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Let's talk about acoustic archtops!


Stackabones

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I own, and coming to love, a Godin 5th avenue. I specifically went with it rather than the kingpin because I just wanted the acoustic/ no pickup. If I want to mic it I can. I love the build of this guitar. However an archtop is really different. This guitar wants to be played hard. Thanks to Elias I now get it. I have been playing it exclusively for about three months. Yesterday I picked up a flat top dread, and I am not sure I like the sound any more. It really threw me. Completely different sound and had to relearn to play it. I do like my 5th Ave.

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Just got my Epiphone Zephyr Regent back from setup! NGD thread sometime in the next couple of days!
:rawk:



Very cool! :thu: I am looking forward to your review. I did try one out here in my city and it sure was a beauty but I was surprised with the real low frets. Is yours like that? I didn't have a chance to plug it in but I really liked the neck on it.
I want an archtop bad but I want one with a 24.75" scale neck. I understand the Regent is long scale 25.5? I am thinking the Epi ES-175 would be my choice. I did try one of those and it too had real "low" frets but it had a bad fret up around the 13-14th fret on the 1st string. It was also cheaper than the Regent I tried previously.

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I used to own a 1950 ES125. Great elec sound out of the P90 but not much unamplified.
Was always afraid to put anything heavier than 10s on it cause it was so old & valuble.
Wound up selling it to get a Gibson Banjo.

I would love to have a really loud archtop, that could hang in a bluegrass jam, but it prob would cost way too much.
Perhaps the Django style flattops might be better for what I would like?

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I would love to have a really loud archtop, that could hang in a bluegrass jam, but it prob would cost way too much.

Perhaps the Django style flattops might be better for what I would like?

 

 

I have three guitars that I bought for acoustic volume: an archtop, a gypsy jazz guitar and a single-cone resonator. For lead lines with a flatpick, the resonator is the loudest and punchiest, but the lines are a bit clouded with reverb from the body. And it doesn't sound great strumming backup.

 

The archtop cuts through really well for both lead lines and backup, but it demands constant strength from the player. If there's any letup the volume drops off sharply.

 

The gypsy jazz guitar cuts through a little better than the archtop, though as I get more into the guitar's bass territory the cutting power fades. Compared to the archtop, it takes less sustained effort to coax volume from the gypsy jazz guitar.

 

Lately the gypsy jazz guitar has been my first choice for jams, since it's lighter than the others. And the strings are lighter as well, which allows me to play much longer before soreness becomes an issue.

 

Someday I would love to add a banjo-guitar to the collection to see how it compares.

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