advice on old archtop guitars?

Romain Vuillemin

Jazzaferri wrote: »

Have you thought about an early large body Benedetto. He built a few that are 19 at the lower bout. I hate to think what they sell for but if you want a different voice they certainly have that.

Thanks but Benedetto is really expensive, if i put that amount of money (which i don't have) i'd prefer putting it into a Stromberg i guess

Romain Vuillemin

Buco wrote: »

That's a gorgeous sounding guitar.
And with positively huge sonority.
Only thing I can say is Romain love that guitar and never let it go!

Yess Buco, this guitar is great and i'll always keep it as long as i can afford to keep it ! Really nice deep and woody tone, great for chords , and more percussive than later L5s i guess

MarkA

Marty Grosz has played a lot of arch tops, spoken highly of 16 and early 17 inch L-5s. Good interview with him in Just Jazz Guitar (#12, 1997), in it he referred to the Super 400 as The Whipering Giant.

Romain Vuillemin

Russell Letson wrote: »

Tastes vary, as do playing environments and guitar voices. Nevertheless, I'm not sure that the archtop acoustic compares all that badly to the Selmer-derived as a lead instrument. Note the following:

Marty Grosz punching the daylights out of his old Gibson (in a five-piece band with two horns; note Marty's solo at 4:39):




Marty's gibson seams to be a bit more elastic than mine, mine being very rigid, but cool ! i think mine has so compact mids that it can be better in smaller bands like marty's to have something with wider frequencies

Romain Vuillemin

Bones wrote: »

Marty Grosz has been one of my favorites ever since I got into 'classic' jazz years ago. His Gibson (not sure if it has always been the same instrument) has that classic rhythm thump that hits you right in the chest. Note that he plays rhythm and chord solo style. Not much single note soloing. His guitar is perfect for that.

Exactly, chord melody stuff is great on these guitars !

Romain Vuillemin

klaatu wrote: »

Definitely check out vintage Epiphones. IMHO they are at least as good as comparable Gibsons. The Emperor is HUGE (18.5" lower bout), almost as big as the Stromberg. 1936 and later Triumphs, Broadways, and Deluxes (in ascending order of price) can all be found in 17". They are all the same construction, the more expensive models come with better woods and fancier appointments. I love my '46 Triumph.

Yes, i love what epi does, i've been trying this week a nice epi deluxe from 44 which has less of the fat mids as mine, but more wide frequencies, which is really interesting.. And they are confortable to play, and around 5k , not around 8 or 10 as could be a gibson pre 1960

daffyduck

Hi Romain Like we discussed the other day 17" mid thirties L5's are x braced { like mine} and are more punchy than later parallel braced..Can be a little "glassy' up high on the E and B playing single string stuff but they do project . They cut through

Romain Vuillemin

Exact ! do they do X brace 18 inches? are epiphone emperor like that or only parallele brace?