who makes a good archtop les paul clone?

i see usacg makes a variety of flat tops. they are appealing, since you can ask for customizations, and supply your own wood (which you can"t do with warmoth), but they don't make the arch top les paul. any suggestions (especially places that let you supply your own wood blank)?

I don't know. But I did own a f-hole, semi-hollow, Epiphone Les Paul years ago. But I sold it. I should have kept that one. Only one I ever saw, in person.

The only ones I know of right now are Xaviere; a few guys on here have posted about them. If you're handy with setups, they usually need moderate to quite a bit of tweaking but end up being pretty good players. They are cheap and offshore made, so I may be way off base suggesting this. I don't know how much you want to spend. The parent company; Guitarfetish started out selling pickups and hardware, and their stuff is good, IMO. http://www.guitarfetish.com/XV-550-Series-SOLID-Carved-Maple-Semi-Hollow-Highly-Figured-Quilt-Tops_c_181.html -and I've got a set of those "Crunchy Pats" and they have a real nice warm, classic 'bucker sound.

thanks for the replies. i'll clarify, though. by archtop, i mean a curved top, like a "les paul standard". not a hollow jazz guitar. i'm hoping not to pay top dollar. warmoth seems like a good option, but i'd like to see the pattern of the wood first...

Rondo.

Tokai

Rondo/Agile - Amazing build quality, materials, and set up out of the box. Korean made.

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j356/beachbum47/AGILE/IMG_0998.jpg

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j356/beachbum47/AGILE/IMG_1009-1.jpg

Look at Dillions.

Tokai

mmmhmmm... Indeed they do.

as of about 4 months ago warmoth will let you supply your own wood...but you still have to pay as if you also were buying thier wood. and you have to opay an inspection fee.

i was looking around at those who make necks ( 4 months ago ) and warmoth and usacg were my 2 top picks....usacg being the 1 i knew from the beginning i would probably go with.

but i contacted warmoth first just out of curiosity.

tommy at usacg was the #1 guy at warmoth for more than 15 years and rob stone was the head of fender custon shop !!!..so

i was going to supply the wood...a roasted ( torrified ) tiger maple neck blank and an african blackwood fret board blank and they ( warmoth ) told me they would charge me as if i was buying the highest grade figure tiger maple they had and the most expensive fret board..i think it was very dark/black ebony and then they were also going to charge me an inspection fee...all in all it was going to cost close to 700 us dollars with a nitro satin finish...

and they would not cut a nut width of 41.2750mm or 1.625 which is a true 1 5/8 width..NOT THE 1.650 MOST ADVERTISE AS 1 5/8...1.650 IS 1 21/32 or 42.0688. some vintage guitars can be found with the 1.650 but leo was going for true 1 5/8..my old strat is this width and i am used to it, i like it and wanted it as close as possible.

usa custom guitars ( tommy ) told me he would do this no problem and did not even charge me for it.

and he did not charge me for using my own wood either...no inspection fee...nothing..and i told him if my wood was not up to their standards when they saw it ?? i told them i would buy their wood..but they told me the wood was beautiful and it was more than good enough..they could have said my wood sucked and i would have believed them because i know they have a first rate reputation.

i was charged 235.00 dollars to make the neck which included the real clay dots, 12 radius, rolled frets, their logo put on the neck, drilled for gotoh's..then it was 95.00 dollars for a satin nitro finish and 25 shipping...so i paid 355.00 dollars total and warmoth wanted 700. i could have almost 2 necks if i supplied my own wood to usacg.

here are a couple pics of the boards i supplied and the finished product..sorry ahead of time the pics are not the best.

http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/mabley/ablkwde235.jpg''

http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/mabley/roastedcurlymaple.jpg

http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/mabley/KUbmp.jpg

http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/mabley/NNVB.jpg

http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/mabley/NNNLI.jpg

http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/mabley/LLL.jpg

usacg customer service is second to none and are highly recomended

Tokai

Just seen a very nice Tokai Love Rock in a local shop. Cherry burst flamed top and a Tokai Bigsby-style vibrato. Looks great.

Tokai, Burny, Fernadez and other Japanese makers.

svk,welch

from the offerings on their site, it doesn't look like usacg makes a "rounded" top les paul standard. is this the case?

i can't believe that warmoth has pricing like they do. it seems that if you are supplying wood, they would charge you as if you were buying their cheapest wood...