zizala

Here's a topic that coaxes me out of lurkdom..... Can tell already that I'm the oddball of the group.... Most of the time I play acoustic archtops....and use 13-56 round wound phosphor bronze mediums for those..... When amplified, its an old L-10 with a floating pickup, medium nickel round wound strings, sometimes with heavies on the unwounds.

This one coaxes me out of lurkdom.... Eddie Diehl was recommended to me as an excellent guitar luthier and repairman.....its hard to find someone that really know how to set up an old archtop. ....so I gave a call, made an appointment and went off from CT to meet him at his place in Poughkeepsie. I needed a fret job done and had him set up an old DeArmond pickup on my '34 Gibson L-10. The guy that told me about him mentioned the recent disc with Hank Jones and some earlier dates with Mobley, Stitt, and McDuff......but I hadn't heard him. Eddie gave me his new CD which I've enjoyed quite alot. Quite a good player. I enjoyed talking him about guitars, but liked the stories about his musical experiences even more.... Anyway....the work he did on my old L-10 was just fantastic....and can't say how fortunate I feel to have hooked up with him. Yes....move this thread if it must be moved....but don't lose it....check out Eddie Diehl's music. Di

......"like piss through a boot" and..... "There's a seat for every ass"

Old pre-WWII archtop guitars.... It took me awhile to admit it, but its a collection...... But I spend a lot of time playing them....latecomer to the guitar, trying to make up for lost time. Its why I don't contribute much to the discussion around here....don't buy so much music anymore and just sit for hours fooling with these guitars. Ah well.....keeps me occupied and in denial. ziz -_-

Aw shucks Jim.......you're embarassing me!! If Randy hadn't pushed me down the stairs awhile back I might have posted sooner. Di

Thanks Lon (and brownie too)! Hope you have great relaxing holidays. Glad to see you still around Lon.... My brother who knows me too well, sent me a nice disc of some growlin' Earl Bostic for X-mas.....heavy helpings of full strength cheese. Bostic and "Flamingo" thats my day so far. Di

eeks! ...... You wouldn't hurt a shy girl that wears reading glasses would you? I'm not afraid of ya....well there's a couple, but I can take'em. ziz......(di on the old BNBB)

Yes hardbopjazz, thats definitely something to think about. After digging a little deeper I found that it wasn't as "mint" as I first believed...maybe even some refinishing issues....but you are right.... couple that with having to have it shipped across the country just to find out whether the tone is dead or alive was just too risky. .....and now for something completely different....... bought a '33 Epiphone Blackstone instead. Small bodied and archaic....why it's almost a banjo but makes a sound I can use!

Thanks Jim and Herb, Yes I do like the 16" body and short scale. I've got a couple of 16" oldies in a '29 L-4 with the round soundhole and a '34 L-12. But for me, it just wouldn't be right to put a mag pickup on one of those. Now an amplified L-4c....that seems properly in balance with the universe! A couple of the dealers I use have the Kent Armstrong Alnico and PAF pickups as well as the Benedetto S6 but I have yet to be versed in the differences these might have. I do have a Schertler DYN-G pickup on order to try on the acoustic archtops. It attaches to the soundboard of the guitar with an adhesive putty and though it can be placed anywhere, most folks put them right behind the bridge under the tailpiece. The putty is inert and not supposed to harm the finish. I'm not particularly well versed in how these pickups work but they are a type of surface mounted mic that picks up top vibrations to put it simply. What's nice is that you can easily move it from guitar to guitar. Lots of Selmer/Maccaferri style players use this type of pickup and its supposed to produce a good representation of the acoustic tone. Back to topic.......My problem with this L-4c is that I just bought a guitar, I really shouldn't have another just yet and don't want to sell any off to make room! But it's unique and different......they all are....

