Let's see your archtop hollow and semihollow body guitars

[Blowtorch]

The most elegant of guitars, straight out of the Golden Age Here are most of mine

Let's see yours!

 

[Edward]

Nice collection. Is that an Agile front right?

 

[Blowtorch]

Thank you! And, it is. There are three Agiles (the one you spotted and the two "natural" colored ones in the middle) and one Douglas (the white one, top middle) in that picture.

The remainders are Waterstone (the blue) Dearmond (the sunburst) Epiphone (the goldtop) and Gretsch (the smoke-green)

 

[Edward]

Ah! I recognised the Epiphones too, and the Gretsch, obviously. The Dearmond range were nice; shame Fender cancelled those. I guess they felt they were unnecessary competition for the 5xxx series Gretsches. I don't own any semis currently, though I've long had my eye on either a Gretsch 5120 (the 6120 in Cochran spec is the thing of dreams, but I doubt I could ever justify spending that much on a single guitar), or maybe something equivalent from Peerless. Bigsby equipped, of course. My range of choice is relatively limited in this style of guitar, being a southpaw player.

 

[Blowtorch]

That Gretsch is actually pre-FMIC, it's a 6118 Double Anniversary.

Agree that the Dearmonds were very cool

I've always thought that to be a lefty guitar player would be very frustrating, as far as the limitations of readily-available instruments

 

[Edward]

I've always thought that to be a lefty guitar player would be very frustrating, as far as the limitations of readily-available instruments

It can be - it's definitely harder to track down specific instruments; you often have to order and commit to buying before you get to try the specific one you want as many places just don't keep them in stock. That's assuming you can get left handed at all: some companies are appallingly bad at offering lefty models, at least in the US and UK (Fender's Japanese outlet is significantly better this way than their North and South American operations; likely because the Japanese have double the global incidence of left handed people - around 20% as compared to 10%. ). And they're typically 10-15% more expensive. But then it does mean I've probably spent less on impulse over the years!

Playing wise, though, it's a no-brainer. Picking chords up faster because you can just mirror-image your righty mates is a bonus. Of course, anyone who claims that the guitar isn't a handed instrument hasn't a clue.

 

[OldStrummer]

The second guitar I ever acquired. I traded a pair of stereo speakers for it: 1957 Gibson ES-225. I had to replace the tuning keys and volume and tone pots, as they grew so old they crumbled. It plays like a dream, both unplugged and amped.

 

[Matt Crunk]

I love archtops!. Have owned mostly Gretsches and Gibsons, starting with a 1964 Gretsch Tennessean I had in the late 1980s.

My Mid-'60s Silvertone, which I played through my pro-gigging years of the 1990s.

My matching pair of Gretsch Brian Setzer signature 6120s

My 2001 Gretsch Tennessee Rose and GibsonES335 Dot-neck '61 Reissue (and Glaesel upright bass)

 

[Blowtorch]

I see my pic was a photobucket victim, here it is again