Official Luthiers Forum!

Archtop guitars

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Koa Sitka lefty

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R.W. '' Rollo'' Scheurenbrand
http://www.koaguitars.com

Sadly, I don't think this sub-forum gets enough traffic, but I'm glad it's here.

I like both of these instruments very much. I love archtops. Rollo's guitar features fancy wood and appointments, and that's always cool. It's beautiful and it appears to be a fully acoustic instrument. I haven't seen a lot of acoustic archtops on any forums lately. I love it!

Ake's appears to be visually simpler, but there's nothing wrong with that. I like simplicity. And with the addition of the pickup, it appears to be gig-ready at the local jazz club. I love it, too!

I am sure I would enjoy playing either of these instruments (but I'm not a lefty, so it can't ever happen for me with Rollo's beautiful guitar. If I ever find myself in Sweden, it could possibly happen with Ake's instrument). I have a hunch a lot of others out here would say the same thing about both instruments.

Well done, my friends! I love archtop guitars!

Patrick

One I made this past year for a client. Solid Adirondack top, Maple everything else. Seymore Duncan P-Pail pickups, acoustic piezo imbedded in the bridge to allow acoustic sound with flip of a switch.

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Love me some archtops!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Chris (Alvarado), that is one scrumptious archtop! It features two of the most voluptuous f-holes I have ever seen. It appears to have incredibly full arches. Maybe that's a trick of the lighting set up, but I have never seen anything quite like it. It strikes me as being a very "Reubenesque" instrument. I've never seen anything quite like those pickups, either, but I don't get around as much as I used to. I like it!

Cphanna, thanks so much for the kind words. This was the first archtop that I've ever made. (I'm an acoustic builder) I just used the Benedetto book and plans along with my knowledge of acoustic builds and came up with this. I saw a picture of an archtop on Google that inspired these F-holes (not sure of the original luthier)

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

Do you have any sound clips of this beauty...single, dual magnetics and the piezo in the bridge?
If it sounds like it looks, it ought to be a killer!

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Hank Mauel

I found these pics recently. I built this thing in 1980 (?), maybe earlier.
I bought the wood from Dale Miller, who had a fancy hardwood store as a side business.
The top is sequoia, super tight grain.
So tight you can't tell that it wasn't book matched.
Only info available at the time for me was, Sloanes classic git const, and a line drawing of
the bar bracing. Neck block to tail block.
I figured it out. Sold the guitar15 years ago for $500.
Found it on a name search on myself, and it was in San Francisco.
The owner, who I never met, really liked it.
Anyway, there ya go!
Alan

What a beautiful guitar. I can't believe you sold it for only $500!

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Thanks Steve!
Stopped playing regular gits, so got into lap steel only.
Wanted to get some builds out into the world,
and, I didn't get into guitar building for the money anyway!
Alan