Best archtops?

vanmalmsteen · May 2018

Well that didn’t work .lol
They do sound pretty darn good though

vanmalmsteen · May 2018

plexi69 · May 2018

[quote="Bones;94307". But I get the whole vintage nostalgia thing.[/quote]

It is more then nostalgia. That is like saying old Gypsy guitars are more for nostalgia. If nostalgia was the only thing older guitars bring to the table, then the prices and the demand wouldn't be what they are. But I do also say different strokes for different folks.

Bones · June 2018

Hmmm, actually I think elevated prices for old instruments are all about nostalgia. What else would it be about? There are great sounding old guitars and horrible sounding old guitars (I'm not talking exclusively about Selmers or archtops). Plus old instruments are more fragile and fraught with damage, sometimes abused/repaired, etc.

Conversely, there are great sounding new instruments and some dogs. A lot of the instruments built today are WAY better built than a lot of vintage instruments, especially factory instruments. The techniques and technology are just better now. And the artisan builders are doing great work as well. Nothing at all inherently better with an ancient instrument than a new one IMHO.

A great sounding old instrument will get a higher price than a great sounding new instrument just because of the nostalgia thing, right?

Again, I get the nostalgia thing, I'm just not into it. I'm not a collector. I used to be a little bit with guitars and also cars. I just lost the love affair with old stuff that was always fraught with fragility and needed to be treated with kid gloves and afraid to take out of the house. I use the stuff. That said, I have WAY too many guitars because I also like to build them (not because I want to collect them).

Again, don't get me wrong, there are great sounding old instruments and if you are into the nostalgia thing and you have an old guitar that sounds great "Yay" you hit the jackpot.

Lango-Django · June 2018

Yes, what Mike is saying is particularly true of antique archtops, the vast majority of which sound like shite.

But yes, this must be some sort of golden age for new acoustic guitars... not only do we have access to some wonderful new niche luthiers like Bob Holo, Michael Dunn, and many others... we also have Asian Selmer copies available for just a few hundred bucks that are quite reasonable beginner/intermediate guitars... the likes of which we never had prior to the year 2000 or so...

Russell Letson · June 2018

The nostalgia I experience in the matter of guitars is how they sound--my '46 Epiphone has the sound that hear in old recordings, and that sound is not that easily found in modern instruments, unless the builder has made a point of building with that in mind. I recommend the videos made by Jonathan Stout, who is quite articulate about the qualities he wants and is good at showing what his various instruments can do.

(This post covers more territory than that, but it gives a sense of Stout's sense of sonics and history: https://www.campusfive.com/swingguitarblog/2017/1/25/the-realities-of-playing-acoustic-swing-rhythm-guitar.html)

Nor am I sure that old necessarily means fragile. Certainly both mid-1940s archtops I've owned were tough customers that stood up to playing out. And I just restrung a 98-year-old Martin 0-18. I had to have a replacement bridge made when the original cracked through, and it probably needs a neck reset. But then, my 1965 Guild has had the same procedures.

chazz · June 2018

Eastman and Washburn have lower priced guitars not sure about no cutaways. They look great and get good reviews.
I loved my Gibson L5 CES. Miss it

ChrisMartin · June 2018

Bones wrote: »

Hmmm, actually I think elevated prices for old instruments are all about nostalgia. What else would it be about? There are great sounding old guitars and horrible sounding old guitars (I'm not talking exclusively about Selmers or archtops). Plus old instruments are more fragile and fraught with damage, sometimes abused/repaired, etc.

Conversely, there are great sounding new instruments and some dogs. A lot of the instruments built today are WAY better built than a lot of vintage instruments, especially factory instruments. The techniques and technology are just better now. And the artisan builders are doing great work as well. Nothing at all inherently better with an ancient instrument than a new one IMHO.

A great sounding old instrument will get a higher price than a great sounding new instrument just because of the nostalgia thing, right?

Again, I get the nostalgia thing, I'm just not into it. I'm not a collector. I used to be a little bit with guitars and also cars. I just lost the love affair with old stuff that was always fraught with fragility and needed to be treated with kid gloves and afraid to take out of the house. I use the stuff. That said, I have WAY too many guitars because I also like to build them (not because I want to collect them).

Again, don't get me wrong, there are great sounding old instruments and if you are into the nostalgia thing and you have an old guitar that sounds great "Yay" you hit the jackpot.

But the main problem here is that nostalgia ain't what it used to be......