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Hello,
I'm new here on this great forum!
I'm looking for some advice because I would like to buy a new guitar. I've been playing a crappy Crafter for many years while studying (I've been playing guitar for 25 years but seriously into jazz for a couple of years).
Now it's time for me for a very good guitar.
I would like a new instrument (I have troubles playing used guitars) that I would use to play classic and modern jazz, some blues, fusion-like, etc. I already own a Les Paul Custom to estabilish some boundaries, so I would use that for "harder" generes.
My first doubt is between an archtop or a semi hollow, maybe with 2 pickups, something between an L4, 375 and a 335.
I'm also considering asking a luthier for a custom build or some artisanal firm (Benedetto?).
As I already own a gibson guitar, I would like to try something different.
I'm located in Italy so I could have some price increase due to customs and shippings.
My budget is around $6000.
Can anybody help me and point me to some firm?
Many thanks,
Frank
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12-16-2021 04:28 AM
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There are excellent guitars makers in Italy.
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You can buy five really nice new good-for-jazz guitars with $6000 or cannot afford a down payment for some luthiers' deposit.
If I were you, I would buy a Telecaster type guitar, a semi-hollow and a fully hollow guitar. And buy an amp with high headroom with the rest of the money.
Godin, Ibanez, Epiphone, D'Angelico make very affordable and nice guitars.
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Ciao e benvenuto! You will be met with masses of conflicting advice. If you don't find what you are looking for in Italy (after all, it all started in Cremona...) there are great archtop makers e.g. in Germany and Holland. AJS Guitars in Finland does a great job, too. These are a lot cheaper than most American builders, who seem to have their order books full for the next year or two. The main question is, do you really want/need a sensitive thoroughbred with well-known feedback issues, or would you be better served by a good laminate guitar? ES-175 comes to mind first, but there are numerous less expensive alternatives from Ibanez and Eastman, to name two obvious brands. What I would avoid is having an archtop shipped long-distance during the winter months. No matter how well packed, it risks being exposed to low temperatures and very dry air.
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Hi, thanks for all the advices!
Feedback rejection is one of my main concerns, I know the matter very well because I worked for years as a sound engineer.
Originally Posted by Gitterbug
Onestly I think I will almost always play in small venues/rooms, where feedback may be a huge problem.
This is why an archtop would be a difficult choice and as you said, maybe a semi hollow / hollow could be a good solution. ES-175 or L4 types come to my mind, maybe slim ones, like a 335.
Do you know any good makers of this kind of guitars?
Thanks,
Frank
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It sounds like a semi-hollow would fit the bill best for the musical uses you describe and the feedback concerns you express. L4's and ES-175's are both fully hollow archtops, and can be problematic with louder bands/stages. I actually don't experience much in the way of feedback problems with my archtop (77 Hawk Jazz, similar to a 175), but I don't play very loud for the most part. I'd enthusiastically recommend the 77, but they're difficult to find.
If you are willing to spend as much as $6k on a semi and specifically don't want a Gibson, I'd suggest looking at the Collings Soco and I-35. Great guitars, beautifully made.
At lower price tiers, there are tons of great options (D'Angelico, Eastman, Comins, Ibanez, Heritage, to name a few). Honestly, you could pick any of these and have a good guitar. The differences come down to subjective aspects of tone and feel, so it's tough to make specific recommendations. Fwiw, I have a D'Angelico EX DC and am very happy with it.
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If you go the semi-hollow route, have a look at Yamaha SA-2200 and the upscale Ibanezes. In this category, a luthier-made guitar is hardly worth the extra investment.
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Thanks John,
Well, my budget is 6k maximum, but I absolutely don't want to waste money.
I looked at the Collings and they seem great guitars, maybe the 16" one could retain some more jazzy tones and bass frequencies.
Unfortunately it's hard for me to find a dealer that would let me try it.
About Gibson I'm a little worried because I'm not satisfied by the construction quality of my les paul custom, there are problems in aestetic details I didn't expect for the price I paid for it. It's a great guitar, I love it sonically and in terms of playability and that is what matters, but...
Frank
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Here in this forum there are some nice guitars for sale at the moment. Check them out.
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Check this Archtop Jazz Guitar Brigit
As others said, if you finally go for a semi, Ibanez AS200 or Yamaha SA2200 will do an excellent job for less than half your budget.
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Just my 2 cents. If you can get a Campellone used at say $4k or so that would be a great start. I am really happy with my Frans Elferink Tonemaster (Netherlands) Great to work with and reasonable in price.
For laminate Archtops like a Gibson ES-175,etc there are a plethora of choices. As well as Thinlines as well. A great compromise Guitar is the Comins import line!.. But again you need to play a bunch of different type of guitars and see what makes you happy!
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I would not be too worried about feedback in a small club setting if you are playing straight ahead jazz with a band that is not too loud. A laminate archtop should be perfect for that, or maybe even a carved with a set pickup but that can be more hit and miss. I have used a laminate Benedetto Bravo with big bands, organ trios, etc and have not had any feedback problems.
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Sounds like a Benedetto Bravo would tick all the boxes. I might have one for sale. But as said in a previous post, this is not the season to ship across continents.
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My impression is that it isn't necessary to spend $6000 to get a great sounding guitar.
I think there is probably a price beyond which you don't get a better guitar, you just get a different guitar.
For a solid body, my guess is that it may be $1000 or less.
For a semi, 335 type, I think it's less than $2000. Jack Wilkins, for example, gigged, last time I saw him, with a Comins GCS-1. Yotam Silberstein also.
If I owned a Les Paul Custom, I'd have to carefully check that a 335-type is going to sound appreciably different. To get different sounds than a Les Paul can achieve, I'd be thinking Strat, Tele or archtop.
I don't know much about archtops, because I don't play them. The best ones I've heard were expensive guitars, but they were played by great players -- and I never heard those players play a cheaper instrument. That's a problem -- the best sounds you've heard were produced by players who might have been able to get just as good a sound out of a cheaper guitar.
Recently, I heard an intermediate level player sound "intermediate" on a Benedetto archtop that sells for around $16,000.
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The OP says he has troubles playing used guitars... but I presume he knows the Mercatino Musicale - Strumenti musicali nuovi e usati site (there's a good-looking Eastman AR380 John Pisano FS there, currently, as well as a gorgeous AR804CE which looks like it should be pretty versatile).
Somebody mentioned Cremona. I associate that town with bowed instrument making, but maybe they do indeed also teach other forms of lutherie (though I'd still expect it to be of acoustic instruments). Still, if you are in Italy and not at the opposite end of the boot, why not check if there are young builders there who'd be able to build what you're looking for? You'd get a true custom new instrument, built by someone with a supposedly vested interest to make a name for him/herself and probably for a reasonable price.
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As someone else said, I would look at more than one cheaper guitar. That way you could get both a thin line, which sounds like what you would use the most, and a proper archtop, laminate or not. They might be better for straight jazz gigging, and I find them better for practice as well.
I think a custom built guitar of quality would be higher than your budget.
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Not necessarily; last time I checked (recently), Elferink's prices start at 3700 euros. Originally Posted by bluejaybill
Even a Slaman The Dome *might* be possible for this budget, and it would definitely sound very different.
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Just look at the picture:
Classic Jazz Sound
Get a set of Thomastik flatwound .12's then send me a check for the $5965 I saved you.
People forget that the LP was not designed to RAWK, it was meant to be a jazz guitar. If you wanted to go wild you could put a low wind unpotted pup in the neck position, that still easily leaves $5800 heading my way.
Changed my mind; don't just look at the picture.
Listen here;
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Originally Posted by franksl
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