Old Harmony guitars, for example, used laminated and occasionally solid birch as opposed to solid spruce and maple (though rarely, some did use carved spruce tops). The main thing that separates cheaper archtops from more expensive ones are the materials used, the skill of the builder, and the brand's prestige. ![]() In fact, there are a ton you can find for less than $1,000. Now, there are archtops available that are significantly less than that. Pre-Gibson Epiphone archtops are a bit cheaper, but the cheaper models still typically sell between $1,000 and $1,500. The age and relative rarity of many acoustic archtops inflate their price, and many may require repairs to bring them to playing condition.įor example, a vintage Gibson L-7 can go for more than $2,000 (and generally go for closer to $3,000). But acoustic archtops are, for the most part, a different story. ![]() Larger archtops are also louder, but because they don’t cut as well as smaller instruments, the difference isn’t extreme.Ĭompared to most instrumentalists, guitarists are fortunate to have a wide array of budget-friendly buying options available to them. The larger an archtop gets, the more it emphasizes bass and low-mid frequencies. Archtops at 16 inches have a very tight and focused sound, with a strong mid-range presence. It shows the work that goes into archtop construction and is a good illustration of why high-end archtops cost as much as they do.īuilding an Archtop Guitar (via Will Ehster)Īrchtops vary in size, generally ranging from 16 inches to 19 inches on the lower bout. The video below is a timelapse of a luthier building an archtop guitar. It’s very time-consuming and labor-intensive, making guitars with carved tops significantly more expensive than those with laminate or pressed wood tops. However, when a luthier carves a piece of wood, they do so in a way that brings out its best acoustic qualities, making carved wood more desirable.Ī solid carved top is wood that is carved into shape by a luthier. This sounds significantly better than laminated wood. It also allows these guitars to have a better frequency production.Ī solid pressed top is a solid piece of wood that is heated and then pressed into shape by a machine. Solid wood is simply a solid piece of wood that resonates much more freely than laminate wood, typically making the guitars built with it louder. Guitars made from laminated wood don’t resonate well, so they’re quieter and have a lower production of frequencies. Neither of these options sound all that great. Laminate wood is several thin pieces of wood glued together, or ground up wood that is glued together and covered with a veneer. This will make the sections that follow easier to understand. Key Terminologyīefore we get into specific brands and models, let's start with the basic terminology below. If you’re more interested in high-end options, stay tuned for a part two coming soon here on Reverb. We'll discuss what repairs they might need and examine some key models to look out for should you decide to purchase one. To help you avoid this sort of confusion, we're going to give you the scoop on what to look for in a low-end vintage archtop. This is especially true for the lower end of the market, where a search for information often requires a crawl through vague advice on dead forum threads and tracking down jpegs of old catalogs on dormant websites. Yet for all the historical importance and modern interest, information on vintage archtop guitars isn’t as widely available as it should be. Dave Rawlings - with his '30s Epiphone Olympic - is a great example. More and more builders are returning to the template, and there’s a growing number of musicians looking for archtops to play swing and "hot jazz," along with roots and country artists who’ve adopted these instruments for their unique percussive tone. ![]() More recently though, the acoustic archtop has experienced a resurgence.
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