mid-budget archtop jazz choice ?
Andy
After a decade away, I'm thinking of
coming back to the electric guitar.
Ideally, I'd like to go for a big single cutaway archtop,
to play mostly jazz and maybe a little blues,
but the prices on those Gibsons (ES-175)
and Ibanez (Benson / Metheny series)
guitars is too high.
Have any of you any recommendations on other
reasonable quality guitars to try
that will give me a similar tone and feel as I re-learn?
I'd like to spend maybe 250 to 350 quid
but don't mind something secondhand.
So what should I look at?
Yamaha ?
used Ibanez ??
Epiphone ?
others ??
Thanks in advance !
Andy
Glasgow
Scotland
p.s not a lot of archtops in the shops in Glasgow,
they're all full of solid bodies and 335 copies. :-(
tom8...@my-deja.com
us...@gcal.ac.uk (Andy) wrote:
> Hi folks.
> I'd like to go for a big single cutaway archtop,
> to play mostly jazz and maybe a little blues,
> but the prices on those Gibsons (ES-175)
> and Ibanez (Benson / Metheny series)
> guitars is too high.
Hi Andy,
I went through a similar process a while ago. After playing Jazz on a
good but thin sounding Aria ES335 copy for five years, then hearing that
my wife was pregnant and that any chance of spending money on ourselves
would vanish for the next 20 year, I decided to buy a proper archtop.
I'm over the other side of Scotland in Edinburgh, but the conclusions I
came to may be relevant to the situation in Glasgow.
Basically for new models I found there were only two price ranges
200-500 and 1000+. Very few shops in Edinburgh stock any archtops and
could only order them in for me at uncompetitive prices.
In the mid-price range I could only find Epiphones and the DeArmond
X-155. Everything else was up around or over a grand! Ibanez do some
lovely guitars but I couldn't find anyone who stocked them or offered
them mailorder at sensible prices. I was offered a Guild for 1100, a
Heritage H575 for 1200... all untried. In the states, H575s go for
under a thousand dollars
I eventually decided that if I was going to spend the money I would go
mad and buy the Gibson ES175. I bought it unseen from a shop in Brighton
for 1400, with an option to refund if not happy with it. I asked my
local music shop if they would order one in at a similar price and they
wouldn't even come close - 1800 was their best price.
Sorry this is turning into a bit of a rant but I was completely amazed
and the lack of interest shown by any local shops; I was an abviously
serious punter with a credit limit to fill and they were invariably
disinterested and sometimes rude. I arranged a meeting with Sound
Control to view a second hand 175, took the morning off work and showed
up. They opened the shop half an hour late, then some stroppy eighties
heavy-metal throwback made some sneering comment about waiting while
they unloaded the truck. By this stage it was half ten and I just
smiled and walked away.
> Have any of you any recommendations on other
> reasonable quality guitars to try
> that will give me a similar tone and feel as I re-learn?
> I'd like to spend maybe 250 to 350 quid
> but don't mind something secondhand.
>
> So what should I look at?
> Yamaha ?
> used Ibanez ??
> Epiphone ?
> others ??
Yamaha make some great guitars, they have an AEX and AES series which
may be to your liking. I get the impression they are more
acoustic/electrics than classic archtop so may not give the "dark" sound
of Burrell, Montgomery et al. I'm not sure on prices 'though.
The DeArmond X-155 has a good reputation - it's a genuine archtop with
DeArmond pickups single-coil pickups which are highly regarded. I think
there's a single pick-up version which is cheaper.
Epiphone are the major producer. Some people love 'em, others loathe
em. I've only heard one and that seemed fine. Some doubts about the
hardware and pickups but these can always be upgraded later on.
Ibanez will probably be too spenny unless you find one secondhand with
an owner who doesn't appreciate its real value.
Second hand may be the best bet but when I followed the Scotads paper
for two months prior to buying mine, not a single archtop was
advertised!
Might be worth taking a few months copies of "Guitarist", expensive and
quite rock orientated but the best source for secondhand and the best
place to source the cheapest prices for new guitars.
FWIW best price on DeArmond X-155 was at regent guitars, ES-175 at a
mailorder shop in Brighton - e-mail me off-list if you need any further
info.
Good luck
Tom
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
David Galbraith
"Andy" <us...@gcal.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:user-05070...@cbd118.gcal.ac.uk...
