Artist Award acoustic tone

[GGJaguar]

I was noodling around on my Artist Award trying to figure out what it’s “missing” acoustically. I’m convinced Guild made the later Artist Awards (late 1980s to the Benedetto redesign) to be compromise between acoustic and electric tone in order to make them less prone to feedback. My ’48 Gibson L-7 was the best sounding acoustic archtop I had (gone, but not forgotten) and is my benchmark. I dragged out my 1953 Gagliano 900 aka Kay K-11 to play side by side. They are similar in that they are both a little over 17 inches wide and 3.5 inches deep, but the AA is all solid wood with carved top while the Kay’s body is laminated with a solid, pressed top. They both have 5-piece maple necks, but the Kay has no truss rod and is literally as thick as a baseball bat. The Kay has a Brazilian rosewood board and the AA’s board is, of course, ebony. The Kay is lightweight at 5.2 lb (2.4 kg) compared to the 6.7 lb (3.0 kg) Artist Award.

The AA has more clarity, but the Kay is louder and has a warmer tone. I made a couple of sound bites on each guitar with me doing my best fake jazz comping.

Kay K-11 tone sample

Artist Award tone sample

I know how the Kay “normally” sounds and I can say that the Kay's sound bite is not a fair representation because the strings on it are 3 years old and have lost their top end sparkle. It’s really a nice sounding archtop with fresh strings. The Kay is strung with D’Addario PB (.013) while the AA is fitted with a relatively fresh set of Martin Bronze 80/20 (.013). To my ears, the AA seems to be lacking some bottom end. I still have other sets of strings in the queue to find the optimum acoustic sound for the AA so I’m in it for the long haul. It could very well be that flatwounds may work best, but I’m going to stick with roundwounds for now.

Anybody play their archtops in “acoustic only” mode? What strings are you using?

 

[GAD]

I have an '88 AA - just like yours with that same awful pickup, but in sunburst. [rustles around on messy desk looking for a picture] here you go:

I *love* the acoustic tone out of it! I have Thomastik-Infeld something or other on there and as a guy who hates flat-wounds, I simply could not stop playing it when I got it. That could just be me not used to playing a guitar of this quality before, but I was quite wowed. I should finish that review...

Edit - I have Thomastik Jazz Swings on there - JS112

 

[Brad Little]

I don't have much to compare mine with, but, like GAD, I really like its acoustic sound. I can only hope it gets even a little better after I have it set up properly, right now the bridge footing is not sitting snugly, so probably not all the acoustic property is being transferred to the top. Not sure what strings are on it, probably George Bensons from TI. It is a few years older:

 

[walrus]

I play my '58 ES225T unplugged all the time. Sounds great, but not huge volume as it is a "thin body" archtop. The strings I've used on archtops for years are Ernie Ball Nickel Wound Custom Gauge, Extra Light, .10 - .50 with wound G.

walrus

 

[powerwagonjohn]

walrus, I have a 1956 ES-225T that is a great guitar but nothing like a acoustic archtop. My go to acoustic archtop is my 1952 Gibson L-4, it has a dry lo fi sound that is hard to beat. My other pure acoustic is a 1950 Epiphone Zenith. Like the L-4 it has a carved top and laminated back and sides, it barks like a dog after a steak. Both go between Martin Monel's and various phosphor bronze strings. After several string changes I still can't settle on one string so I must be close. I wish I could justify a all carved archtop but with 14 guitars I need to slim down a bit. I know grote is laughing just now! Maybe more time on the guitar will bring out the tone your looking for.
thanks John

 

[GAD]

Grote laughs at us all.

 

[Quantum Strummer]

I love the TI Jazz/Swing flatwounds. Got 'em on my c. 1941 Gibson L-50 as well as various electrics.

-Dave-

 

[DeArmond Hammer]

Try Newtone Archtop strings. They're on my 1952 National laminate archtop, and they feel and sound great. They have a double winding that is smoother than regular roundwound strings, but they sound brighter than flatwound strings. You may need to wait a couple weeks for the Newtone fellows to wind your set, but you should try them.