Fun Question Of The Month--March

pdg

Archtops are more susceptible to needing to be played -- both over time, and recently. I think it's because the wood is thicker. So just picking up an archtop that may or may not have been played in a while can be misleading.

paulmcevoy75

Thanks for all that @MichaelHorowitz that explains a lot.

A friend of mine has one of these Otto D'Ambrosio Eastmans. It's a very fun guitar to play and wildly weird and very creative. I have no idea about the acoustic sound. I want one but not enough for the $$$$.

https://reverb.com/item/94527354-eastman-er4-pb-otto-d-ambrosio-electric-guitar-w-hard-case-free-pro-setup?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17682351984&utm_content=campaignid=17682351984_adgroupid=143800496052_productpartitionid=1685439824045=merchantid=747757019_productid=94527354_keyword=_device=m_adposition=_matchtype=_creative=608998621633&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17682351984&gclid=CjwKCAiAqprNBhB6EiwAMe3yhpLr1B0INwyRoJasPRleAEp9ETtDyfQfh0WubpSsXwrI2ad_QTUNjxoCENMQAvD_BwE

pdg

Here's a nice 1978 Ibanez acoustic archtop.

20260303_104504.jpg

SwingOfFrance

I recently had the opportunity to compare a 1947 Selmer and a 1939 Epiphone Triumph. Both are truly acoustic guitars with roughly the same volume. The Selmer has a smoother sound with sustained notes, but the Epiphone is more versatile. However, I think that this Selmer and this Epiphone have their own spirit that you won't find on other models from that era, which also have their own incredible personalities. 

scot

I guess everyone has known those guitars that you just can't forget, no matter how long ago it was that you played them. I have 5 or 6 (maybe a good topic for another fun question) of these and one of them was an early 50s D'Angelico Excel, natural finish, beautiful curly maple and no cutaway. This guitar was battered and had been used by a NYC pro who had retired to S Florida. Don't know how to describe it except to say it was as perfect a guitar as I ever played. It was a breeze to play and the sound just kind of flowed from it, and it had all the mojo in the world. It was only about $9k, why I didn't buy it I don't know. I guess everyone has the ones that got away, too.

I had never considered that the skill needed to make a great archtop - and the need for that kind of guitar - had been lost. Michael's post and @voutoreenie's that followed were the most interesting posts in a long time. Thanks, guys.

@voutoreenie, I also have a vintage blackface Princeton Reverb and I've never needed another amp for anything.

Agreed, @bbwood_98 those were good days. Did you know that our host lived in GSO back then too?

voutoreenie

And one more anecdote from the cranial archives just to confuse everyone even more, back in the 2000s, Count Basie Big Band came to town and I got a chance to meet their guitarist Will Matthews (who is just a gem of a person)...he was utterly baffled at meeting some baby faced, yet super enthused kid in his early 20s talking to him about Freddie Green chords while he was trying to hock CDs...but then Will was also super enthused about it too (especially after I bought his CD) and we ended up exchanging contact info, emailing each other every now and again for a few years.

Anyway tho, his axe?? Dude was playing some kind of D’Angelico copy from Asia. So yeah, now I'm immediately backtracking on what I said upthread about how all the best archtop players I've met are playing vintage archtops lmao

@ scot Indeed, gotta love those blackface Princeton Reverbs!! I got mine in mint condition for $300 off of eBay back in 2003-2004 and from a local seller to boot...lord knows I miss those good ol' days of eBay when it was still primarily individual sellers and the vintage gear market hadn't gone completely insane yet lol

bbwood_98

@scot Yeah, @MichaelHorowitz and I have chatted about UNCG he was there before me by just about 1 or two years (and still looks younger then me. . .must be the milage!)

@voutoreenie and @MichaelHorowitz great info guys! this has been way fun to remember all those cool guitars.

@SwingOfFrance beautiful instruments man wow!

@Buco - I own a pretty great prototype eastman (I think it's a 600 series, carved top and back, laminate sides) electric archtop. I remember in early 00's seeing them at the Long Island Guitar show and being totally blown away acoustically by the guitars (especially then by the 7 string) but the acoustic quality changed over the years and when I looked again in 2012 or 2013 they didn't impress me as much as acoustic archtop.

@paulmcevoy75 - how do we get you to build one or two lol!!??

Buco

@bbwood_98 yes, this was right around 2000.

MichaelHorowitz

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/124633#Comment_124633

Anything with a mounted humbucker isn’t going to have much of an acoustic sound. Occasionally one with a top mounted humbucker will surprise you, but generally it’s best to look for purely acoustic archtops or ones with floating pickups that allow the top resonate normally. Even Django stopped using Selmer 503 acoustically once he bolted a Stimer into the top which is why he got 704 for his Italian tour with Grappelli.