School me on Hollowbodies/Archtops

[Inconuucl]

I want to trade my Fender JA-90 for a hollow bodied guitar. Want to be able to play both plugged and unplugged. What's the good word on this? Something that I can't get around the same price as the JA-90 and will sound ace.

[Chankgeez]

You's gonna have to be a little bit more specific.

New? Old? Doesn't matter?

Big? Little? Doesn't matter?

Better as electric? better as acoustic? Doesn't matter?

Is "ace" hi-fi? Lo-fi? Doesn't matter?

[Inconuucl]

You's gonna have to be a little bit more specific.

New? Old? Doesn't matter?

Big? Little? Doesn't matter?

Better as electric? better as acoustic? Doesn't matter?

Is "ace" hi-fi? Lo-fi? Doesn't matter?

Age is just a number bb.

So is size, I like me a giant archtop as much as the smaller piece...But I need to learn more about them before making a more informed opinion, is one of the reasons I made this thread.

I record a lot acoustically, like literally just using my mic and ipad software, fairly lo-fi approach.

[Chankgeez]

I always suggest going into a music store and playing as many as you possibly can. Helps narrow down what you like and what you don't like.

[niftyprose]

Meh, archtops is complex.

The original idea was to make guitars like violins or cellos, with a curved top carved from a single block of wood. Guitars still made like that tend to have a loud, bright sound with a very hard attack -- listen to the rhythm guitar on big band jazz records.

But many jazz archtops are made from laminated timber that was formed in a press, and they're damped by having a pound or two of electric components embedded in the top. They're acoustically quiet and electrically mellow, and that's the sound that people now associate most with jazz guitar.

Then there are variants like the ES-335 that have rudimentary thin bodies with lots of embedded solid wood so that they're more like a solidbody....

...plus others more obscure.

It would help if you told us who you wanna be (Joe Pass? Freddie Green? Derek Bailey?)

x.

[Gone Fission]

Epi Casinos and Gibson ES-330s add to the confusion by being thin-bodied but fully hollow with laminated wood.

Wish I knew more in this zone. To someone not accustomed, the Ibanez Artcore stuff has been impressive in stores from the low end small 335-ish stuff to the higher end jazz box with floating pickup.

[Inconuucl]

It would help if you told us who you wanna be (Joe Pass? Freddie Green? Derek Bailey?)

x.

I'm a Derek Bailey that wants to be a Joe Pass.

[niftyprose]

Aha! I think you're more electric than you're letting on. (I met Derek when I was just a wee thing, and he LOVED his ol' fuzzpedal.) But I think you need a bit of acoustic functionality too. If you have a few hundred to spend, look at the Godin 5th Avenue models, which are inexpensive but manage to have some character of their own, besides looking and feeling like something Derek (or Joe) might keep under the bed. If the budget won't stretch, buy one of the Japanese lawsuit-era copies of a big Gibson jazzer, but be prepared to DYOR on the good brands and factories. If the term 'budget' makes you giggle, check out one of the German post-war brands that are just getting hyped now. That will wipe the smile off yr. face...

x

PS https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... mQm6E8KY7_

[Chankgeez]

PS https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... mQm6E8KY7_

I was just thinking of Bell, Book and Candle today. Weird.

[shikawkee]

IMO it will be really difficult to find a good archtop for the same as the JA-90.

I was on this quest many times over the years. After much miss I finally hit with a Dale Unger designed Martin archtop. Not cheap but not all that expensive either for what you're getting. It comes with Seymour Duncan PAF's but I put Peter Florence PAF's in it and it kills. Probably $2500. all in?

This was after spending way more than that buying and trading and buying and trading and losing a lot in resale on lesser models.

If you bought one directly from Dale it would be $6500-10,000. but his guitars are aces. I'm very, very happy with the Martin version. They pop up on Reverb from time to time. They were only made for a year or two.

[Chankgeez]

shikawkee, I think we have opposing taste in archtops.

I'd just get something like this and call it a day:

https://reverb.com/item/20535432-kay-sh ... shell-case

[shikawkee]

shikawkee, I think we have opposing taste in archtops.

I'd just get something like this and call it a day:

https://reverb.com/item/20535432-kay-sh ... shell-case

I had an old Silvertone like that for a while. It was cool and I dug it but over time it was unsatisfying. Not enough tone for me unplugged. YMMV.

[repoman]

I don't know many archtop electrics that you could play acoustically, maybe a Howard Roberts could?
I think there were some Epiphone Reissues a while ago.

[dubkitty]

look at the Epiphone archtops, especially the ones in the Elitist Series. i have the massive hots for their Emperor Regent model, which is a 16" or 17" box with a single Johnny Smith style fingerboard-mount mini-hum. Eastman also has some sick values in their range. forget about carved vs. pressed tops; carved tops start well above either of our price ranges.

[Snufkino]

Anyone have any experience or preference regarding humbuckers vs P90's in an archtop?