Archtop guitars are steel-stringed acoustic guitars with a distinctive "arched" belly and a sound particularly suited to blues guitar and jazz. They are also known as jazz-boxes or hollow bodies, although not all hollow body guitars are archtops. An acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the Classical guitar, but generally strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. ... The classical guitar typically has 3 nylon and 3 nickel-wound strings. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ...

Two electric guitars. On the right is a Maton Freshman, an archtop guitar most often used for jazz.

The top (and often the back) of the archtop guitar are carved in a curved rather than a flat shape, and it normally has f-holes. This curve and f-holes are both similar to the violin family, on which they were originally based. Although any true archtop has a rich tone unamplified, most archtop guitars have some sort of pickup/microphone system, and many are intended primarily for this purpose and so may also be considered electric guitars. Most used on modern archtops are humbuckers in bridge and/or neck positions. Image File history File links Electricguitars. ... Image File history File links Electricguitars. ... An electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electronic pickups to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. ... Maton is an Australian manufacturer of guitars and other fretted musical instruments. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... A cello with f-holes A guitar with a round hole A sound hole is a hole in the upper sounding board of a string musical instrument. ... The violin is a bowed stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart, the lowest being the G just below middle C. It is the smallest and highest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello. ... An electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electronic pickups to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. ... Traditional humbucker pickup, uncovered A humbucker is a type of electric guitar pickup. ...

The archtop was invented by Lloyd Loar of the Gibson Guitar Corporation after designing a style of mandolin of the same type. Lloyd Loar was a Gibson sound engineer and master luthier in the early part of the 20th century. ... Gibson Guitar Corporation is one of the worlds best-known manufacturers of acoustic and electric guitars. ... The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ...

Archtop guitars were immediately adopted upon their release by both jazz and country musicians and have remained particularly popular in jazz music, usually using thicker strings (higher gauged round wound and flat wound) than conventional acoustic guitars. Archtops are often louder than a typical dreadnought acoustic guitar. The electric hollow body archtop guitar has a distinct sound among electric guitars and is consequently appropriate for many styles of rock and roll. Many electric archtop guitars intended for use in rock and roll even have a tremolo arm, most often of the Bigsby type. Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... Country music, also called country and western music or country-western, is an amalgam of popular musical forms developed in the Southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, Celtic Music, Blues, Gospel music, and Old-time music. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... A tremolo arm, tremolo bar or whammy bar is a lever attached to the bridge and/or the tailpiece of an electric guitar to enable the player to quickly vary the tension and sometimes the length of the strings temporarily, changing the pitch to create a vibrato, portamento or pitch... The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (or Bigsby for short) is a type of vibrato device for electric guitar designed by its namesake Paul A. Bigsby. ...

The most famous archtop guitars were the Gibson and Gretsch models for some time, until Benedetto guitars began to rise in popularity. The only disadvantage to Benedetto guitars is their price. A standard "Manhattan" model, which is their typical Jazz Archtop model famous around the world for its flawless sound, retails for $22,500.00. The Benedetto style of acoustic/electric archtop has been copied and in fact improved upon by luthiers such as Dale Unger (American Archtops), John R. Zeidler, Dana Bourgeois and others at more reasonable cost ($3,000 to $10,000). Most of the accessories (pickguard, bridge, tuner buttons, knobs, etc.) are made of wood (ebony or rosewood) instead of metal and have a clean acoustic look. More ordinary brands (all of them quite good instruments) are Yamaha, Epiphone (owned by Gibson), Eagle, Jay Turser and others. Gibson Guitar Corporation is one of the worlds best-known manufacturers of acoustic and electric guitars. ... Gretsch is a US musical instrument manufacturer. ... A pickguard (also known as scratchplate) is a piece of plastic or other laminated material that is placed under the strings on the body of a guitar. ... The Yamaha Corporation (ヤマハ株式会社; TYO: 7951 ) is a Japanese company with a large number of product areas. ... Epiphone Emperor Epiphone is the name of a guitar manufacturer. ...

Some Archtop guitars have Bigsby-tremolo systems. Moveable bridges (aka. "rollerbridge") and tailpieces are found on almost all archtops. Guitar players prefer archtops mainly because they offer the warm rich sound of an acoustic guitar and of course a "real" sustain sound. The Archtop will enable the player to combine the magnificent sound with different amplifiers and effects. The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (or Bigsby for short) is a type of vibrato device for electric guitar designed by its namesake Paul A. Bigsby. ...