I am thinking a lot about an archtop purchase and would like to learn about things important to that decision.
I like the look and sound of the Godin 5th Avenue with P90 pickups. I enjoy playing finger style blues and will eventually also work on some older tunes that are likely originally lute based.
This is a departure from what I have now - all solid body electric with light strings. I am interested in learning something I need to consider that I have not thought about. Here is what I know I need to consider. What else do I not know I should think about?
This is a hollow body and likely to have high feedback => no big deal. I understand feedback and donāt play in a setting that needs to be loud.
I prefer light strings - that means 9-42 gauge. This comes with 12-52 and a wound G string. The wound G means I cannot go much lighter because the bridge will not support intonation of a solid string instead.
This is a hollow guitar and I live in a very dry climate with house humidity 25-35% most of the time. I have little feel for how bad this will really be. I prefer to keep guitars out so I can grab them on a whim. I will not like confining one in a case to maintain humidity. Can I slowly move this outside a case and keep it safely in low humidity?
I see the bridge on this is very different - it appears to be placed on top of the body, not bolted in. What problems might this present? Does it move on its own? Are string changes annoying to get intonation back in?
Are blues string bends going to be possible on this? I like lighter strings for bending and do not like to bend 10s. I expect this will be much stiffer. Any comments on that?
I would like to explore slide playing. This has a 16 inch radius. That seems fairly flat. Any comments on the slide working well?
I have some shoulder/neck trouble with shoulders forward too much. Will the thicker body be a significant change? I mostly notice weight and not so much thickness in my solid body guitars - PRS is too heavy and Ibanez is no trouble at all.
What else can you think of to tell me about changing to this style of body? I really like the sound, but do not need to buy something that is going to be difficult to enjoy for some unexpected reason.
I dont know those answers but I hope someone does. Clearly well thought out and important questions. Especially the hot dry environment one. I will be keeping an eye on this topic.
I wasnāt going to answer because it sound like you want conformation your doing the right thing and the only person who can answer your questions is you.
The truth of the matter is you need to go and play one or ten and see if you really want one or you just like the Idea of having one.
I have a 1947 Gibson Arch Top and play it at least once a week. It also has 12ās and bending isnāt a problem for me.
That being said some of your questions donāt really make sense.
You say you like the sound but then in #2 you say you use 9=42 gauge. There is a reason Arch Tops come with 12. Itās a big part of their sound.
#3 yes you need to treat it like an acoustic, so youāll need to humidify it if your humidity is that low. You should be humidifying all your guitar even your electrics.
#4 yes the bridge just sits on the top of the body(just like a violin) so change your string 1 at a time or the bridge will fall off
#5 that all depends on your technique I have no problem bending 12ās
#6 fall under technique as well.
#7 your going to have to go play some to figure that out for yourself. My Gibson Arch Top is the same thickness as my L00 but if you donāt play acoustics it will be thicker than your electrics and could feel uncomfortable.
So it all boils down to you going out and playing Arch tops so you can answer your question.
Wish I could find one locally. Nothing in the area. I bought my Ibanez after a lot of thinking same as I am doing here and I do like it a lot.
Does it have nylon or steel strings? (Is it electric or acoustic). The steel strings I have tried at 10 are fairly stiff for bends. I do think that a part of the problem is the amount the string bites into the finger tip. Thicker string may need more push, but it will bite less.
This is interesting info. Are you talking about the acoustic sound or the electric sound? I would think that the acoustic sound needs a heavier string to get better projection - am I thinking correctly?
This may be a decision killer. It is the biggest thing I am concerned about. I really do enjoy having the guitar out and fast to grab. Many times I get 3-5 minutes to grab one and then need to get up. Iād barely have time to get something out of a case and put it back in in those situations, so maybe this is not the guitar for me. Iāll do more thinking on this. My wife has had an acoustic for decades, never in a case, never cared for. It is in ok shape, so I was hoping that I could ease a new guitar into a dry state without damage.
Perfect info. thanks! kind of obvious when you hear the answwer.
