The Archtop Thread.

[Logan]

Well, this isn't a jazz guitar forum (no where close) or a forum for semis, and there wasn't a thread for it, so I decided to make one, because I'm curious who plays one in addition to an SG (or multiple, in most of our cases). So, to make this thread interesting, let's see all of your semis/fully hollow archtops.

I'll start this off with my ES-335TDN:

I modified it a wee bit, by adding a Bigsby w/ ground down anchor studs and Duane Eddy arm, long early style pickguard with wide bevel from Creamtone, Amber Switch tip, Rolled '59 style Truss Rod Cover, Kluson Tuners, and most importantly, I sanded the god-awful black paint around the F holes off and painted them white because the black didn't match the blonde historically or looks wise to me. That guitar is my most played now, even more than my Black SG, as it does so much.

I look forward to seeing your guy's archtops! And, if this gets enough posts I might have to bring out the WildKat for a minute

 

[Biddlin]

Nice work on the 335. I have a few archtops. My first "Gibson" was a 1957 ES225TD. Here's my current stable.
And of course

 

[Logan]

Nice work on the 335. I have a few archtops. My first "Gibson" was a 1957 ES225TD. Here's my current stable.View attachment 37828 View attachment 37830 View attachment 37834
And of course
View attachment 37832

The 225 is a killer model. Killer deals compared to the 295 and they're the exact same guitars (only, the 225 has less bling). I also noticed, you took the poker chip off the WildKat

 

[Herbie74w]

 

[Logan]

View attachment 37835

You can't just post that beaut and not give us any info! What is that beauty?

 

[arcticsg]

 

[Logan]

Now you need a few 330s, 335s, 345s, 355s, 175, 295, etc..

 

[iblive]

Does my Hagstrom Viking count?

 

[Logan]

Does my Hagstrom Viking count?

View attachment 37855

Does the back and front arch? Check.
Are there Chambers of air inside the instruments? Check.

I'd say it counts!

 

[papagayo]

My 1957 Jacobacci Royal



My Casino

 

[papagayo]

I search a long trapeze tailpiece, nickel finish for the Casino

 

[Layne Matz]

I'd add my DIY Ibanez Jazz box to this thread but the top is barely arched and thats due to bellying (which i have created a virtually free solution for). Its a jazz guitar without a doubt but its arch is almost too shallow to call it an arch.

 

[Crazy_8]

My "go to" guitar for jazz and rockabiilly as a matter of fact ... A total tone monster that plays like butter.

A 2004 Gretsch Electromatic series G5125T with Dearmond Pickups. Made in the Peerless factory instead of the Samic factory, this very early model has the fixed bridge ans soundpost rather than the floating bridge of the later G5125T examples. It's factory equipped except for the pick guard, the original was a single ply black thing that warped on my example, LOL. It's a factory second that was originally painted orange, but was factory refurbished and reborn black. Some of the orange is beginning to peak through the wear points.

I have guitars that cost way more money, but this one is very special to me. It will go with me to the grave!

 

[GraphX12]

Guild Newark St. Starfire III:

 

[NMA]

My introduction to the world of the hollow body was the Casino. Loved it so much I needed another. Loved that one so much I went deeper into the world of hollow bodies and bought myself two big Gretsches.

I also have Rickenbackers which are hollow bodies, but they play and sound more like solid bodies.

I love me some soild body electric guitars, but there is something more.....musical about a hollow body.

 

[TDA1966]

 

[GraphX12]

Any chance you could post a better pic koaguilds?

 

[TDA1966]

Any chance you could post a better pic koaguilds?

I wish I could. I no longer own it due to shoulder issues which are aggravated playing deep and large guitars.. That Guild was unbelievably smooth in sound and action. They only made a small batch of those at the Fender Custom shop when Guild was moved to Corona from the East coast around 2001-2002. It was called the X180 Park Avenue.

 

[GraphX12]

I wish I could. I no longer own it due to shoulder issues which are aggravated playing deep and large guitars.. That Guild was unbelievably smooth in sound and action. They only made a small batch of those at the Fender Custom shop when Guild was moved to Corona from the East coast around 2001-2002. It was called the X180 Park Avenue.

I own a dread from the Westerly factory and it will go with me to the grave. I can relate to the shoulder issues as I have trouble these days playing my Larrivée jumbo. I just haven’t been able to make myself sell it yet.

