Suggestion for Boutique Archtops

Here are a few links to some archtop builders that build great guitars:

Ted Megas www.megasguitars.com

Mark Lacey www.laceyguitars.com

Mark Campellone www.campelloneguitars.com

Bill Comins www.cominsguitars.com

Steve Grimes www.grimesguitars.com

 

http://thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83306

& Koll

 

Siegmund makes a great archtop.

http://www.siegmundguitars.com/

Call Ron from Thorn Guitars. He might be able to do something for you also.

www.thornguitars.com

 

Linda Manzer makes great archtops.

 

A lot of great luthiers have been mentioned. I would strongly suggest that you spend some time with a guitar similar to the one you are thinking about prior to ordering. You might be really turned off by some of the limitations of these instruments. The acoustic tone is typically midrange focused and they can be a real pain to amplify without fighting feedback.

Having said that, I absolutely love my Heritage archtop, but probably wouldn't spend much more than I did, as these guitars are so specialized.

Bryan

 

Check Saul Koll's site - he makes a lovely guitar for far less than you would expect for a carved archtop.

Can't wait for mine to arrive!

 

That would also be my list.

I decided 2 years ago for a Ted Megas "Athena" Archtop.
Will get her by the end of the year.

 

Here's another couple...

Devoe...
http://www.devoearchtop.com

and, my favourite, Monteleone...
http://www.monteleone.net

Enjoy!

P.S. You have to Copy and Paste these links as they don't seem to work for some reason!

 

Here's a good master list of archtop luthiers:

http://www.jazzguitarresources.com/luthiers.html

Recommendations?

Some years ago, I played bunches of high end archtops looking for a great one. I bought one built by Brad Nickerson; subsequently ordered a second guitar from him. Alas, he is semi-retired and I don't think he's taking orders now.

Other great ones -- these are people who I wouldn't hesitate to order from (notwithstanding the price, some of them are stratospheric):

Steve Anderson
Steve Grimes
Ted Megas
John Monteleone
Linda Manzer
John Buscarino
Tom Ribbecke
Mark Campellone

While Bob Benedetto is retired, his guitars are now built under license by Guild. They're still very fine guitars, and very expensive. I've also played a couple of archtops by a guy named Palen recently. Also very fine instruments.

 

any thoughts on the jim hall and jimmy bruno guitars from sadowsky???

 

Another great guy is Ric McCurdy:

www.mccurdyguitars.com

Really beautiful stuff.

 

Although they're pretty rare around here, I love my Hancock Hobart by Australian luthier Kim Hancock (www.hancockguitars.com). It has European woods and it has a great wide open acoustic sound. Great customer service too!

 

Ari Lehtela.

www.lehtelaguitarcraft.com (under construction)

www.laguitarfactory.com (old site)

 

They aren't cheap, but I've played some of this man's work, and they are unbelievable.
http://www.ribbecke.com/

 

A coupla suggestions -

It would be best of course, if you could play a bunch and see what you liked and learn about it. I see you're up in the middle of nowhere (just kidding), but I would suggest the following:

- Find a Heritage dealer or other dealer that had some archtops, play a lot of them, and educate yourself as much as possible about the different design choices and your own preferences.

- If at all possible, get to a big guitar show. I don't know about the west coast, but Philly and especially the Long Island shows always have a bunch of the best builders. With the price of these things, it would be worth a plane ticket and a weekend to do research, especially if you can play examples of guitars by Manzer, Buscarino, Campallone, Ribbecke, Monteleone, Comins, etc. all in the same day. It's fun, too.

 

check this guy out. www.gagnonguitars.com


also does anyone know about siegmund guitars archtop?! the acoustic one looks amazing!!!!! how much is it?

 

There's a guy out in Sydney, Australia

Lawrence Smith

 

if your willing to try something alittle less "traditional " you could always try something custom by Ron Thorn

does a pretty mean archtop Hollowbody...

http://www.thornguitargallery.com/twenty8.htm

http://www.thornguitargallery.com/hb001.htm

http://www.thornguitargallery.com/hb002.htm