Archtop players?

ALR · April 2023

I was wondering if anyone else here plays an archtop? I got an Epiphone Masterbuilt Century Deluxe about 4 years ago as a sort of offbeat purchase to get me to think out of the box for songwriting. I love it! I've recently been learning some jazz/blues chord melody on Truefire with it.

Who else has one, what have you got, what do you play on it - and have you ever tried it with flatwounds?

Tannin · April 2023

No, but I've been thinking about getting one, on and off, for several years. Little by little, the urge has grown stronger. One day, sooner or later, I dare say I'll go with it.

My playing has been trending in that jazz/blues chord melody direction for a while now, and I've taken to usually having a set of flatwounds on one or other of my flattops.

Mind you, acoustic archtops are not something you see everywhere, they are quite uncommon. Most of the archtops I see are designed for electric use and not fully playable unamplified.

PS: I love Galli Jazz Flat strings. https://www.stringsandbeyond.com/galli-acoustic-guitar-strings-ajf1252-medium-12-52.html

joeW · April 2023

2 of my archtops are loud enough to be played unplugged (have floating pu’s). Sounds great to record the acoustic and run a separate channel with pu’s using an OX. I like big round pure nickel strings for acoustic archtops in a solo context - flats are good for Freddie Green thunk

ALR · April 2023

Thankyou for the link to the Galli strings, I will try and get hold of some here in the UK. I'm curious to try flats, after initially findging regular acoustic strings too bright I've been using Daddatio Flat Tops - which had been fine - but I will experiment again and see what the difference is.

WezV · April 2023

i've been making a few electric small hollow bodied archtops over the last few years. this one focused on more acoustic tone than the others with a solid spruce top instead of the hardwoods i used on the others.

It's about the size of a Les Paul, but with full acoustic depth. it also has a bigger neck block which allows an electric style neck join and a solidly mounted pickup - after that it is fully archtop construction and sounds glorious. Obviously not as much acoustic volume as a big achtop, but gets more sustain and is a bit brighter than they usually are

I like Newtone Archtop strings. they are not flat wound so can squeak a little, but have a double wrap of finer winds on a round core

ALR · April 2023

That's a lovely looking guitar WezV :-)

failed_astronaut · April 2023

I have a mid-90s Epiphone Joe Pass that I bought at the tail end of 2021 from a chap on FB marketplace for £350. Jazz isn't my main musical outlet but it's had a satisfying amount of use at jam nights, big band shows and combo gigs over the past year.

I had to replace the electrics as they were starting to go (six string supplies LP harness kit) and I've replaced the neck pickup with a Bare Knuckles Stormy Monday (also found on marketplace) as the original was a bit too hot and woofy for my liking. It has D'addario flatwound 11s on it but I'm contemplating going up to 12s for a bit more "thump".

All in all I've probably spent a couple of hundred pounds on getting it to a place where I'm happy with it but that's the journey isn't it? It's been a great tool to help me get back into Jazz playing.

It doesn't stop me endlessly browsing gumtree and marketplace for a 335 style guitar though!

Here it is at a combo gig earlier this month -

https://imgur.com/gallery/0c9giNF

Winny_Pooh · April 2023

Does a Selmer style count?

I've been using mine for Gypsy Jazz and general playing.

smigeon · April 2023

I have a couple of archtops. The one I like and use the most is an Eastman AR371CE. I recorded with this a lot in COVID times, and now I take it out to jazz-ish jams and practices. I play it through a little Mambo combo amp and it sounds really "fine and mellow".

I did change the pickup it came with - ironically enough, to an Irongear Blues Engine that I bought on a whim. Despite this not seeming like it would have the most ideal jazzy credentials, it sounds really good to me. For the last couple of years I've had flatwounds on the guitar and use the wooden bridge (it came with two bridges: a fixed-intonation wooden one and a tuneomatic). The flatwounds (Thomastic Infeld jazz 11's) sound a lot better to me on this guitar than the ordinary roubdwounds it came with.

I love this guitar! It is/was a relative cheapy but I enjoy it much more than much more expensive Gibsons I've had in the past (an ES175 and an L4).

Jalapeno · April 2023

Got 5 outright archtops, TI flatwounds on all of them ! Ranging from a (relativey) recent Epiphone Broadway with new pickups (that gets played/gigged a lot), Hagstrom Jimmy (oval hole), a vintage 50s carved top Framus Black Rose, a s/h bargain Benedetto Benny, to my pride and joy Sadowsky Jim Hall.

Tannin · April 2023

Cheers @ALR. Flat Tops are strange strings aren't they! Actual flatwounds are a very different. I wrote a bit about them in these recent-ish threads:

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/221510/flat-tops
https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/235210/heresy-i-tried-galli-flatwound-brass-and-liked-them

It's a shame the UK has such awful import restrictions, over here in Oz I can order anything I like from the US or Europe or the UK or New Zealand or China and once the order is in all I have to do is trundle down to the post office to collect the mail.

ALR · April 2023

Tannin said:

...over here in Oz I can order anything I like from the US or Europe or the UK or New Zealand or China and once the order is in all I have to do is trundle down to the post office to collect the mail.

And I was in Melbourne at the start of the month, I could have picked some up from the Acoustic and Bass Centre in Southbank! If only I'd known! I'm sure I'll be able to get some from somewhere in the UK or EU, if just to try them out.

