Savoy 150A -- Made to be played... In Church [Image Heavy]

I hope to have some recordings soon. I really love this guitar! I'll be playing it with our little guitar group this Christmas Eve.

Quick story... So the Bass player of our group is actually an acoustic guitarist as well (a Taylor guy) -- he just plays bass to give us a variation on the sound. Another guy about is a longtime rock musician. Used to play quite a bit as an opener for some fairly big acts. He loves vintage stuff, and has been on the hunt for a vintage Gibson songwriter.

So, they checked out the Savoy, and of course, everyone likes a new guitar, right? They took turns playing it. Neither had really considered an archtop before, but they liked the sound.

We're doing our set, and we get to "What Child is This?" I capo'ed up to the 7th fret for variation (when you have four six string guitars, you do things to separate the sound) and I'm playing a simple arpeggio as an intro... playing... and playing... waiting to hear the other guitars join in... only nothing... I'm just playing this simple Am arpeggio, over and over. Finally the vintage rock guy (who was behind me) comes around and just stares at the Savoy. "Is that you?" he asked. I said, -yeah, what did you think?- He says: "I don't know. I thought we had a harp backing track or something. That's amazing."

And he looks at the bass player and says: "I think I need to get this guitar." And the bass player says, "I know, right? That sound is amazing."

So.. yeah... pretty darn happy right now. And I know a bunch of guitar pics in a church won't excite many people... but hey, this is exactly what I bought it for.

Pics:

Nice! (But, TRC is upside down.:tongue

It's great to hear that you are enjoying the new archtop guitar! Especially after the thorough research you did before buying it. Yeah... it's true, when you capo up high like that, the guitar begins to sound like chimes! What kind of amp are you playing it through?

sailingshoes72 said:

It's great to hear that you are enjoying the new archtop guitar! Especially after the thorough research you did before buying it. Yeah... it's true, when you capo up high like that, the guitar begins to sound like chimes! What kind of amp are you playing it through?

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Actually, that night it was just through the PA system. I did pass it through the Fishman Aura, but just to use as a pre-amp and equalizer. Last night I put it into a Fishman amp -- I think it was the Fishman Loudbox Artist PRO-LBX-600 Acoustic Combo Amp. Sounded identical to my ear. Bass guy brought the Fishman because he thought it would sound better than going into the PA direct. IDK. I couldn't tell a difference.

I have a Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL that I am going to hook up tonight and take the Savoy into there and then on into the PA direct and see how that sounds. But so far, no matter what we do, it hasn't sounded bad.

What do you plug yours into?

AcornHouse said:

Nice! (But, TRC is upside down.:tongue

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Ha! I'll be sure to tell Stuart Day. He was the one who removed it to check the truss rod. I'll fix it. Nice catch!

AcornHouse said:

Nice! (But, TRC is upside down.:tongue

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Yes, but I too purposefully turned it around on my A-150b because imho, this TRC on this guitar just looks better that way.

So PP, it's perfectly okay to leave it, and then take your chances with the LTG-TRC police!

PittPastor said:

What do you plug yours into?

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I don't play out, except for jamming over at a friend's house sometimes. I mostly enjoy strumming my electrics in the living room. Both my electric archtop guitars are laminate construction with the tops routed, and the pickups mounted in the soundboard. I don't have any experience with the DeArmond Rhythm Chief floating pickup, like you have in the Savoy 150A.

I play the '59 CE-100 DP thru a '66 Fender Princeton (non-reverb). It's got a good clean sound, with a deep "clank" in the bass and an "airy" resonance in the middle and treble registers.It has good articulation of the different notes in a chord. My '60 T-100 DP is on permanent loan to my nephew in NYC. He plays it thru a vintage Music Man 112-65, but he's a jazz-rocker. I'm an old 60's style Folkie!

It would be an interesting discussion here on the Forum... which amp that DeArmond Rhythm Chief 1000 pickup would sound best with... an "acoustic guitar" amp or an "electric guitar" amp? I will let others with more experience weigh in with their preferences.

Guitars and Amps...That subject could go on for a LONG time !

Here is what I learned from watching " That pedal show" on youtube and by experimenting with my guitars and amps. Some combinations work better than others. It depends on the sound you want to come out with and what tones the guitar has naturally and the amp has as part of it's design. A guitar with strong mids, like a single coil guitar , plugged into an amp that ALSO has strong highs and mids, may end up sounding harsh or tinny. A guitar with more low end plugged into an amp with lots of bass, could sound muddy. With that being said...

While I don't have the savoy, like you do, I have it's cousin the NS X175 in the same sunburst pattern. Two single coils, and I live mostly on the neck pickup. I have used it on a Peavey Back Stage Chorus, with some reverb turned up and it sounds really nice. That is supposed to be an acoustic guitar amp, so you 'd think it would not work well, but it does. I've also used it on with my Randall Commander II, which is a 100 watt twin 10" electric amp, and it plays well with that one. I've never been about maybe a 2 on the main volume knob, because it can get loud ! I keep it on the clean channel and set that way. I use a Full Drive 3 for any dirt or overdrive , not the amp. It's a solid state amp from the late 70s and the distortion is not so musical. I have also played it through my Carvin Vintage 16 amp and it sounds very nice there too. It's has a nice tube setup so the overdrive is fun to play around with.

Maybe, because a hollow body guitar IS an acoustic guitar with pickups, it has tones that work well with a wider range of amps than a solid body guitar, you can plug it into a lot of amps and not be disappointed. I suspect some will stand out as a better match than others. Maybe I should try my wife's bass amp , next ?

Harp - like tones? :victorious: Of course the tailpiece had everything to do with that.

That's awesome, Pitt.

Here's a shot of my Guilds at a previous church where I was serving:



L to R: F4CE, CE100D, JV52.

The Savoy is my next guitar. I’m glad to hear you like yours.

jcwu said:

That's awesome, Pitt.
Here's a shot of my Guilds at a previous church where I was serving:

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Awesome. So, did you plug straight into the PA system? Or what amp did you use? And, what all is on the pedal board. Enquiring minds want to know...

PittPastor said:

Awesome. So, did you plug straight into the PA system? Or what amp did you use? And, what all is on the pedal board. Enquiring minds want to know...

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Acoustic #1 (F4CE) with the LR Baggs LB6 pickup went into an LR Baggs Para DI; acoustic #2 (JV52) with a K&K Pure Mini and LR Baggs M1 pickup went into a Headway EDB1 preamp; both preamps went straight into house PA.

The CE100D went into the Line 6 Pod X3 Live, which also went straight into house PA. I sometimes run another out from the X3 Live into a Tech 21 Power Engine for a stage monitor, but most often just used the stage monitor to hear myself.

Nowadays I serve in a much smaller church where the JV52 unplugged is more than enough guitar for the room.