Acoustically warm archtop (not too bright), 16 inch or smaller

[Tal_175]

Is there such a thing?

[mauibob]

Is there such a thing?

It’s going to be made as a Cameo by Mark Campellone. Beautiful sounding, just perfect!

But Mark doesn’t know it yet!

[Hammertone]

Building acoustically responsive 16" or smaller archtops is a challenge that has certainly been met over the years by a variety of makers. I think that making smaller archtops acoustically warm and not too bright is the real challenge, and there are few of them that have accomplished that goal.

I've played a pile of 16" carved archtops, and am lucky enough to own several really nice ones. Even with the great-sounding ones, a comparison with equally wonderful 17" archtops quickly reveals differences in warmth, brightness and punchiness - the 17" models are almost always warmer (more bass, fatter-sounding), less bright and less cutting. I think this is inherent in the physical limitations of these formats, as well as in the way that human ears hear the overall sound of these instruments.

[Oscar67]

String choice is a big factor in perceived brightness. Having said that, the 15” thinline Collings CL Jazz is wonderfully responsive and sounds killer acoustically. Not a harsh tone to be found. Comes at a price though.

[RJVB]

String choice is indeed a very big factor, including gauge: find a tension heavy enough to drive the top but not so heavy it stiffles it. Playing technique (incl. pick choice if you use one) is at least as important. Even the wonderful 18" instruments from the Chinery collection can sound harsh and overly bright on the higher strings; its not easy (if at all possible) to make steel wire trebles sound as warm as composite trebles (or wound steel strings sound as dark as wound nylon strings).

That said, I've been positively surprised at how warm and deep even a cheap archtop like my Loar can sound, at least to the player.