Murph Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 I go back and drool at the pics in the other thread every few days. Please opine....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Sorry, I just stumbled upon this. I wasn't ignoring. I bought #39 back in early December of 2011. I had been chatting with a few dealers who had Golden Eagles and they were in the $2500-$3500 range. This particular one was on the guy's website for $2750 when he opted to put it on ebay. Must have been a slow week because I won the auction for... I don't recall, seems like it was just under $1900. It's got some belt buckle worming, nothing through the finish. It appears to have had a top crack repaired but it's under the guard so very little of it shows. It was a pro fix regardless. I like the guitar but don't love the guitar and the only reason it's still here is because it's the only acoustic archtop I own and to replace it with something of equal value I would be looking at possibly paying twice as much for one that said Gibson or Guild on it. As to my assessment of the guitar itself: I'm very favorably impressed with the build quality and the material. It's a Cadillac for sure. I'm not terribly impressed with the fret crowning. They don't appear to have been leveled after it left the factory but they do have a 'flatness' on top that bugs me. My '71 LP was like that until I crowned them. All is good now, so I may do the same on the Eagle if it stays. As much as I love the looks of a big archtop, I just can't warm up to one. I've owned cheapies, a couple L-50s, half a dozen L-7s and a Hofner Committee, and they all speak to me in the same voice. Not a voice I like. I know one has to forget anything they know about guitars in order to get the most from an archtop but I'm afraid it'll never happen with me. The guitar is heavier than you might think. The action is obscenely low. Grover Imperials are pretty but not user friendly. Regular knobs are easier to grab and twist on the fly. The pickup is good but I wish they had installed a tone control as well as the volume control. I've had many brands of strings on it. Currently 12-52 Thomastik flats. I would consider going to 11-50 and using it more electric. I have this Heritage and a '77 Gretsch Country Club. I may sell both and get an older Country Gentleman (Gretsch OR Gibson!) and put any surplus into the Saab convertible fund. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Thanks a lot for that reply, ksd. I found your observations and opinions to be very interesting indeed. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 Very cool. I've never owned a big archtop, but if I was more of a jazzer, I would. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 I had an H575, I had the same complaint about the frets. Plus, that guitar wound NOT take an intonation. I spent gobs of money trying to get it so I was at least happy (over 300 bucks) I think I paid about $1,200 for it. I finally gave up - and traded it out. Visually it was stunning, (highly flamed, natural finish), but...... that's as far as it went. And people try to insist that the Heritage products are "Gibson but 20 times better" -- well what ever, it didn't work out that way for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Well, I decided enough was enough and attacked the frets. I did one just for a photo. I've done 7 since then. It's a slow process. I use my diamond fret file to round the frets and get rid of the flatness. The file basically hasn't touced the tops of the frets, only the "cheeks". I then hold 400 paper in the concave file and go over them, then with 600, then steel wool. I'll buff the whole thing when I'm done. I ran my fingers over the 'old' frets and it was clunk clunk clunk clunk. I ran my fingers over the 'new' frets and it was bump bump bump bump. I had to do the same thing with my LP forever ago. It made the difference between ick and yum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted March 10, 2013 Author Share Posted March 10, 2013 Wow.... That's some really good work there fella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 I'll second Murph on the awesome fretwork... As for "feel" of archtops... I've discovered I'm most comfortable with a 16-inch lower bout rather than the bigger boxes, and with the 24 3/4 or thereabout sorts of scale. OTOH, my cheapie Gretsch archtop doesn't really feel bad regardless of the longer scale. I haven't really had it long enough to figure what in the geometry of the thing makes up for some of the difference. I agree too about the value of a tone as well as volume pot, but I've a hunch that many died-in-the-wool jazzers have their nice, clean amp set so it never really changes and there's no need for the tone pot. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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