ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL 2.0

A MONSTER JAZZ ARCHTOP GUITAR I got this monster made-in-China Farida 18" archtop from a friend in the UK relocating to Hong Kong and wanting to get rid of excess baggage. Farida is more well-known for their acoustic guitars, this archtop is no longer in production. You can gauge how huge this thing is by comparing with the '68 Morris copy of a Gibson ES175 (Left) which has a lower bout of 16.75 ", and the '78 Yamaha copy of a 17" Gibson L5-CES (Right) The Farida is heavy and won't fit into any standard archtop gig carrying-case. It is very well-made with an Ebony fingerboard, and very loud when played unplugged. And has an old-fashioned sound like those rhythm guitars in a 1930s big band going comp comp comp before electric guitars were invented.  Looking at the tail-bridge, it's a copy of the 1939 D' Angelico New Yorker which probably has a valuation today of at least $50,000.

A jazz archtop guitar's tone is a composite of  the type of wood(s) used in it's construction, the. pickups, the material and design of the bridge, as well as the type of strings used and also the size and the depth (thickness) of its body. Full-bodied electric jazz archtops like the Gibson 16" lower bout ES-175 and the 17" lower bout Gibson L5CES are known for their woody  tone, a tone much cherished by jazz guitarists. They are also very resonant. Both guitars  have a depth of about 3.5". One big disadvantage of deep body archtops especially if the top of the body is solid carved wood is that they are prone to feedback, which makes them less playable, especially for live performance on a stage.  L5CES have solid carved Spruce top while ES-175 have laminated Maple top which is less prone to feedback. Guitar manufacturers have sought to reduce the feedback by reducing the depth of the body. Here, we see two made in Japan archtops (Left: D'Angelico...