Hey Herb, You're everywhere....must mean you have good taste! Someday if I ever get amplified I might understand what your talking about. And believe me...I'll look you up for sage advice...... D :rsmile:

Hey all.... Still lurking...every day! I can't seem to get a good answer to this on all the guitar forums I visit but seems we have a few archtop guitar players here so will ask your opinions. I have an opportunity to pick up a '50 L-4c in extra fine condition. It hardly looks played at all. The price is right. Now I've always loved the ways these look...this model is like an ES-175 with a carved spruce top and no electronics. I can use the cutaway. Anyone have one or play one? I know these have laminated back and sides but am hoping that the carved top helps make the acoustic sound decent, just because I'm used to my older acoustic non-plywood Gibsons. What I'd probably do with this is keep it as original as possible by getting a spare pickguard to attach a floating pickup. So even if the plywood back makes it a lesser acoustic it might just make a great amplified jazzer. Pickup suggestions are welcome, assuming I end up going for the guitar. I've got to decide soon or this will be offered elsewhere so any thoughts would help me to get some clarity and stop spinning this around in my head. Thanks.

I listen to music and musicians and don't tend to get centered around guitar players. Possibly if I'd played the guitar early on maybe things would be different. A good way of putting it might be that I don't listen to Monk because he's a piano player in spite of the fact that I do enjoy the piano as an instrument. But the two are inseparable. I listen to Monk. The same goes for other musicians whose music reaches me somehow. Since I'm learning the vocabulary of the guitar however...there are times that I can't help but be a but more analytical as to what guitarists might be doing, but I don't tend to buy discs by guitarists for the sake of figuring it out. What I do find however is that the more I get into playing and improving the less time I spend listening to discs....there's only so much time in a day and I'm on the downside as far as chronology goes!

I'm playing acoustic archtops right now and use rmedium roundwounds like Newtone Phosphor Bronze 13-56 or D'Addarrio EJ-17's. Guess I'm going on two months with these. Yes they are a little bright at first but that goes away in a few days.

I don't know about the Brazillian roesewood thing hardbopjazz..... if we're talking archtops. Most solid wood archtops through the years have been made with spruce tops and maple backs and sides but of course there are some examples with mahogany or rosewood, walnut (and others) backs and sides. But spruce and maple have been prevalent....these combine to accentuate the fundamental tone, punch and quicker decay that folks that like acoustic archtops appreciate. Braz Rosewood seems to be more sought after by flat top guitar enthusiasts as a choice material for back and sides....but it still seems to me that its the top that makes most of the tone. But rosewood backed guitars do sound different than mahogany or maple so certainly choice and combinations of woods add something to the tone. The fretboards on my thirties Gibsons are likely Brazillian rosewod but it wasn't in short supply back then. Nowadays most rosewood is of the Indian variety and certain tropical mahogany is getting scarcer. OK....enough....I read too many guitar geek bulletin boards!

Hi Herb, Nice to see you're still floating around! Now I know who to come to if I ever get 'lectrified.....

Uncle Skid.. Playing reeds and then switching to the guitar caused me to immediately look for scales and lines while my chord comping lagged behind. Sort of launched me into Grant Green-ism which is not a bad thing! Now I'm catching up on the harmony and clusters and comping and it helps me make my lines more relevant if thats what i'm trying to do. Jazzbo... Try listening to some Oscar Aleman if you haven't already. He alternates between using a reso and a Selmer style. Wouldn't call the tone mellow but listening to swing on a Tricone is very cool.

Hi folks.... Gee....this must be my third post maybe.....but I check this place out a lot. Anyway...the subject has inspired me to join in. I like the old Gibsons and play a '44 L-7, a '36 L-30, and have a '34 L-12 on layaway that I can hardly wait to take home. The L-12 was just under the L-5 in Gibson's heirarchy but I actually prefer its looks. My inspiration to own and play an early thirties 16" Gibson is Eddie Lang, although musically I'm not really locked into a period style. I play these without pickups and use a mic when I need it. One day may add a floating pickup to the L-7 but I'm not gigging at the moment so am in no hurry. I am crazy for archtops and am always wondering what the next one's going to sound like. That spells trouble! I've only played guitar a few years....took it up after a long layoff from being a sax player. I've come a long way in a short time and for that I'm grateful but am not sure I deserve to have all these nice guitars. This is a great forum. Glad it's here.

Well thats very cool.....gee if you still had labels 1 or 2 we could swing a deal. I shush the guests when he starts that break.....

On Ray Charles' "Greenbacks" from the Atlantic sessions there's a perfect little 12 bar Bari break by "Fathead" Newman......a life giving experience. ...had to join the forum (hello everyone) to share that little tidbit, but just HAD to get it out. ziz