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Bought a Century Olympic


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Yesterday, I bought a new Epiphone Century Olympic archtop. At Sam Ash Music. A honeyburst one! To fit in with the family of some of my other guitars with faded cherry sunburst and honey burst finishes. It came with the archtop's pickguard unattached, so I found a photo of a 1937 Olympic and attached the pickguard similarly in the same place as in the vintage guitar's photo. 3 screws to attach it, no biggie. Decided on buying the Century Olympic rather Century Zenith (as I already have a vintage 1936 Epiphone Zenith) and rather than the Century DeLuxe because lately I've been favoring smaller guitars in my personal playing and frankly, the Olympic was loud enough with its archtop EQ and I felt the larger Deluxe might be too loud for my needs. But, that's just my needs, everyone's might differ. (My 1936 Zenith is the loudest guitar in my collection.).

 

Nice little guitar. Fits right into my playing needs like a glove! (I am primarily a melody guitarist and fingerpicker).

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

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I love arch tops. That's all we could get in the 50's when I was a lad. They were ply wood crap but they were guitars. I darent buy one though as the memory of the tone far exceeds the reality, although these sound far better than my old Rossetti.

 

In my collection, I also have a circa 1958-1960 Silvertone//Harmony plywood archtop. It's top caved in, so I sawed a post and through one of its F holes put it inside the guitar and pushed the top back up with it...having to leave the post inside to hold the top up in place. It's been that way since and still plays pretty good (as long as the wooden post still stays in place)!

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

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In my collection, I also have a circa 1958-1960 Silvertone//Harmony plywood archtop. It's top caved in, so I sawed a post and through one of its F holes put it inside the guitar and pushed the top back up with it...having to leave the post inside to hold the top up in place. It's been that way since and still plays pretty good (as long as the wooden post still stays in place)!

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

Same deal as a violin soundpost (not really, of course), but also a fix I used early in life on a no-name parlor guitar that sported a tailpiece.

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Oh brother you lucky dog you.

I've been lusting for this guitar ever since it was announced.

It's a fine looking piece of musical art if you ask me.

Any possible chance that you will make a sound recording of you playing it?

I'd love to hear it's sound.

BIG CONGRATS!!

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Browsing in my local guitar shop - (Electro Music Doncaster) as is my wont, I picked up one of these Olympics. Same one as the one pictured above. Boy does it have a heavy neck and it's like a baseball bat. Had a quick strum and a pick. It has a nice enoug tone. Better to my ear than the Godin 5th Ave I one had although that had the most wonderful neck. Didn't hang on to it for long though. My initial impressions about the neck would not allow me to consider it. It was well set up with a low action and maybe had the acoustic room not had a young lass testing a new amp, I may have tried the five jazz chords I know. msp_rolleyes.gif

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Can you give us a review? Would love more info about the tone as well.

 

As requested, here's my review. Keeping in mind, I've had the instrument only 8 days. But, I have in those 8 days, used the Olympic at a 4 hour gig, plus, I've played it a songcircle that had at least 8 flat-top guitars also playing at the same time, plus, I also played it at a songwriter showcase where I solo played 3 songs. So here goes.

 

First, the Masterbilt Century Olympic shouldn't be considered a guitar just for anybody. Archtop guitars have a expected mid-range sound that does not sound like a fuller sonic spectrum flat-top guitar. If you have a full or thin body hollow body electric guitar with standard pickups attached to it (which mute the sound when it is played acoustic)...this guitar is for you. Though the Olympic has a pickup in it, its inside the guitar (so there is no acoustic muting) with a thig a mah jig that runs into the archtop's adjustable bridge...so though the guitar can fully be played plugged-in electric, it can also fully function as an acoustic. Very cool.

 

Plugged in, it sounds just fine. It can be made to be mellow like a jazzy hollow body or it can be turned to a higher treble to sound less jazzy and more hard hitting. The tone and volume controls are accessible through the bottom F hole...and, of course the electric sound can also be controlled through the amp. At my 4 hour gig, I ran it through an old 10w Kalamazoo Amp with the amp's tone at 4 (on a scale of 10) and the am volume at 6 (on a scale of 10). The sound was great. (At home I tried it through my 50W UltraSound acoustic amp and it had tones of power to it, plus the tone could be adjusted to an entire spectrum. (Note: I only ran it through my old Kalamazoo amp at my gig because all summer long I'd been running my other guitars through my UltraSound amp and simply wanted a different feel this particular gig. In the future, I will likely run it through my UltraSound amp like I usually do with at gigs.)