I read your post about the Daddario Flats - to me they were certainly better than regular acoustic guitar strings for this purpose, but I'm keen to try out the Gallis. I'll get some ordered next month.

p90fool · May 2023

I have a The Loar LH300 knocking about the house which is my go-to writing guitar.
I've fitted P90s to it but rarely plug it in, and the electric hardware made no discernible difference to acoustic volume, surprisingly.

@WezV that's my dream Les Paul!

DavidR · May 2023

Yes. I have an archtop. It's quite jolly.

Ibanez Contemporary Archtop AFC95 - Violin Matte | Sweetwater

I play it ABY'd between a Roland Cube and a Roland JC Jazz Chorus 22. I have only ever put Daddario Chromes on it ECG24 which are, as you describe, flat wound. They seem fine.

I don't play it too much because acoustic is my first love. The neck on the Ibanez is a bit narrow even for me, and I have thin fingers. Apart from that, it plays very comfortably and has a nice smooth neck. I think I bought the Ibanez because I had had great fun restoring a Hofner Senator. When I gave it away to someone as a present, I bought the Ibanez as a replacement. Mainly 'cos its pretty tbh! The build is very nice. Its sometimes good for simple melodic pieces and I play it with just fingers using the volume of the amps (cheating) to make up for lack of picks/plectrum. For me it classifies as an electric though so mostly it hangs on the wall where I can look at it!

Ibanez have a good rep for archtops I think. There's certainly a lot of them in their catalogue.

susbemol · May 2023

I have played archtop guitars for many years as well but currently only own an Ibanez PM-100. Pretty much always use Thomastik 12s or 13s.

Tannin · May 2023

@susbemol how does that lovely-looking guitar play acoustically? Does it need to be plugged in to give its best?

ALR · May 2023

There are some lovely looking archtop electrics! I was originally wondering if there were any *acoustic* archtop players (hence me posting in this forum). A week and a bit after I posted I'm wondering if I really am the only one?

susbemol · May 2023

Tannin said:

@susbemol how does that lovely-looking guitar play acoustically? Does it need to be plugged in to give its best?

I does sound nice and loud enough to be used that way.

I almost always play plugged in though, unless it's just a bit of quick practice or messing around with arrangements, etc.

Penn · May 2023

I have this. It’s got flat wounds on and is hard to play but I love it. It’s been in the family since it was new or at least newish. It was my great uncles.

I’ve also got a Gibson ES-345 but that’s sort of run of the mill by comparison.

guitarjack66 · May 2023

ALR said:

There are some lovely looking archtop electrics! I was originally wondering if there were any *acoustic* archtop players (hence me posting in this forum). A week and a bit after I posted I'm wondering if I really am the only one?

I'd love to play and be the owner of an acoustic archtop but it's a bucket list item for me.

danishbacon · May 2023

On acoustic archtops, flatwounds give a dryer tone and a bit less volume especially on the wound strings. Rounds come with more overtones and zing and give the Archtop a different voice.

rogd · May 2023

I hope this link works OK.
An interesting video about James D'Aquisto making an archtop.
D'Aquisto was John D'Anglico's apprentice in New York.

p90fool · May 2023

ALR said:

There are some lovely looking archtop electrics! I was originally wondering if there were any *acoustic* archtop players (hence me posting in this forum). A week and a bit after I posted I'm wondering if I really am the only one?

Well no, as I said above, I have one of these;

https://www.djangobooks.com/Item/the-loar-lh-300-vs

jimmyguitar · May 2023

I love this gig David Rawlings played with Gillian Welch, his archtop sounds so good as an accompanying instrument to Gillian’s J-50
https://youtu.be/9eF7gywHMxw

ALR · May 2023

Well I've tried a good half hour of searching and I just cannot find any Galli Flats here in the UK, looks like it will be back to Daddario Flat Tops at the next change.

Tannin · May 2023

https://lordofthestrings.com/en/guitar/acoustic/6-string/galli-ajf1252-bronze-80-20-flat-wound-medium-light.html

https://www.stringsandbeyond.com/galli-acoustic-guitar-strings-ajf1252-medium-12-52.html

ALR · May 2023

Thankyou @Tannin ;

I've ordered some 11-50s from Lord Of The Strings. Will post an update once they've arrived from the Netherlands and I've had chance to try them.

Tannin · May 2023

Cheers mate. I bet your order (today) gets to you (in the UK) before my order (about 5 days ago) gets to me here in Oz.

Mind you, I ordered a couple of things that were out of stock, so it won't even leave for another week or so. That's OK, I have other strings to use first.

Glad you could track some down and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

ROOG · May 2023

I have a Peerless Gigmaster Jazz in a dark red translucent colour, the feed back can be quite fun.
I was quite surprised by how different flat wound strings sound. I then tried them on my telecaster, that did seem weird.

Looks a lot like this one Peerless Gigmaster Jazz | Guitars 'n Jazz (guitarsnjazz.com)

ALR · May 2023

Just and update that my Galli flatwounds arrived on Wednesday, having been ordered the previous Friday - not bad.

I've fitted them this afternoon, and my 10 minute appraisal so far is that I really like them, instantly better than the Daddario Falt Tops I've been using the for last couple of years. I'm planning on putting some heavy practice in over the next month, so I'll come back and comment again when I'm more used to them. Thanks again @Tannin ;

Tannin · May 2023

Amen Brother ALR, happy to Spread the Good Word.

My Lord of the Strings order shipped today - pretty good going given the out of stocks.

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