Sounds like any arch top will help, even acoustic, to get the feel. I have a good used shop I like to visit. He had the Casino there last time. it had the bulky bridge with heavy trem bar on it. I didnāt like the weight, but the thickness wasnāt noticed in the short time I sat with it. Iāll go back and see what acoustics he has that are close to the Godin.
I think that looks like a real good choice.
I had, and still could consider one of them.
Perhaps not right away though as I got a casino instead of the 5th Ave. fwiw, the casino has some similarityās with the 5th Ave., I think.
While I have zero experience with the 5th Ave. Iāll give ya my impressions of a Casino (which is hollow w/p90s), mixed w/my dreadnought acoustic, .
I play right next to my amps. I play bedroom vol. to loud enough that for sure ya can hear it out on my front sidewalk, window closer or not. So, kinda loud. I donāt have much issue with feedback. Turning the gain up will make it feedback sooner.
I play .010ās on electrics, .011 on my acoustic. The .011ās are harder to bend, but it can be done. Iām better at bending on .010ās for sure though. .012ās Iād assume would be harder than .011ās, but again. Iām thinking doable w/practice.
I donāt know. I do know I have been concerned about my acoustic w/a solid wood top, which it donāt appear the 5th Ave. is. I have a laminated acoustic thatās been played in very dry to near raining conditions. Itās a 12 string. Iāve never done anything to it for humidity. It resides in a case but Iāve taken it anywhere Iāve wanted, inside to outside w/o issues. At this point I donāt humidify my solid body electrics.
I had/have a free floating bridge on a old harmony electric. While not a great guitar, Iāve not had problems enough with intonation that Iāve even gone to check it. fwiw, the bridge has been in place since 1964. It has a kinda worn looking place where the bridge sits. Iāve bumped the bridge enough to move it while strung up. I put it back to the telltale is on the body from years of sitting in one place. It goes right back to being in tune (enough for me anyways)
The .011ās on my acoustic I find hard to bend a tone. Semi tone Iām ok. A tone bend is hard for me to get. I do a song where I need to bend the g and b string together. I think I need to bend a tone. I canāt do it. Maybe with time?
I donāt know. My slide skills are so bad I wouldnāt know good from bad.
Canāt see it being any different from going from a electric to playing a acoustic (I play a dread). Looks like the 5th Ave. is between solid body thickness and acoustic thickness. So Iād think itād be ok, for me anyways. I have no injuryās though.
imho, I think for sure ya should play one before purchase if possible.
Myself, I play dreadnought acoustics to solid body electrics. I go back and forth w/o thought.
imho, it seems like I remember the 5th Ave. coming w/single pups or bridge and neck. I would want to go w/ 2 pupās for me. I also seem to remember that the 5th Ave. can have the cutaway or not have the cutaway. Myself Iād go w/cutaway. The 2 acoustics I have, one is cutaway, the other is not. I like the cutaway for sure more than the not cutaway.
Looks like a great guitar to me. Canada made too. Thatās a plus to me. I donāt see much difference in what I use for country of origin though. My guitars are made in, USA, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea. All are mid level type guitars.
Lastly. imho, yer gonna like p90ās, myself, Iām kinda drawn to them. My main 2 electrics are, 1 has 2 p90ās, 1 has neck p90 and a bridge humbucker. That one Iām likely to play on the p90 mostly. I just personally like p90ās I thinkā¦
Iām looking more at the radius. I do know that I want the action higher on a 10 inch radius so I can press all the strings without knocking into a fret. Iām thinking that a 16 inche should be flatter enough to make it easier to not run into frets. I have seen some that are at 20 inches used for slide. That makes some sense to me.
Your āabuseā has been short duration. My abuse would be long term. I may need to find some folks to chat in guitar stores and get a set of opinions for my region. My used store does not have a humidity controlled room.
I am looking at the single cut with P90 both bridge and neck, not the jumbo nor the gold foil. The other models donāt sound as nice to me, and I do not have anything with a P90. I really like the sound of a single coil and I prefer some low frequency, so P90 seems like a good option.
