-06-2019, 04:02 PM

Thanks all. This guitar has been a bit of an adventure so far. The tone is wonderful but like a lot of what goes on in Mexico, there have a been a bunch of small nagging issues.

For this recording, I went direct to the computer and added a bit of EQ (with a HPF), verb and, as I was shown here, a limiter and compressor. So it's actually a pretty straight forward representation of what the guitar sounds like. I think it records really well.

**fep** · 04-06-2019, 04:11 PM

Really good sound, the bass notes sound better on this recording (the boomyness is gone).

There is a bit of background noise. If your audio interface is powered by a laptop via a usb... try an experiment of recording without the laptop plugged into the AC (using just the laptops battery), see if that interference goes away.

**Woody Sound** · 04-06-2019, 08:21 PM

Jim, 1st and foremost, your playing there is gorgeous. Lovely. And the guitar, well it sounds fabulous. I don't know how you recorded it, but it's a beautiful balance between acoustic and electric tone.

**Jim Soloway** · 04-06-2019, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by Woody Sound

Jim, 1st and foremost, your playing there is gorgeous. Lovely. And the guitar, well it sounds fabulous. I don't know how you recorded it, but it's a beautiful balance between acoustic and electric tone.

Thanks. I'm pretty slow to add new tunes but I've been working on several standards lately and this is probably my favorite of them. I'm looking forward to doing a video of the whole piece.

Basically, I just plugged it straight into the computer and played. It really does sound like that. It's a very odd mix of elements: and incredibly lively and light acoustic body with and humbucker set into the top and control set into the side. I thought the top mount humbucker would dull the sound a bit but it really doesn't ... the acoustic properties are are just incredibly strong, even with the flat wound Chromes.

**LtKojak** · 04-07-2019, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

incredibly lively and light acoustic body with and humbucker set into the top and control set into the side. I thought the top mount humbucker would dull the sound a bit but it really doesn't ... the acoustic properties are are just incredibly strong, even with the flat wound Chromes.

Yeah, it's got an incredible eveness in string output and note separation, plus a strong, distinctive "voice", which I think match pretty well your playing style and down-tuning.

It totally does sound like a new guitar; keep this recording and make another one a year from now, and compare'em once the instrument's been thoroughly "broken-in" with about 300 hours of playing. I'm sure you'll be surprised!

Enjoy it for many years to come in good health.

BTW, what were the small details you were not pleased with? Inquiring minds would like to know.

**kris** · 04-07-2019, 12:21 PM

Jim,
Guitar sounds really good and very natural!
Best
Kris

**Jim Soloway** · 04-07-2019, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by LtKojak

Yeah, it's got an incredible eveness in string output and note separation, plus a strong, distinctive "voice", which I think match pretty well your playing style and down-tuning.

It totally does sound like a new guitar; keep this recording and make another one a year from now, and compare'em once the instrument's been thoroughly "broken-in" with about 300 hours of playing. I'm sure you'll be surprised!

Enjoy it for many years to come in good health.

BTW, what were the small details you were not pleased with? Inquiring minds would like to know.

I don't think they ever envisioned having it strung with so little tension. The neck keeps wanted to drift back, reducing the relief. I think it probably should have stayed in their shop for about 30 days with my strings and my tuning. Instead it's probably going to keep going back for adjustments for a while. Other than that, the fret ends could stand to be a little more polished.