I'm thinking of trading my ES75 copy in for (trading by selling and then using the money towards) a different type of hollow body. It's going to almost certainly involve a bit of expenditure beyond the value of my 175 simply because the one I have is an undervalued bargain. I'm ok with that but it means I'm going to either have to get something very close in value and quality, or something fairly spectacular to justify it. As a bit of a benchmark, the quality needs to be at least as good as the good quality 70s Japanese Ibanez stuff. Perhaps that's a little vague but I feel it covers it fairly well. Asbfar as budget goes, we're looking at definitely under £1000. I'm not sure where under, it really depends what's out there and what £500 could get me vs what £800 could.
Are there any undervalued brands to check out? I know there are a fair few pricey jazz boxes out there but it's not a market I'm familiar with. Ideally I want a neck pickup only model with a cutaway. Something slightly smaller than the ones in the pics would be a good thing too, although I'm ok with the large ones as well.
Iceybomb from ebay (pics link to auctions). Theres quite a difference in price between the cheapest and the most expensive.
The only archtop I have experience with is my Emperor Regent. I think the list price is £875 (or it used to be) and they go for about £650 - £700. I got mine second hand for £375, and it had an ebony piezo bridge installed, plus a second output (plus hole in the body for second output) which is probably why the price is so low.
I can't really compare it to other archtops (so my opinion is proabably worth ignoring), but it sounds fantastic, and any reviews I've read on it say about it being value for money, and that it punches above its weight. Mine's is about ten years old, maybe older. I think they've changed factory a coulpe of times, so I don't know what that means with regards quality. It has a laminated top, which puts a lot of people off, but it still looks great. Unplugged it sounds good. It's obviously not an acoustic, but it has a decent amount of attack and sustain unplugged, and a deepish tone. Plugged in it's amazing. It has a mini-humbucker in the neck, and that's all, with nothing mounted on the face of the guitar (the pickup's attached to the neck). I love this pickups, but I'm not sure if it's original (any pictures I've seen have a gold mini-humbucker, mine is black). The minihumbucker seems to have the darkness of a humbucker with the snap and dynamics of a single-coil. The guitar is great for bringing the rock. It has a big sound that overdives small tube amps like the Valve Junior or Champion 600 very quickly.
Buy a Guild from the states, at vinatge prices or newer 90's versions, they're the bast value in archtop guitars.
paul_ wrote:When are homeland security gonna get on this "2-piece King Size Snickers" horseshit that showed up a couple years ago? I've started dropping one of them on the floor of my car every time.
Find one in america and I'll ship it to you if they won't.
I played one of these on Denmark St and it was fantastic. If the Coronado I models came in LPB I'd consider one. Definitely not in Fender sunburst or cherry though. I'd consider a LPB II but it'd have to be for cheap.
jcyphe wrote:Buy a Guild from the states, at vinatge prices or newer 90's versions, they're the bast value in archtop guitars.
This looks like a good option. I've never played an old one but the quality looks to be there I'll look into it a bit more.
How far is Cheltenham? That sounds like sage advice.
Anything can be LPB if you want it bad enough. Hold out for blocks and bound. I have varying depths and I like thinner. Fat is a different sound, though.
If you don't need a cutaway, I'd recommend the Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin. Reasonable price but feels expensive and has a great 1940s jazz sound.
You could also look into the lower end Eastmans, which are made in Japan and extremely high quality. I think they start at around $1500 in the states.
The Epiphone Emperor is also very good for the money, but I'd still prefer the Godin if you're OK with a satin finish.
edit: You posted pictures of some Eastmans. I have played a few and they are very, very nice. A bit delicate, though, as the tops and finishes are very thin.
DuoSonicBoy wrote:If you don't need a cutaway, I'd recommend the Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin. Reasonable price but feels expensive and has a great 1940s jazz sound.
Goddamn, awesome.
Aug wrote:which one of you bastards sent me an ebay question asking if you can get teh kurdtz with that 64 mustang?
robertOG wrote:fran & paul are some of the original gangstas of the JS days when you'd have to say "phuck"
benecol wrote:Get thee to Vintage Strings in Cheltenham, jam fool. It's chock full of these rockabilly looking things.
The owner is definitely a bit crazy. To repeat a story I've told on here before he had some of his own archtops built, selling for around £450-500. He was talking about how gret the pickups were and I said "actually I want to play it unplugged most of the time" and he practically developed a nervvous twitch on the spot. He couldn't fathom why anyone would want to do that, and started explaining how they are desgned to sound good plugged in and not acoustically as though I was telling him i wanted the back of the guitar to be flat so I could use it as a cheese board.
