Orville Gibson

Once upon a time...
There was no guitar with strings terminating at a tailpiece.  Orville Gibson was the first (as far as we know) to bring guitars into the same family as violins, cellos etc.  Gibson was producing tailpiece guitars as early as the 1890's.  But in 1919 with the hire of a physics-obsessed musician, Lloyd Loar, the instruments became much more formidable!

"Birth of the Archtop" An ode to Orville Gibson.

Orville Gibson Wiki

The Lloyd Loar designed Gibson L-5, introduced in 1922 was a big success.  The carved tops and backs were dish shaped, drawing on violin technology to project sound unmatched by any flattop.  And instead of the strings pulling up on the soundboard, the tailpiece attachment and one-piece bridge pushed the sound down into the instrument.  Even those early instruments would have not only had stronger sound but would have gotten around the overtones generated by that era's push pin guitars.  The sound was more crisp and well defined.

Archtops developed a certain following...
...and became the top choice of jazz & swing band musicians but only after amplification had come into play.  In the acoustic only world, as flattops developed, archtops began losing the battle for volume. But so what, players were hooked on the way Archtops made sound that was crisp and well defined...perfect for solo players and rhythm players could play fast, crashing chords without the muddying effect of overtones.

So what happened to Archtops?
But here, I think, is what has gone unnoticed.  It was never the arched top that was the key to the desireability of Archtops.  It was actually the tailpiece/bridge configuration!

Maybe its just too expensive to make an Archtop that really works.  It's a big deal to carve down a thick slab like that.  Maybe warranty claims turned off the big manufacturers and mass produced Archtops now typically have pressed plywood tops.  I once owned a Japanese knock-off of a Gibson ES-350 and unamplified it was quiet as a mouse.
And now you will see Archtops without the tailpiece / floating bridge configuration... which is what made Archtops great in the first place!  And now its no big deal if Archtops are defficient acoustically since amplification is always part of the package.

Today there may be custom built Archtops that produce sound as dramatically as a Hybrid.  I can't wait to get one of my Dandy Hybrids in a room with one of them!

Motorized sanding dish...to create16 ft radius dome

Django Reinhardt

I would argue...
...that the concept of an arched top was correct and in its day, it certainly won the battle with existing flatops.  But flattops moved to thinner tops and added a slight dome to their creations.  And so got lots more sound from an instrument that was cheaper to produce.  But most flattops continued along the path of push-pin design and the result was instruments with lots of overtones but lacking the clarity and quick response that a tailpiece guitar is capable of. 

And to the rescue, along came the Selmer / Mario Macferri guitars and a fellow named Django! 

Part four... the first Hybrids... the story behind Django's guitar!


Article:  Archtops