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I found this interesting comparison of 11 Archtop guitars:
He played Fly Me to the Moon on all guitars.
DougLast edited by Doug B; 07-11-2019 at 06:10 AM.
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07-11-2019 12:58 AM
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Makis is a friend, and an active musician in Greece. He has had a lot of instruments over the years, knows archtops. I liked the consistency of this test.
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Yes, it is pretty consistent. And even though youtube is famous for compressed sound, all of the archtops are subject to the same recording conditions.
Originally Posted by Alter
Tell Makis 'well done' !
Doug
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It's Fly Me To The Moon ... Originally Posted by Doug B
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I knew it had something to do with the Moon! lol!!! Originally Posted by JazzNote
Mistake noted and corrected, thanks.
Doug
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L-5's are made with pixie dust theory is out the window I guess. They're all good in their own ways.
Heritage super eagle and D' Angelico were my favourites. L-4 got the beauty prize. If he had an L-5 CES in the mix, it'd have also made the top list for me I suspect. D'Angelico is cheap too.
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That vid proves in the right hands GR8 tone can be had by most gits. Nice playing.
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Is it over Miami? Originally Posted by Doug B
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Originally Posted by Woody Sound
Don't know-let me go have a look......nope-more like Havana Moon:
(Maybe?)
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Well all pretty similar in sound at least on youtube. I guess for the money the Dangelico Copy gets the prize for I believe the cheapest guitar that sounds as good as the others. The best looking was probaby the L5 but the Eastman 910 looked nice too. Seemed that those with the floating pickup maybe had more individual definition of sound but really hard to discern. In the end it pretty much goes back to the old saying that sound is in the hands.
One comment I hope the fellow playing takes no offence he clearly is a fine player but I hated the interpretation of the tune and how he played it with sweep picking that just got on my nerves. By the end I was ready to be done with that tune and how it was played, it just did not float my boat.
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I've listened to Makis' "Fly Me to the Moon" comparisons many, many times. All of the guitars sound quite good.
I, too, thought that the Heritage Super Eagle came out on top by a nose.
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Skilled playing and nice tones but my bias still lies with the ES-125
because of the clear single coil voice & acoustic component.
Not right for every purpose but my preference, especially solo:
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It is the Indian not the arrow that hits the target. All sweet axes though. I always prefer a built in pu sound. Just my preference.
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I've been wanting to get a cheap L5 copy for sometime. Not as a main guitar, but just for fun. I'm seriously impressed with D'Angelico Exl-1 in this video. I didn't consider this model because of the floating pickup going too far away from L-5CES design with two mounted humbuckers. I was considering getting a Broadway. But it looks like probably due to the less resonant laminated top, floating pickups do not sound bright or too "acoustic" on D'Angelico Exl-1. It's hard to be certain based on a youtube video. Does anyone have his model? How does it compare with Epi Broadway?
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Here is another way to compare. Thing is, to eliminate variability from different knob settings affecting tone, both volume and tone were on maximum for this test.
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I couldn't pick a "winner" out of all those, but the EXL-1 impressed considering it's price point.
I also prefer the ES-125 to ALL 11 of the archtops in the OP. Damn... GAS is building ....
I wish someone would do an ES-125 vs Loar LH-309 vs Godin Kingpin video.... I know neither really compares, but it would be nice to HEAR HOW they really don't compare....
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I listened on computer speakers. I didn't hear much difference among them.
Maybe one is as good as another.
But, I am reminded of something. I once walked into a room where a guy was checking out another guy's new classical guitar.
The guy played a few things and the guitar sounded pretty ordinary.
He handed the guitar back to the owner who then played something and the guitar suddenly sounded like a chorus of angels. Dramatically better.
Turns out the first guy didn't have fingernails, so he was playing the flesh of his fingers. The guitar's owner was a trained classical player with the proper fingernails -- which, obviously made all the difference.
So, I wondered, would all these guitars sound about the same if somebody with a different picking technique did the demo?
My guess -- put a humbucker on an archtop and it's going to be in a certain ballpark.
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I too have grown fond of the single coil sound but I could never get on with P90's - they just sound too "dry" for me with my technique and other equipment. The Lollar CC hb size in a reasonable depth laminate archtop (mine is 2 7/8") gets a very similar sound but with a bit more ooomph. Definitely more clarity than a HB on chords and a bit more acoustic flavour that can be accessed...but still with oomph, bite, edge or whatever you want to call it. Originally Posted by rabbit
On the video, I preferred the Golden Eagle with floater followed by the Golden Eagle with mounted HB. I also liked the Hofner although I felt the 0.12 high E string sounded weaker on that guitar than on the others; I always use at least 0.13 on my guitars.
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I love MVI's tone through the ES-125 on this recording. It would be interesting to hear each of these same 11 instruments played by MVI through his amp/recording set up with the tone controls tweaked by MVI to get "his sound". I wonder how different (or similar) the voice of the instruments would be. Originally Posted by rabbit
Albert
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All nice sounding instruments, to my ears the L-4CES came out on top. I think I prefer the sound of the 24 3/4" scale for jazz in general.
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I prefer the sound of ES guitars to what I am hearing here, especially P90 ES. I want it drier, woodier and thunkier. Like MVI. Originally Posted by Doug B
DB
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The Heritage Golden Eagle with set humbucker sounded fantastic, definitely my favorite.
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It sounded great
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Didn't they all sound pretty darn good?
Maybe it's my neophyte ears, but if I was listening to this guy live and he was playing any of these guitars I would never say "boy, nice player, but he sounds like doo-doo"
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Interesting comparison, hearing that many different guitars in one sitting definitely gives me pause.
First reactions:
someday I will clearly need to buy an L5,
floaters will probably never be my cup-of-tea,
a good Eastman can be very good,
wish there had been an ES-175 in the line up,
Heritages are possibly just Gibsons without the resale bump,
I'd like to try an L4 and be able to fiddle with the knobs myself
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