My budget now is very different to what it was then, so I will take a look next time i'm over there. And as a way to highlight what we might be talking about, on the current shortlist is a Gretsch Anniversary (double or single, preferably vintage but modern is possible).
I'm wondering how much of my money will be going on the gretsch name and the sexy colour. I don't mind it going on the colour but I'm not so sure about the name. It'll be easily double the current highest purchase I've ever made so I don't want to jump straight into it.
So what is the budget nowadays, James? My friend at work has one of those Gretsches (a Korean one) - not sure it's the best I've ever played, to be honest. Did you see what happened to that Ormat?
Yeah I saw thw offset thread. As much as I think the guy selling it was a bit of a chonst, it's a shame for that to happen to an amp like that. I'd have been near tears if I'd have been the one opening that box.
I'm certain of the exact details, but it's my understanding that the '58, '59 and '60 anniversary models are the most desirable. They come with Filtertrons and an ebony fretboard. During '61 they gradually switched to HiLoTrons and Rosewood. I've only seen a few 62 and 64 models and one 63 for sale and theyve been at around 1,300-1,500. With a better exchange rate (perhaps when there's less Obama excitement and Brown sorts out the pound a bit) I think I could get from America for around £1,200 all in.
The reissues have an 'ebonized' rosewood fretboard which looks better than the mid 60s rosewood. They also have a square emblem on the headstock which is quite ugly though. Those are something like rrp £1,500, and you can pick up second hand models for £1,000 to £1,200 without much problem. Also I think the vintage are American and the RI are japanese. Perhaps the Korean one is an electromatic type? I've played a couple of those and wasn't won over. They're certainly alright mid-price guitars but nothing spectacular. Histerically, people are selling pre-2003 RI models (I might have th exact year wrong there) as 'pre-Fender' as though it gives some sort of pre-CBS mojo points. Perhaps they did change the spec a bit, I dunno. I think it says a lot about the quality of the RIs if the vintage are just keeping ahead of it though, so I'm not going all out for vintage.
So I guess the budget is 1,200 at a push, and more like 1,000-1,100. That means selling my Mustang (which is going to happen) and selling my ES175 (which will only happen to fund something like this).
The thing is, and as I've said to stewart and donk, once you get to the sort of 900+ range, all sorts of fantastic guitars come available to you. You can pick up vintage SGs for that sort of money as well as endless top quality modern stuff. As much as i'd like a wrapover bridge SG and to sit around playing Fugazi riffs all day, I do very much need an archtop. I figure one top drawer archtop and the rob(og) custom and I'd be greedy to ask for much more. I might grab one sub £250 solidbody as a sort of backup or whatever, but I think I could manage not to go beyond that.
The gretsch idea is partly being held together by how good it looks. I could possibly grab one of the Guilds jycphe mentioned or the low end Eastman or whatever when you start getting towards a grand. I guess one way to put it - I currently have an archtop that is incredible for £350. I want to buy one that is incedible for £1,000.
Gotcha - can't fault your reasoning; I'd thought along similar lines (maybe just one price bracket down) with my Jazzmaster as poshest (it's AVRI), then baritone and tele as two cheaper but fun guitars. It was an Electromatic I'd played, and I wasn't impressed (had to pretend to be, though, and the bloke had paid full ticket price in the shop). The MIJ semi's I've played have been excellent. Not sure if they've been mentioned yet, but I had a DeArmond Starfire Bass that was amazing - the guitars are meant to be ace too.
i thought i wanted an electromatic archtop, but upon demoing one.... i didnt. it felt really really bad, i felt almost like i was new to guitar, nothing came naturally. maybe after some adjustment... but no, im used to playing strange guitars. that one just sucked.
i would avoid.
those reverends look great! hadnt seen those before. nice.
oh yeah, and get a wrap around tailpiece sg. then sell your other guitars which are undoubtedly less rawk (as im sure you will find) and buy an archtop with that money.
I would echo what benecol said about the Korean Gretschs. They look like they'd be OK, but they really don't feel or sound very nice. It's all the outlines but none of the color, as I like to say. The Japanese ones are better, but something about them still feels a bit off to me.
You've already talked yourself up to 1200GBP for something special. In that range, you might as well save up for a bit longer and get a 50s Gibson. I see ES-125s and ES-150s come up in the $1200US range all the time here. It seems that with time you could track down a cutaway version and have something really great that will never lose value.
Either that or an Eastman, which is about equal in quality if not feel.
