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Heavy/clunky? Nope, definitely not all anyway...especially the modern builds. For example Steve Andersen's builds are quite light, especially his laminate builds (pretty rare). Ditto Steve Holst and Collings. And I'm sure many others.
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01-22-2020 05:11 PM
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Some of those heavy jazz boxes like modern ES175s or L5ces' have a really solid feel and mass that you get in the tone as well. I have light and heavy, love them both, but I can't disparage the contemporary "heavy build" ES175. My 2 of that vintage have the thunk and tone that I love. And they feel really solid to play.
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I weighed a few guitars using the bathroom scale subtraction method, sorted by weight:
Yamaha NTX700 4.1 lb (nylon string with preamp)
Eastman AR810CE 5.7 lb (floating pickup)
Gibson L-7 6.3 lb (floating pickup)
Ibanez AF105NT 6.4 lb (two set pickups)
Stratocaster 7.7 lb
Telecaster American Standard 8.2 lb
That might explain why I tend to grab the Yamaha or Eastman when I want to relax. Even 1/2 lb difference is quite noticeable.
(I’ll edit later to convert to kg.)
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I weighed my guitars directly and came up with this:
Gibson ES165 1999 6 lbs 13 oz
Gibson ES175D VOS 1959 6 lbs 7 oz
Gibson ES175 Figured Sunburst 2016 7 lbs 12 oz
Epiphone ES175 Premium 6 lbs 7 oz
Gibson L5ces 2015 7 lbs 14 oz
Interestingly the Gibson VOS and Epiphone 175s are the same weight.
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Try a Heritage H525. Fantastic 'old school' P90 tone in a thin-line laminate full hollow-body weighing under 7 lbs.
Or if you want an even thinner bodied version, go for an H530. They are in the 6 lbs. range.
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I recommend a used Hofner Jazzica or New President.
Light-weight, high-quality, carved-top, definitely within your budget of 2k euros or less.
The Jazzica has a floating mini-humbucking pickup, and the New President has either a floating mini-humbucking pickup or two mini-humbucking pickups.
You should have no problem finding one or the other used in Europe.
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@KirkP @lawson-stone interesting! So the Gibson/Epi 175/165 are all lighter than a strat. That's definitely not the experience I had with the cheap jazzboxes here. But that would explain why so many of them are on sale in the local want-ads...
@Hammertone I'll be on the lookout, there are some shops here that have lots of old nondescript archtops that look like they spent years in someone's attic ;-)
@GitFiddler would like to try a Heritage, lots of good comments about them online, but I have yet to see a single one for sale on this side of the Atlantic...
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Originally Posted by frankhond
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The archtops and semihollow guitars might feel heavier than smaller guitars. I had for years an ES-137 which I eventually sold because it felt so heavy. Although it was just 3,7 kg, as light as an average strat. And I normally play Les Pauls!
My ES-175 VOS is only 2,7 kg and it feels light as a feather.
I live in Finland and the hollowbodies are rarity here too. I am sorry to hear that it is same in Sweden. Maybe Copenhagen is the nearest place that have a shops with archtops (Woodstock Guitars)?
EDIT: The ES-175 weight.Last edited by Herbie; 01-29-2020 at 03:36 AM.
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Originally Posted by Lobomov
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If you can find one, an Eastman T146 is a nice guitar and very light, should be 5 lb or less. My T145 is well under 5 lb.
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Originally Posted by sgosnell
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They're often available used. There are several available on Reverb.
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Originally Posted by sgosnell
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Ok, came across an Ibanez JP20. The guitar was light and resonant, not at all like those cheap clunky monsters hanging in the shops. Too bad about the pickup placement, right in the way of my right hand :-( ... So with your help, I guess we established that not all archtops are heavy or clunky, and that one must them in person. The local jazzers sometimes surface with a guitar for sale, an Aria Pro II pe180 just appeared. Those are supposedly heavy, but maybe not clunky... We’ll see... Thanks everyone!
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
they just put on a set of .12 D’addario chromes (regardless of the guitar) and don’t bother to adjust neck relief, intonation or action. It’s no surprise they never sell them.
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Originally Posted by christianm77
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Originally Posted by christianm77
I've seen archtops around here with .010's and a plain G.
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PRS is coming out with a guiltar called the SE Hollowbody Standard. It's PRS double-cutaway shaped, but it's hollow. Top is mahogany. PRS just recently announced this guitar at NAMM, cost is around US$1000. It's said to weigh about 6.5 or 7 pounds. It sounds pretty good on the YouTube demos I've heard. Probably will be available in Europe.
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i
Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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At 5.5 pounds, my Casino Coupe is 85% the body size of a 335 and it's "fully hollow".
It's not just heavy weight I don't care for, it's also the awkward bulky size of most jazz guitars. I don't like having that big body jammed in my armpit.Last edited by rintincop; 02-21-2020 at 02:54 AM.
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I am very happy with my Eastman AR-371, bought used around $650 (+$100 for luthier, for fret leveling and misc setup). Satisfies all your expectations. I do not know Epi 175, but this Eastman is a (or two) category better than my Epi Joe Pass. (which had also the same luthier work + got a $200 Benedetto humbucker...)
Now AR-371 is out of manufacturing, so you either buy a new two pickups AR-372, or a used AR-371.
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Ok so here’s what happened. I took some time and made a few roadtrips, encouraged by all your suggestions. Tried an Ibanez JP20, Eastman 805ce, Levin 335, Gibson ES165 with floater, Aria Pro II PE180. The Gibson was disappointing because clearly it needed a real humbucker. The jp20 was a little gem but overpriced. The Eastman was very light, resonant and easy to play but strangely uninspiring, a focused middy sound that probably would be perfect for a certain style but not me. The Aria had that ES175 sound but was built like a British WW2 tank, why play a heavy 17 inch laminate guitar that has the same sound as a lighter 16 inch one? The Levin was just an old guitar.
Then I ran into a Heritage Eagle, all solid mahogany, slim comfortable neck, great acoustic tone... and that was that. They are kinda rare over here, in the US they are cheaper... but it really felt like a well built very playable guitar. So it came home with me. I might post a ngd thread soon...Last edited by frankhond; 02-29-2020 at 04:50 AM.
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Originally Posted by frankhond
Yeah, no, that's not negotiable. You have to post a NGD thread.
Good work, in my opinion, you picked the best instrument of the lot.
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Gibson ES-125 from 1958
Today, 09:27 AM in For Sale