Archtops are hollow body or semi hollow body acoustic guitars with F-holes and having a back and top which are curved like a cello, pickups are optional. Here are a bunch of Archtop guitars in the $400 to $800 range. These are affordable in my book. I have seen some other Archtops which go for what I would pay for a car, not affordable in my book.
I am looking for something to play some jazzy tunes on around the house. Always wanted an archtop since my seeing and hearing some of my guitar teacher's guitars. These first bunch have a Venetian cutaway (rounded lobe), while the second batch sport a Florentine cutaway (pointy lobe).
Gretsch G100CE, Spruce top with maple back and sides, rosewood fretboard and bridge. I like the matte finish and the simplicity of the design. The body is 16" at its widest and 2.75 inches in depth. 25.5" scale and 20 frets.
Epiphone Emperor Regent, spruce top, maple back and sides, rosewood bridge. Scale length 25.5" and 20 frets. Not bad looking, a nice clean design, but I don't like the gold hardware. It also comes in an antique sunburst finish, but prefer the natural.
2 Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor IIs, same construction as the Emperor Regent, but with a 24.75" scale for 20 frets and 2 pickups. Starting to look busy.
Washburn J5, maple top/back/sides, rosewood fretboard and bridge. What a hideous tail piece. Too much gold and I don't much like the color. I hope I don't like the way it plays.
2 Ibanez AF75s, the blue is not a current model, too bad. The red is OK. It also comes in orange and brown sunburst neither of which get my vote. All maple construction, adjustable metal bridge, 24.75" scale and 22 frets.
Ibanez AF95, flamed maple top/back/sides and gold hardware otherwise similar to the AF75.
Washburn J3, the first of the Florentine cutaway models. Same construction as the Washburn J5, but with silver hardware. To me it makes the Big "dubya" tailpiece less offensive. It also comes in a natural finish, but that seems hard to find.
Washburn HB15C, mahogany top/back/sides, rosewood bridge, 24.75" scale, 20 frets. I like the basic look, but for some reason it looks cheap.
Ibanez AK80, spruce top, flamed maple back and sides, rosewood bridge, 24.75" scale, 20 frets. I like the look of it even though I prefer the Venetian cutaway and don't like the color that much. I would probably ditch the pickguard, the black should probably only be on the lower edge. Also not sure about the location of the pickup selector.
Epiphone ES-175 re-issue, all maple construction, 24.75" scale, 20 frets, adjustable bridge and some cheap looking wacky tailpiece.
Now I just have to locate some of these guitars and give them a try.
Just played a AF75, transparent Red Sunburst. The tailpiece was the same as the AK80 shown above. The AF75 pictures above must be old. Had a thin sound acoustically, neck width was fine, neck thickness was on the thin side and fine. Played well up and down the fretboard. Liked it, but didn't love it. Also played the AG95, slightly smaller body, solid tailpiece, was just OK. Not properly set up, action too low, but played similar to the AF75. - KR
ReplyDelete