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Give thee olj azz boxes a try


eeh1

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Hello all. if you have never tried an ol jazz box, give them a try. As you know I bought the 1946 epiphone emperor and I love it. It really mellows out all my Flat tops and makes them sound alot more richer. It is true that a flat top is probably more versatile but the ol jazz box really rings with the individual notes. It is loud loud loud and projects enormously. I have 3 SJ200 flat tops and they are great but if you like something to add to flat tops and give your ears a work out try a jazz box.

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I'm glad to see that there has been a notable increase in jazzbox talk around here.

 

I'll second eeh1's advise, give one a try. There are many student and economy models out there such as Kay, Harmony, Silvertone, etc. Every guitar player should have at least one archtop in their arsenal.

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Lordy, I have. I can't tell you how many 1930s and 40s Epi and Gibson archtops have passed through my hands in the past 45 or so years. I was never able to make peace with any of them. Beautiful instruments and maybe if I played sock ryhthm guitar or jump blues I might have had a better relationship with them. The one I liked the best is the one I still have - the small, round soundhole mid-1930s Kay Kraft Deluxe K-2. It has the punch, quickness and midrange of an archtop and the woodiness and fatness of a flattop. And an absolutely wicked slide guitar.

 

Glad to hear though that someone is giving those old big boxes a good workout.

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In my archtop collection I have a 1936 Epiphone Zenith, 50's Silvertone/Harmony, 1962 EKO Super 400 Knock-off, a 1936 KayKraft, and a 1965 Gibson 125TC. I enjoy playing my archtops a lot, but keep going back to my flat-tops due to their greater versatility. But, I wouldn't trade away my archtops...like playing 'em and their cool vibe too much.

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

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I have always thought one of the things that made Gibson flattops so darn good and stand out it he crowd was the company's long heritage of making really fine archtops.

 

I think love of or disregard for archtops just comes down to style of playing. If I had to characterize the difference in sound between a good archtop and flattop it would be that the archtops lack the brashness of the flattop.

 

But when National put that pickup in the New Yorker and then put in the hands of Memphis Minnie in the late 1930s, the Chicago blues was born and nothing would ever be the same.

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My dad played a old Harmony arch top, I have a picture of him playing one and singing to me when I was about a year old. I don't know what happened to that old box, I would love to have one just like it.

Lately I have been thinking about finding a tenor guitar, a arch top tenor would be cool.

And those Hofner Verithin's are just down right cool...

Arch tops are just great, the projection is different then flat tops. And some like my Tacoma AJF22CE and the Godin 5th ave. have a fingerboard that is elevated over the body and very easy to play on the upper fret.

I own some very nice flat tops, I really enjoy playing them, but arch tops are just different and on the whole much more comfortable to play.

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I have two now-- (though the old roundhole L4 has been in the shop since I got it, so I forget that I actually have it!!!:-k

 

Whenever I'm going out to a big party/old time jam, I always bring the 16" L7. With a heavy flatpick, and played right, it is scary loud. So there's no problem being heard!

At times last night, I was the rhythm section for a group consisting of five fiddles, a banjo and mandolin. That old Gibson just cut and drove everything as sweetly as you could ask. You can't find a flattop that will do that with the same punch.

 

 

I would like to find something like a harmony or kay archtop and wire it up for playing honky tonk rhythm with a trio.

 

(Jaxson-I've been lurking around the tenor guitar aisle myself--How can you cover the Delridge Bros without one? But I image a tenor would work very well in a string band group.l)

 

There are days when I thank the good lord that Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, et al played flattops. [blink]

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I would like to find something like a harmony or kay archtop and wire it up for playing honky tonk rhythm with a trio.

 

Hoss' date=' you would like the old Kay built Silvertone I did just that to. I put a Kent Armstrong fingerboard mounted pickup on it, and for the control knobs I found a couple of old 50's house intercom knobs (on the wall of my house). For the L-7 I use a Duncan made Benedetto pickguard mounted pickup.

