Epiphone Emperor, an archtop design.

An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed guitar with a distinctive "arched" belly and a sound particularly suited to blues and jazz. For this reason, archtops have a reputation as jazz boxes. The term archtop usually connotes a hollow-bodied instrument, although in specific reference to the solid-bodied Gibson Les Paul it may be used to distinguish the standard models from the flat-topped Special and Melody Maker. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1168x2512, 237 KB) Description Work by Rama Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Joe Pass Epiphone Semi-acoustic Guitar ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1168x2512, 237 KB) Description Work by Rama Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Joe Pass Epiphone Semi-acoustic Guitar ... Epiphone Emperor Epiphone is the name of a guitar manufacturer. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Blues music redirects here. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the start of the 20th century in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory and marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... A hollow body is a type of electric guitar which has a sound box similar to an acoustic guitar. ... A solid body electric instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on its electric pickup system to directly receive the vibrations of the strings. ... The Gibson Les Paul signature model is among the most recognized solid-body electric guitar designs. ... A flat top guitar is a type of guitar body model which has a flat top (as opposed to archtop). ... The Gibson Les Paul Junior and the Gibson Les Paul Special were designed as low-end versions of the famed Gibson Les Paul. ... The Gibson Melody Maker is an electric guitar that is similar to a Gibson Les Paul but with only one single-coil pick-up near the bridge; other differences from its Les Paul counterparts include differences in width to the standard and classic at the 1st fret (20 millimeters thinner...

The top (and often the back) of the archtop guitar are either carved out of a block of solid wood or heat-pressed using laminations, and it normally has f-holes. The arching of the top and the 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 are semi-acoustic electric guitars. Most pickups on modern archtops are humbuckers placed in bridge and/or neck positions. 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. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... link titlebearA semi-acoustic guitar is a modified version of the classical guitar with steel strings. ... Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ... Traditional humbucker pickup, uncovered A conventional humbucker (or Humbucking pickup) is a type of electric guitar pickup that uses two coils, both generating string signal. ...

The archtop guitar was invented by Lloyd Loar of the Gibson Guitar Corporation, who had previously designed a similar style of mandolin. 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. ... Carved and round backed mandolins (front) A mandolin is a small, plucked, stringed musical instrument, descended from the mandora. ...

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. 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 are equipped with a tremolo arm, most often of the Bigsby type. Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the start of the 20th century in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory and marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... country music, see Country music (disambiguation) In popular music, 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 that began... 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 factory-made instruments by Gibson, Epiphone, Gretsch and the highly prized handmade creations of luthiers such as D'Angelico, Stromberg, Wilkanowski, and D'Aquisto. More recently, interest in archtops has been revived by luthiers such as Bob Benedetto. The Benedetto style of acoustic/electric archtop has been copied by luthiers such as Dale Unger, John R. Zeidler, Dana Bourgeois and others. 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. Currently, many brands, such as Yamaha, Epiphone (owned by Gibson), Eagle, and Jay Turser produce affordable archtop guitars. Gibson Guitar Corporation is one of the worlds best-known manufacturers of acoustic and electric guitars. ... Epiphone Emperor Epiphone is the name of a guitar manufacturer. ... Gretsch is a U.S. musical instrument manufacturer currently being distributed by guitar company Fender and drum craft company Kaman. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... John R. Zeidler (1958 — d. ... 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 or other tremolo arm systems. Most tremolo systems cannot be fitted to an archtop owing to the need to cut large holes in the belly to accommodate the mechanism, but the Bigsby and the Gibson Vibrola can both be fitted. The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (or Bigsby for short) is a type of vibrato device for electric guitar designed by its namesake Paul A. Bigsby. ... 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... A tremolo arm, tremolo bar, vibrato bar or whammy bar is a lever attached to the bridge and/or the tailpiece of an electric guitar or archtop guitar to enable the player to quickly vary the tension and sometimes the length of the strings temporarily, changing the pitch to create...

The renewed interest in rockabilly music has led Guild to introduce a Rockabilly model electric archtop with humbucking pickups. Although factory production of acoustic archtops has died out, the L-7C acoustic archtop is still available from the Gibson custom shop. Archtop guitars are likely to remain in production in some form as long as interest in jazz guitar and early rock and roll music persists. Media:Example. ...

Two electric guitars. On the right is a Maton Freshman, an archtop guitar most often used for jazz. Image File history File links Electricguitars. ... Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ... Maton is an Australian manufacturer of guitars and other fretted musical instruments. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the start of the 20th century in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory and marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ...

External links

• American Archtops, Dale Unger's site.
• Rizzolo Guitars, Archtop Luthier in Australia
• Gagnon Guitars, Archtop Luthier in Portland, Oregon.
• Guitar Lessons Online Free In-Depth Reviews and User-Reviews of online guitar courses.