I have been playing guitar and a musician for over 30 years. I have a special thing for archtop guitars, and have a kind of old school blues/roots and jazz feel on the instrument. I have had a number of archtops though usually at the fairly cheap end of the spectrum. I like cheap guitars that are made well and this one qualifies. It is heavily built and clean finished, and very nice looking. It has a rather chunky neck which feels and plays wonderfully, very comfortable. It is bright and loud and barks like it should when attacked. It has an excellent blues tone and feel for me. It reminds me of a good quality vintage piece but does not need to be repaired and is not falling apart. The first one I had, had a crack at the seam and I returned it, still played great but that worried me. So you have to look out for the QC issues, but this one is all good, but the pickguard was not included for some reason, so getting that replaced by Gibson. Straight up, I know there have been some crappy reviews by the mostly jazz archtop snobs out there but I have played guitar forever and this is a very nice guitar for the money. It has the right archtop vibe and punch and does not cost thousands, seems built like a tank. It is addictive to play. I did compare this to an F-hole deluxe model and this was louder and better. I have another older epiphone masterbilt flattop that is better than most new $3k guitars and they did well again with this one. I will add that I bought this… read more for its acounstic sound, but when I plugged it in to try the amplified sound was beautiful. My advice, don't listen to the negative snobs on this one. it is a very nice offering, just look it over carefully for quality and finish issues and buy from a place that has good service.

Musical Background:
30 years with guitars, and saxophones, many of them professional

Musical Style:
jazz, reggae, jam, blues, roots, fingerstyle etc read less