 

Here's a photo of my archtops. L-R 50's Harmony built Silvertone, 1947 Gibson L-7, 1990 Gibson L-5CES, 50's Kay built Silvertone.

[img']http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2530/4200294221_b735d202a0_o.jpg[/img]

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Hoss' date=' you would like the old Kay built Silvertone I did just that to. I put a Kent Armstrong fingerboard mounted pickup on it, and for the control knobs I found a couple of old 50's house intercom knobs (on the wall of my house). For the L-7 I use a Duncan made Benedetto pickguard mounted pickup.

 

Here's a photo of my archtops. L-R 50's Harmony built Silvertone, 1947 Gibson L-7, 1990 Gibson L-5CES, 50's Kay built Silvertone.

[img']http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2530/4200294221_b735d202a0_o.jpg[/img]

 

Larry;

WOW!!! What a cool collection !!!!!

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Larry-- You're killing me!! Yes-- that old Kay looks like the ticket. I would love to give that a whirl. (as well as everything else in the picture!!)

 

Jaxson- I'm well acquainted with archtop.com.-- the store is right across town. The owner was kind enough to give me a lesson in archtops several years back when I called him up. I told him I was wondering why no one played archtops anymore in string bands-even though they were numerous back in the day. He invited me over and walked me through his inventory and shared a lot of knowledge about types of Archtops, playing technique etc. Since you're only in Idaho, the next time you make it to Seattle--you NEED to stop by that place for a few hours!!!

 

He had about 4 vintage L5s, along with a '33 L7. The L7 sounded better than any of the L5s, and set me off on a quest to find one of my own. (Interestingly, his personal guitar is also a 16" L7)

 

He also had a pair of unique 16" archtops made in Boston in the 30's. I'm not remembering the name, but think they might have been a pair of Vegas. Loud and raw, with wonderful fret inlay-- obviously surplus banjo inlay that Vega had lying around and wanted to use up.

 

 

If I'd had the extra money, I'd have left that shop with several of those instruments!

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I had a mid-1930s L-7 for while and sold it to help fund a vintage Nick Lucas. I love the Lucas but I missed the L-7. Plus, Hoss told me that I'd never be a good guitar player unless I spent some time with an archtop! :) So, I recently rejoined archtopia with a 1943 Banner L-50.

 

I'm a fingerpicker and don't really know which end of a flatpick to hold. But, I think that archtops make great fingerpickers and are always fun as a change-up from a flattop. Here'a a bit of fingerpicking on my L-50:

 

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Plus, Hoss told me that I'd never be a good guitar player unless I spent some time with an archtop! :)

 

OK.... John- you may be the exception that proves the rule! Nice arrangement and playing.

 

I just notice that most couch pickers strum across the guitar strings rather than 'into' the guitar. Plus, if you muff any fretting with an archtop, --silence. As a VP in the kitchen tonk pickers association, I appreciate what an archtop has done for my playing.

 

BTY- I'd love to hear you pick that arrangement on a pre-'34 16" Gibson!

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BTY- I'd love to hear you pick that arrangement on a pre-'34 16" Gibson!

 

I love those older 16 in archtops, too. One reason why I let my 1935 L-7 go was that it was the later, "advanced" 17 in . body. I imagine that I'd still have it if it had been a year or two older.

 

I do really love this 16 in. L-50. And, though it's constructed much differently than the older 16 inchers (kerfed braces, for example), it sounds great to my ears, plays spectacularly, and is one of the handful that got the "Banner"!

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I'm looking at a 1934 Epiphone Masterbilt Blackstone... it's not in pristine condition, but it plays quite well. It's a good price (right around the modern Masterbilt line, actually), but I don't know how much use I'll actually get out of it when I could put that money into something else.

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Well....I'm down to two archtops.....but I love them both. There is something about that percussive sound of the archtop..... Here is the 1933 Martin R-18' date=' arch top and flat back, OO-size

[/quote']

 

My very first guitar was a 1930s Martin R-18. I got it as a birthday gift from a friend of the family who had it sitting in a closet and knew I wanted a guitar more than anything in the world.

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