 

At my gig, I had one person come up to me and tell me they loved my vintage Epiphone guitar. I was in the middle of a song so I couldn't explain to him that the guitar was new and a replica. I also had another person come up to me during a break and tell me out of the blue they loved my guitar. I mention this because I have noticed a pattern when I gig. When I play my Gibsons, folks come up to me or walk by and tell me how they love my guitar, but when I play one of my other non-Gibson guitars at a gig, no one ever says anything to me about the guitar I am playing. So, this was exceptional...people commenting about my Epiphone! So, it definitely has a perceived coolness factor. Very cool.

 

Now...at the songcircle I played at, I played soley acoustic. Because the Olympic is an archtop, it has a different EQ than a flat-top guitar. So, the Olympic definitely cut through all of the other flat-tops (about 8) when everyone was playing together or when I did an instrumental solo jamming to the music.

 

That different EQ can be perceived as some as greater volume...but its really just a different EQ than a flat-top. I say this because I have a 1936 Epiphone Zenith (not a replica) and that larger guitar is super loud and has a different EQ than a flat-top, too. The larger vintage Zenith is also 80 years older and is a handcarved guitar.

To be honest, the vintage Zenith I have is in mine and just about everyone else who has heard it...is too loud. At jams, it not only cuts through every other guitar, it also is super louder than the other guitars.

 

So, I decided that I did not want to buy one of the Masterbilt Century series archtops that was or could become way too loud. I wanted a smaller, potentially more comfortable feeling archtop than my larger 1936 Zenith)and that had a different EQ than my flat-tops,,,but would not be super loud. The new Olympic meets that criteria. It cuts through flat-tops, has an archtop sound and EQ that makes it seem loud, but is not super loud.

 

Now, when I played the 3 songs at the songwriter showcase I mentioned, the sound person recommended I not plug in on my third song like I did on my first 2 songs...but, instead just use the standing mic that was there...he said let's try it through a standing mic because it sound like it might be loud enough without being plugged in like all the other flat-top players did. I said sure...and sure enough it was fine just being in front of mic.

 

Now, about the neck. When I first tried the guitar at Sam Ash a week or so ago...I was stunned at how large the neck seemed. It was much larger than my 1936 Zenith's neck. Or, any of my flat-tops. But by the middle of the first song I tried on it at Sam Ash, I was totally comfortable with its larger neck because it was really comfortable to play in first positions on the neck as well as up and down the neck up to the 15th fret. (I fingerpick and play mostly melodic music utilizing all positions on a guitar's neck.) So, I was and am fine with the thicker neck it has...but, some might be scared off by it. But, I suggest to give it a chance. Its fine.

The fretboard radius is also really good, though I couldn't tell you what it is in terms of mm or inches. The action is great too...plus, having an archtop adjustable bridge, ya can change the action any time ya feel like it. (But, beware....you may have to reposition the floating bridge to get proper intonation at the 12th fret if you do. That's just part of an archtop.

 

Here's more. I thought I would buy the Olympic just to have an archtop that I could actually bring out of the house. My 1936 Zenith is starting to really age (its binding is shrinking). My 1958-60 Silvertone archtop is still playable and plays fine, but its sides lately has started to separate from the top a bit when I bring it out into the Midwestern cold to play it at jams. I have a 1933 Kaykraft archtop that plays well but looks so strange with its curly cello head stock that I don't dare bring it out. Plus, it is much more versatile acoustically than my thin-line 1965 Gibson 125TC archtop. The Olympic is perfect for playing an archtop in the house as well as out of the house. Plus, it plays really well, has a coolness factor...and, I think is better built and better playing than I thought it would be...to the point of I might do a number of my future gigs with it rather than with my Gibson J-45 that I usually gig with (or than with my Gibson 125TC when I feel like gigging with a plugged in archtop.

 

As mentioned in my initial post, I chose the honey burst finish for the Olympic I purchased because it fits in with some of the other honey burst or faded cherry sunburst guitars in my collection. And, it was different than my 1936 Zenith's tobacco sunburst finish...for some variety.

 

Was their price bargaining in my purchase? Yep, although I had to do it creatively. Sam Ash had a used Sigma by Martin dreadnaught in their store, so though they couldn't lower the price on the Olympic, they were fine with giving me the Sigma for free with my Olympic purchase at my request...for a pretty cool knock-around/beach guitar that looks like a Martin, but isn't, but plays like its solid wooded none-the-less (I'll never know, I guess).

 

Hope y'all enjoyed my Olympic review and that its helpful.

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

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