NGD big blousy archtop

Corvus

I'd wanted an archtop for years and started looking again. Spotted Coda were knocking the last of these out with a big fat ol' discount, so went for it. Black's not my first choice but cheap it was -

http://alleykat.co.uk/images/stuff/misc/da.jpg

Chuffed with it, can't fault the build - nice big frets perfectly levelled, nut perfectly cut. Headstock the size of Surrey but somehow less gigantic in real life vs pics. Pickup's not the greatest so will swap that at some point, and make a new p/g then also. Prob darken the board a bit and slightly age the inlays to tamp down the plasteek-ness a bit.

It's a big change for a dirty fuzz-based life form. Sure you can play jazz on anything but it stops me slipping back into filthy rock mode. You just have to play to it's strengths.

First step is flatwounds, I've never had any before, any tips? Seems to be lots of types & makes.

mgaw

thomastik flatwounds are a good option

Wonky

That's lovely man.  Well done.
I like the black by the way.  Love the controls on the scratch plate too.
As far as flat wound's are concerned, Thomastik are considered the finest by many, but they're really, really expensive D addrios Chromes are great and last for ages too.  Not that sounding dark is ever an issue with jazz strings.

camf

I like the black too. Nice guitar. 

camf

Newtone archtop strings?

sweepy

Before going to flatwounds, have a go with half wounds from D’addario, to my ears they are a much nicer option

DB1

Newtone archtop strings (IIRC) have a wound third, and might not be to everyone's tastes. I think I have a spare set, which I'd be happy to send to you if I can find them. They 'whistle' a lot when new. I like their acoustic strings though. For me, it's D'Addario Chromes - the Thomastik's feel a little 'fibrous' for me, but they have a lot of fans, so it's probably just me. I use 11\s. although I'm sure I could get used to 12's.

Oh, and what a lovely guitar. Congratulations! 

JayGee

That’s lovely! 

Speaking as a man who used to play an ES295-a-like in a punk band 50p says it’ll actually do fuzztastic filthy rock just fine...

Jalapeno

Thomastik Infeld Jazz or Swing - try 11s or even 12s

They sound and feel fantastic - no more string noise !

prlgmnr

If you're going to be playing mostly chords and want to sound as much like a keyboard as possible then go flats, but if you're going for mostly lead I'd go with the Thomastik round wounds/bebop strings whatever it is they call them.

Just my opinion but you're already playing what will be a dark sounding guitar probably into a dark sounding tone, you want a touch of sizzle from somewhere.

merciful-evans

Hey nice choice !

Flatwounds: I mostly use D'addario Chromes. Recently swapped from 12-52 to 11-50

Just noticed they also now have 10-48 too.

Corvus

Thanks a lot everyone, cheers. And ta for the strings advice, and @DB1 especially thanks mate! I spent a long time surfing & reading last night and ordered Thomastik flats, the ones with the tin coated top two. Thought I'd start somewhere darker and move to brighter things if I don't like 'em. Such a minefield of choice.

skullfunkerry

Really like the look of that, congrats!

(What actually *is* it, btw?)

Corvus

Thanks! Should've said - D'Angelico EXL-1 is the model.

roberty

That's awesome man, props for getting out of your comfort zone too

Corvus

Cheers mate, I'm at the bottom of a big steep hill for sure!