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Post by gaucho on Oct 21, 2014 15:04:15 GMT
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Post by lavinci on Oct 21, 2014 16:47:57 GMT
The older Guilds, from the 1950's are outstanding guitars for blues and slide.
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Post by snakehips on Oct 21, 2014 19:43:14 GMT
Hi there !
Gaucho - have you ever played one of those 1950's archtop acoustic Nationals ?
I bought one a number of years ago on ebay. It came with a Dearmond Rhythm Chief Model 1000 pickup on it. $ 125 plus shipping !
A bargain.
For the Dearmond pickup, that is !
As for the guitar, the neck was banana'd and so the fretboard was beginning to unglue from the neck. It has some sort of metal rod through the neck - but not an adjustable truss-rod. And it didn't stop the neck bending. Tuning stability was horrendous - despite having Kluson tuners in decent condition, on it.
The guitar sounded thin. The neck was really thin too. Looked cool enough BUT that was all it had going for it - IMHO. I've been shot down once before on this forum for slagging off these guitars, and risk the same again, just to save anyone from wasting the sorts of stupid money that that seller is asking for this one.
As for other non-expensive achtops, i think you could fair better with a Harmony than a Hofner. I have had both. I have a Hofner Congress from the 1950's - with script Hofner decal, rather than the later (less cool) block letters.
I had two Harmony archtops. To be fair, they were both semi-acoustics - one with a P13 Gibson pickup (with individual adjustable polepieces) and one with a later P13 copy pickup (non-adjustable) but they were both a bit better than my Hofner.
I think you either need to physically get one in your hands to try out OR be happy to buy from a distance and take a risk. You might be pleasantly surprised !
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Post by gaucho on Oct 21, 2014 20:09:23 GMT
'I think you either need to physically get one in your hands to try out OR be happy to buy from a distance and take a risk. You might be pleasantly surprised !" -- Agreed! I feel that way about all guitars really.
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 21, 2014 20:57:23 GMT
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Post by snakehips on Oct 21, 2014 21:56:26 GMT
Now that's in a completely different league !
Very nice !
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epc3
MM Forum Member
Posts: 8
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Post by epc3 on Oct 22, 2014 0:39:09 GMT
I have a Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin (non cutaway). I love it. It sounds great acoustically or plugged in clean. With overdrive it sounds like a bronchial tramp, it's terrific. Factory set-up is with .012s and enough action to slide on. It's simple, well-built, the contours feel lovely and it smells good too. It does tip into feedback quite easily when overdriven, but you manage that. Well worth a look.
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archtops
Oct 22, 2014 17:02:24 GMT
via mobile
Post by snakehips on Oct 22, 2014 17:02:24 GMT
Hi again !
That's the two pickup version, Michael, yes ?
How do those pickups sound ?
Anything like Memphis Minnie ?
I can't imagine the bridge pickup sounds fantastic - purely because it's such an early type pickup.
And does the neck pickup just sit on the guitar body, or does part of it go inside a hole in the guitar top, like the circa 1941-50's staggered adjustable polepiece version (usually towards the bridge) that looks a bit like it, only larger/wider ?
Cheers !
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