> Hi folks.
>
> After a decade away, I'm thinking of
> coming back to the electric guitar.
> to play mostly jazz and maybe a little blues,
> but the prices on those Gibsons (ES-175)
> and Ibanez (Benson / Metheny series)
> guitars is too high.
>
> reasonable quality guitars to try
> that will give me a similar tone and feel as I re-learn?
> I'd like to spend maybe 250 to 350 quid
> but don't mind something secondhand.
>
> So what should I look at?
> Yamaha ?
It might be worth having a look at the Yammy AEX500. This is a curious
little catch all of a guitar that has archtop styling, a single cutaway, a
trapeze bridge, a single humbucker mounted (floating I think) at the neck
and a piezo under the bridge giving you both electric and pseudo acoustic
tones from the one guitar. Build quality is up to Yamm's usual reasonable to
high standards and the rrp is £379 but they can usually be found for about
£300 dead. Soho Soundhouse advertise them regularly: Freefone 0800 328 1659
steve_cobham
<lsbs...@clara.co.uk> wrote:
>
>"Andy" <us...@gcal.ac.uk> wrote in message
>news:user-05070...@cbd118.gcal.ac.uk...
>> Have any of you any recommendations on other
>> reasonable quality guitars to try
>> that will give me a similar tone and feel as I re-learn?
>> So what should I look at?
>> Yamaha ?
>
>It might be worth having a look at the Yammy AEX500. This is a curious
>little catch all of a guitar that has archtop styling, a single cutaway, a
>trapeze bridge, a single humbucker mounted (floating I think) at the neck
>and a piezo under the bridge giving you both electric and pseudo acoustic
>tones from the one guitar. Build quality is up to Yamm's usual reasonable to
>high standards and the rrp is £379 but they can usually be found for about
>£300 dead. Soho Soundhouse advertise them regularly: Freefone 0800 328 1659
I tried out one of these as soon as I saw one - I'm afraid it didn't
sing out "buy me!" The piezo sound in particular was nasty.
The build quality, however, was very good for the price. Typical
Yamaha attention to construction.
Mind you, for £300 if the overall feel was OK and the humbucker sound
was acceptable it might be worth a shot. I dare say that I didn't
approach it from a "jazzer's" point of view. It seemed a little too
"dead" sounding to me, but, then, I like Teles and Strats.
Steve.
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Ivar Arnesen
<Steve Cobham> wrote news:GVFjOWH6AUpwQV...@4ax.com...
I'd look around for a Samick or Epiphone jazzer, Epiphones are bulit by
Samick, and their own-brand guitar are no worse than the Epis, but mighy
have a lower second-hand price. I've got a Samick HJ 560 jazz-guitar,
and apart from the pickups, it is a really good guitar factory-fresh.
Best of luck;
Ivar
Frank A Muller
> Epiphones are bulit by Samick
I sent an e-mail to Gibson regarding the serial number on my Epi Lucille.
There is a stamped number and a stencilled number overlying the stamped
number. They are different numbers. This is the response I received:
Hi,
Thank you for your inquiry. Both of those numbers indicate a 1999 guitar.
Why you have two on there I am honestly not sure. There was probably a
mix-up at the factory (your guitar was built by Aria in Korea) and they
assigned the number underneath to more than one guitar. That's my best
guess anyway.
Regards,
Reid Hanson
gibson customer support
Frank A Muller
--
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louc...@hotmail.com
> to play mostly jazz and maybe a little blues,
snip
> Have any of you any recommendations on other
> reasonable quality guitars to try
> that will give me a similar tone and feel as I re-learn?
> I'd like to spend maybe 250 to 350 quid
> but don't mind something secondhand.
Andy,
further to my original posting, I've just had an idea... although you
are looking for an archtop, have you thought of buying a Telecaster and
putting flatwounds on it? Sounds bizarre but the Tele has a lovely neck
pickup tone. This would just about fit in your price range. Jim Mullen
(underrated UK Jazz guitarist) used one for some time (although I think
he had a humbucker in the neck).
... over on rec.music.guitar.jazz there's been a discussion about
telecasters in Jazz. Try a search at www.deja.com
It will also hold its value well in the unlikely event that you want
to sell it.
Tom.