One thing I can add to my decision is that once I am retired, I am getting out of this hot and dry climate. That should put me back into a more favorable house humidity. Maybe I can live with the imprisoned guitar for a few years until that happens. Hmmā¦ Need to visit my used store and hope he has something in the ballpark to test out.
A misunderstanding Michael (I didnāt clarify).
The abuse is to my 1976 alverez 5054(?) 12 string (laminated maple top, I think mahogany sides, back and neck). It was my only guitar for years. It went wherever I went. Cold to hot, dry to humid and visa versa. Itās never been in a controlled environment (It resided in NE and MN).
I still have it. It still plays good, when I get it out, which is not real often.
I didnāt even know I was abusing it. I was 16 when I got it.
Cutaway w/2 p90ās. Great choice imho.
Thatād be the one Iād pickā¦
I wish Iād have been able to find one of them around here to play, but I didnāt.
Closest I came was non cutaway w/singe neck p90. I didnāt pursue it since I didnāt think that was what I wanted for amenityās.
That guitar looks great. As far as holow-body archtop guitars are concerned, I have an Epiphone Casino that has a somewhat different construction and I use different string gauges, so I cannot comment on those points.
If I see correctly, there are noches for the strings and the saddle is made of one piece, so you cannot adjust the intonation string by string. Also, it seems to be kept in its place by the tension of the strings, i.e. when tuned up and ready to play, it will be really hard to move it out of its place. It will not slip and slide away. When changing strings, I would use some sort of a marker that it easy to remove and does not damage the finish, or just measure the distance between the bridge and the bridge pickup and make a note of it. But maybe the shop assistant also can give advice on how to find the right spot again.
That sound in that demo video is amazing ā¦ but itās a demo video! Itās always good to try the guitar out in person to see how it feels and sounds to you in real life. I have a history of never buying the guitar I went to try out, and that was the same story when I went to buy an archtop guitar (which I wanted for a long time because they sound so amazing). But they just didnāt feel right and I ended up going home with a hollow-body slimline (https://www.eastmanguitars.com/t64_v_t). Close enough though to answer some of your questions. Feedback - known thing to watch out for with known solutions / avoid strategies, and I have not had any issues. String thickness - that was a downer for me because I bought the guitar to play blues but it is set up for 11s and I find tone bending hard. Possible with practise but still never pleasant or playful. I tried thinner strings but then the whole guitar was out of whack and just didnāt work or sound right and I had to go back to 11s. I was grumpy with the guitar for a while because of that but I am making my piece with it now. Bridge - I put a folded T-shirt under the bridge before I change strings - all at the same time, or else how am I going to clean the frets? I am just a bit more careful when I bring the new strings back to tension - breaking it down into several steps and bringing all strings up to tensions at the same time. Weight - light as a feather compared to solid-body guitars. Itās hollow!
As regards bending strings, it should be not too bad for subtle bends but go for 2 or more frets be prepared for it not being easy. Itās got a 24.8ā scale length so strings will be under less tension than on a Strat, but the thicker strings are bound to impact that. The fingerboard radius is fine for slide as long as the action isnāt too low - I use one of these to play slide on my Telecaster - Grover Perfect Guitar Extension Nut ā Thomann UK
Theyāre pretty good and arenāt permanent, just loosen the strings and slide it under them.
As regards the Bridge, when I had a guitar where the bridge wasnāt glued down I used masking tape to mark out the back edge and sides of the bridge before I removed it, masking tape shouldnāt cause any damage or stains if itās not left on too long.
Iāve looked at these. They have a higher pitch than the archtops. Iād probably like the slimline. It looks like the bridge is bolted into the top? I think that reduces the acoustic part of the sound, so I have been avoiding that.
I think that is the bridge. Also note that the intonation is set up for 4 wound strings. That pretty much forces me to use heavier strings to keep balance.
Iām going to need to think thru the full bend issue as well as the humidity care. I also like tunes witohut bends, so the string stiffness is a lower concern. I like fingerstyle with a stiffer string than using a pick.
