New Heritage Sweet 16s??

[Groyniad]

great stuff Hammertone - amazing detail

thanks man

[Hammertone]

great stuff Hammertone - amazing detail - thanks man

I think the real question should concern how much carving/scraping/sanding takes place after the plates come off of the rough carving machine. Presumably, any "tap-tuned" archtops were/are getting some extra attention, and were/are built to function as acoustic archtop guitars. I'm under the impression that most Heritage carved archtops were not tap-tuned or otherwise worked on to optimize acoustic response, since most buyers seem to care more about the electric sound, with floating pickups or set-in pickups.

[Groyniad]

there are more obviously musical issues here too - of course

I've had a number of boutique archtops - campellone, Andersen, commins

they were all super-light (the commins less so than the others - but still very light)

my guess - which will offend people I'm sure - is that the vast majority of d'aquisto/benedetto inspired instruments are not made for the stage but the living room

for stage guitars you need gibson, guild, heritage, Ibanez and....????

this sweet 16 with the apparently very thin top must have very fat braces - it has a moderately 50's style neck. it's much heavier than you would think - and I'm sure this will make it much more useable

the gb10 is super heavy - amazingly heavy. the Eagle Classic is the heaviest guitar I've ever had and it amplifies like a dream.

[Groyniad]

there are more obviously musical issues here too - of course

I've had a number of boutique archtops - campellone, Andersen, commins

they were all super-light (the commins less so than the others - but still very light)

my guess - which will offend people I'm sure - is that the vast majority of d'aquisto/benedetto inspired instruments are not made for the stage but the living room

for stage guitars you need gibson, guild, heritage, Ibanez, Sadowsky, Collings and....???? (that's not to say, of course, that it's impossible to get a one-man-shop to make you a stage guitar!)

this sweet 16 with the apparently very thin top must have very fat braces - it has a moderately 50's style neck. it's much heavier than you would think - and I'm sure this will make it much more useable (I have no amp. where I am so I haven't tried it out yet). R. Severson has remarked that he has found gigging with sweet 16s a very different business (feedback wise) than with other floating pickup guitars.

the gb10 is super heavy - amazingly heavy. the Eagle Classic is the heaviest guitar I've ever had and it amplifies like a dream.

[iim7V7IM7]

I am curious; were any of your luthier made archtops made for YOU and your needs or did you buy them second hand? I ask, because most of the luthiers that you cite usually ask their clients about the intended use of their instruments and adjust their work to suit.

[Groyniad]

that's absolutely right 251

they were all second hand - and I did allow for the possibility that you could get them to make the guitar any way you want

I wish I'd understood these things a long time ago

in fact I think the reason I came to this wonderful forum was to try to get the relevant info - before buying my first (second hand) boutique archtop

I couldn't find the relevant generalisations anywhere (about what boutique guitars TEND to be like - and how they TEND to contrast with e.g. gibson, guild, heritage, Sadowsky, Collings etc.)

I could just about reconcile myself to second hand boutiques - but never considered paying the price for a new one

but - in the end - I certainly paid the price

[Groyniad]

when I get back home to Addis and see how this sweet 16 amplifies I'll tell you all all about it

[Marty Grass]

So helpful - and quite a big deal for me given what a commitment this purchase has been.

From what I've learned on this thread I think managing to find a new sweet 16 made by the original guys is about as good a result as I could have hoped for. very difficult to price. if you look you'll find on reverb a really gorgeous new old stock sunburst sweet 16 from at least 10 years ago - and they're asking 6000 pounds for it I believe. I contacted them - and they weren't interested in reducing the price.

I wonder if this pic. helps you identify the pickup Marty

Attachment 76619

From what I see it's a thinner (less deep) pickup, which is warmer than the older Floating #3. I think you'll be happy with it.

[2bornot2bop]

Groyniad, so you bought the blonde Sweet 16 posted above? Sorry, I didn’t read a confirmation about that. Beautiful guitar, and I like the finger style tailpiece which I found on a few modern built Heritage guitars.

And could you post photos of that Eagle Classic you’re so fond of? I somehow missed them. I’m a big Eagle fan! Thanks.

[Hammertone]

My guess - which will offend people I'm sure - is that the vast majority of d'aquisto/benedetto inspired instruments are not made for the stage but the living room. For stage guitars you need gibson, guild, heritage, Ibanez, Sadowsky, Collings and....???? (that's not to say, of course, that it's impossible to get a one-man-shop to make you a stage guitar!)

I am curious; were any of your luthier made archtops made for YOU and your needs or did you buy them second hand? I ask, because most of the luthiers that you cite usually ask their clients about the intended use of their instruments and adjust their work to suit.

that's absolutely right 251. They were all second hand - and I did allow for the possibility that you could get them to make the guitar any way you want. I wish I'd understood these things a long time ago. In fact I think the reason I came to this wonderful forum was to try to get the relevant info - before buying my first (second hand) boutique archtop. I couldn't find the relevant generalisations anywhere (about what boutique guitars TEND to be like - and how they TEND to contrast with e.g. gibson, guild, heritage, Sadowsky, Collings etc.). I could just about reconcile myself to second hand boutiques - but never considered paying the price for a new one. But - in the end - I certainly paid the price

To Bob's point, it's hard to generalize with custom built stuff. Some builders are perfectly happy to build their carved archtops in a more tank-like mode in order to significantly resist the tendency to feedback. Other builders may choose not to do so. While I prefer carved archtops to be very acoustically responsive, with or without pickups, I've also chased the more, electrically-voiced carved archtops as well (having recently fallen off the wagon, I have one coming in soon myself, heh).

IMO, Heritage is a good example of a company that made the same carved archtop models (SE, SKB, GE, Rose, Sweet 16, etc.) within a range from very acoustic response to feedback-resistant electric response, based (I hope!) on customer requests - some of them are highly acoustic instruments, some are tanks. Campellone does the same thing, and my guess is that some others do as well.

[Groyniad]

hey Marty - is this picture more conclusive? thanks again for your help

[Rickco]

Id like to comment on the CNC comments. I recently sold and retired from a CNC millwork, casegoods , industrial enclosures and subassemblies business. For background I was a traditionally trained cabinetmaker at the bench for 50yrs. A CNC in wood based manufacturing (guitars or other) while capable of high precision machining is generally used for roughmill operations. At parsons st automation in the old days would have been a carving machine from what i can glean, all things being equal going from carving machine to CNC would be an improvement. This removes excess material and performs initial shaping and cutting operations. This has always been done by either hand or machine, when your training you started at roughmill. BUT!
in instrument building or fine woodworking the rough parts are finished at the bench. The reason is that for my generation we were trained in hand tools. If you hand me a part that is roughed in I can have it ready for finish with a scraper and a little sanding faster and better than can be done with any machine. This is why the old hands at Heritage were so pissed. In the US this culture of craftsmen is gone forever. Properly implemented a CNC could be the salvation of domestic manufacturing but in the case of guitar making or high precision wood crafting there is no substitute for an experienced builder. Without our CNC our business wouldnt be viable in 21st century however without us (now old fart craftsmen)The product we built our reputation and success on, would also not be possible. If I were having a guitar made I wouldnt care how roughmill was performed, but I sure as hell would care who put their hands on it next right thru to the shipping dept. That should all be done by hand.
Hope that wasnt to boring or instructional but I must say I feel better getting that off my chest, Rick