 

[Col Mustard]

I'll play, even though I don't have any new photos of my beloved
Epi ES-339 P-90 pro. I fostered my ES-339 with a good friend, so
I know where it is. I couldn't take it with me on my move from
Michigan to Tucson Arizona. Downsizing from a three bedroom house
to a two bedroom apartment.

I couldn't bear to sell this guitar:

I bought this one during the great 2015 Gibson bash-fest...
this was my response to all the hoopla-oink about Gibson's new
non-optional innovations, and their stark raving prices.
She sounds great through the above Orange Micro Terror, and also
great (though different of course) through the Black Heart Little Giant
on right.

And I fell in love with the feel of this instrument, and the size, and
the balance, and the tones from the Ken Rose P-90s that I installed.

The ES-339 hardly qualifies as a hollow body guitar. I'd call it an
electric guitar with air spaces above and below the solid maple
center block. But the top does arch. The body looks like an ES-335
but is smaller, similar to the size of a Les Paul, just a little bigger.
She weighs about 8 pounds, similar to a Tele.

I named her Caledonia, and I hope someday to learn the cool jazz
chords and riffs that comprise that song. For now, I'm very happy with
the lovely and bell-like cleans that come from the P-90s, as well as the
pure rock an roll gritty rough tones when I turn it up. This instrument is
versatility, pure and simple. Play anything on this great instrument.

Funny, I later looked at an early picture of the young kernel still in high school,
playing in my first band with my first electric guitar. (a Pre-War Gibson ES-125
with a Charlie Christian pickup)... This was about 1965. *laughs

My father probably bought the above blonde arch top in the fifties, in a pawn shop, and likely paid about $20.00. Those were bigger dollars then, but in the fifties... guitars like the above were not
respected. Strats were all the rage, so my dad surely got a good deal on the antique Gibbie.
The Gibbie was so antique, and so out dated, its logo was inlaid in script...


Funny that I was NOT delighted with the ES-125. I didn't even know what it was, except that it was a Gibson, and it was an electric guitar. I was actually ashamed of it. My buddies were playing
much more modernistic guitars, including the Eko (made in Italy) 12 string played by my friend John Shuler. The guitar that Pat Conklin in the back is playing looks like a Fender, but might be
a Sears & Roebuck guitar. He played it really well, so it didn't matter. The woman in the center with the pink serpent boa later became my wife and the mother of my only daughter. But that's another
story. *grins

I'd never heard of Charlie Christian yet. We were probably playing "Mustang Sally," and "Gloria" and "Louie Louie" and "Come on, let me see ya shake yer tailfeather" and "Deadman's Curve"
and other classics of the day. Beatles, Stones, Animals... My High School class of 1966 adopted
the Animals' song "We Gotta Get Outa This Place" as our official anthem. I couldn't wait.

I really wanted a Mosrite guitar, like the Ventures supposedly played, or a Telecaster... maybe an
SG. Les Paul guitars didn't exist in 1965. They had been discontinued in 1960 due to lack of
interest and lack of sales. Les Paul himself was squaresville... he was nowhere. If you wanted to
play rock an roll, you bought a Strat or an SG. If you were rich, or a Jazz player, you bought an
ES-335 or 355 or upwards from there. Keith Richards had a 335...

But I had NO money to spend on a guitar. So I played the one my dad owned, and he grudgingly
allowed it. He complained about the Gibson's neck, saying it was too narrow for his big hands.
But he also taught me that a good guitar player can sound good on any guitar, and I've kept
that philosophy all my life. I have big hands too, but I managed to play the Gibson neck,
because it was the ONLY electric guitar available. And my desire to play overcame my shame
at being seen with an obsolete guitar.

Can you believe it? If you look at my left hand, you see how cramped up I was, and how
I was playing by sheer determination. My parents would NEVER have paid for guitar lessons
for me, and I was working as a golf caddy, making tips out of peoples' pocket change.

Funny that... sixty years later, I'd pick a blonde arch top in 2015 and fall in love with it
all over again... and with the P-90 pickups that were invented in 1945 or six.
To me, the Epiphone (along with its Gibson rich relation) is a much better guitar.
Small body, comfortable fast neck, twin P-90s, love love love...