Quote:
Originally Posted by zuzu
...Do you archtop/flattop guys get them off the wall and play them regularly, or are they more of a pretty wall hanger...?
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by zuzu
Curious about the acoustic only versions...
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
...An acoustic archtop is an interesting beast...They can be stringy or even brash if not played with some finesse. This isn't a guitar you're going to pick up and strum a G chord and say "Wow, that's lovely." But with a little work you can coax some amazing sounds out of them...
|
If you're not familiar with the broad range of dynamics/tone color available from a good archtop here's fellow AGF'er Jonathan Stout (AKA CampusFive) showing how it's done at Norman's Rare Guitars; note the subtle tonal distinctions between guitars of the same make/model as well as between different makes/body sizes (he's using a prewar 17" Gibson L-5N in the third clip), how each is used in chord-solo/single-string/comping roles -
and precisely why those New York-era 18" Epiphone Emperors were so renowned for their acoustic cutting power:
On the other hand, many of the old-timers referred to their own (different) archtop technique as "coaxing the velvet out" - extracting that warm, rich, creamy, woody, "tone you can eat with a spoon" from what could (as stated by the good mr. beaumont) be solely a strident and steely-sounding instrument, lacking in dynamic range and character in the hands of a lesser player. While both equally-valid approaches have their place and time (and a well-rounded archtop player
should be familiar with both) I always preferred the latter: Romain Vuillemin provides a perfect example here, on instruments similar to those used by Messrs. Stout and Rossi, and offering a strong contrast to their edgier/punchier style intended to showcase the raw power customarily associated with these guitars:
On a different note (pun intended...
) most contemporary players are unaware that there was an entire school of "classical archtop" guitar that flourished from about 1925-1940, and upon which Mel Bay based his well-known method; when I was learning in the early-60's the method books bore a statement that they were in fact designed and intended "to place the plectrum guitar in the same class as the violin, piano, and other 'legitimate' instruments" (and if you've never hung around in certain so-called "serious" music circles it's difficult to imagine the pejorative attitude directed toward the guitar, even in its "classical" incarnation)...
By way of background, in its original form the classical-archtop movement drew from the earlier American school of (fingerstyle) classical guitar exemplified by the likes of William Foden, Vahdah Olcott-Bickford,
et al. (rather than that of Segovia and his Spanish contemporaries, which would become the accepted concert style and instrument), as well as the parlor, "light classical," and vaudeville music of late-19th/early 20th century America. In addition to transcriptions of well-known classical repertoire, a number of guitarists of the day produced original compositions in a late-Romantic style - music which, while largely out of fashion today, still retains its technical and artistic merit over nine decades later. Bear in mind that the original 16" L-5 archtop guitar was in fact envisioned as a "classical" instrument both tonally and visually, intended as a part of the mandolin orchestras of the late-vaudeville era and designed for hall-filling acoustic projection in the days before electronic amplification (see also Fabio Mittino's take on the classical-guitar virtuoso piece "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" below); were it not for Segovia's sensational American debut in 1928, the plectrum-style archtop guitar - with its violin-family looks and construction - may well have become the accepted "classical" guitar...
Here's a couple of samples of "classical archtop" from back in the day:
- and a sampling of traditional and contemporary repertoire, from modern revivalists (including fellow AGF'ers Rob MacKillop and Fabio Mittino) keeping this historic style alive:
- and if that doesn't make you a believer, I doubt anything else will...