Electric Jazz Archtop with Selmer/Maccaferri-like Neck Shape & Dimensions

humphrymusic

So far, the only brand with 1.75" nut width I could find to try in my area is Eastman. The Epiphones, Ibanez etc, at the shops near me didn't feel right. I tried a few Godin guitars, but was disappointed. I really wanted that to be a "solution".

So far, the big surprise has been Eastman, and in two different ways. First, for a Chinese-made guitar, the overall feel and look is quite good. Secondly, I tried both a high end archtop in their high-end range (solid wood top, sides and bottom, 3 inch-plus depth, nicer hardware, and a lower-in-the-range, slightly thinner model with P90 style pick-up and laminated top, sides and bottom. Both had necks that felt the most similar to my gypsy guitars (1.75" nut), but the cheaper one (a little less than half the price of the higher end model) actually sounded better to my ears, both acoustically and plugged in. The lower-end model seemed to resonate and sustain than the bigger higher-end model.

One thing I appreciated about both is the 16" kbody. That's closer to my gypsy guitars and smaller than my Emperpor Regent.

I'm getting closer.

Russell Letson

I find the Eastman archtops to be the best of their Asian-built kind--they're strongly influenced by classic Epiphone designs, though with a more modern neck profile (wider than my '46 Broadway) and sound. I've been sampling them since not long after they started appearing in the US and found the build quality to be consistently high. Eastman prices are quite decent as well, especially for the solid/carved models. (Equivalent Gibsons are much more expensive, and not as pleasing, to my ear, anyway--though that's a matter of taste.) The Eastman facility started out as a violin factory, which might account for the success of their carved models.

My 805CE is the archtop I take out most often--partly for practical reasons (it's easiest to wrangle in the playing environment I find myself in), but also because it plays well and sounds good acoustically and plugged in. (Actually, all my archtops share that quality--otherwise I wouldn't keep them.)

Jehu

I think a big part of the feel of a guitar is the fretboard radius. Selmers/Selmacs tend to have very flat radii -- usually around 20".

It's fairly unusual for an archtop to have anything much greater than a 12" radius, but you might check out the Godin 5th Ave line, most of which have a 16" radius.

Nejc

I agree with Jehu. The fretboard radius is probably the biggest factor in that wow feel when you pick up a selmac guitar. It just feels right.

Jazzaferri

Unless you have short large stonemason's fingers, whereupom neck width also becomes a major factor.

Like WoW....how am I going to play this sucker ROFL

humphrymusic

Looks like I've found a winner. I put an Eastman AR 403CE on layaway (can't bring home another guitar before Christmas since I bought a Hofner bass for my son's Christmas gift) yesterday.

You guys are right about the fret radius. My Maccaferri style guitars are just too familiar and comfy to my hands. The Eastman was the easiest to play. I tried the Godin and it didn't feel any better than my current Epiphone. It isn't exactly the feel of my Gypsy jazz guitars, but then no "off-the-rack" archtop is either. The Eastman comes closest for me, and it's priced well, sounds great and looks really nice.