Porkpie Hat - 1957 Silvertone Archtop

Anytime someone wears a Porkpie Hat this tune is playing in their head! When I wear mine it is

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Piedmont
• Virginia
• Country
• Blues
• Acoustic
• Guitar
• Fingerpicking
• Archtop
• 1957Silvertone
• Jazz
• BobD

[jeremyarp1975]

Thank you so much for posting this. I have been enjoying this clip for about a year and have done my best to imitate your playing. Wonderful stuff. Pardon my ignorance... is this an original tune you wrote or ? I like it tons!

[bobdwilliams]

Hey thanks Jeremy! Yes I wrote most of the songs I've posted here

[morrissteven]

Whoa, cool! I have that same guitar, but mine was all jacked up when I got it so I fixed it up (straightened the neck, put in a truss rod, added body bracing, real binding and made a new fretboard/bridge). I put some flatwounds on it and it sounds great.

Nice playing by the way!

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks morrissteven...hey what wood did you use for the fretboard on your project?

[morrissteven]

@pickinstone It may be a personal preference, but I think flatwounds sound a billion times better on an old archtop. It's not set in stone or anything, but I think flatwounds and archtops go hand in hand. if I wanted a bright and lively sound, I'd use flat top acoustic with rounds. To each his own though- if it feels good and sounds good then there's no wrong doing as far as I'm concerned.

[pickinstone]

@morrissteven why would you put flats on an acoustic archtop. Bronzewounds would really liven up the old war horse here.

[geomiezzi]

Maybe it's your personal arrangendgemend of Mingus Tune but it's no bad...

Ciao

Guliano iezzi -jazzitalia

[morrissteven]

@bobdwilliams Resetting the neck like that would put me back at square one I think. I might get the clearance if I put an enormous bridge in there, but the harmonics would be shot (causing the sharp notes as you ascend). The ebony fingerboard and some flats make this guitar sound like a lot more than I paid for it. I may have put a little bit too much/too heavy bracing on it so it doesn't sustain all that much. It's great for jazz though!

[up2space]

Hi Bob,

I have been shopping around for a guitar ( experienced player) have heard many guitars. But for an old guitar, this is the best that I have heard that can stand up in terms of intonation and clarity. when i hear it here, it does sound like some notes are flatting then coming in tune especially with open strings. just wondering, was the guitar a little out of tune or was it due to fret ware or other factors. just heard the godins but the silvertone is a sound truer to my aims. thanks.

[bobdwilliams]

yep, mine is made the same way...could you re-set your neck to get the clearance? By the way, I LOVE ebony...maybe I'll try that on one of my other G-tar-ahs!

Peace

[morrissteven]

If you do something like I did, you might want to add some wood in between your neck and your fretboard so you can put a floating pup in there. My strings ride too close to the body to get one in there and that was a slight dissapointment for me-- but it sounds just fine as an acoustic.

[morrissteven]

I used ebony for the board. The guitar didn't really have good wood for the neck in general-- in fact the wood grains on the fingerboard are painted on there (kind of like the binding). One of the cool things the guitar has going for it is the one piece top and back. However, even though it's technically an archtop, it's not a carved top. I think it was just a flat piece of wood pressed into the arch shape.