Archtop

An Archtop guitar is a special type of guitar that features a distinctive "arched" belly. This "arched" belly is capable of producing a distinct sound that is best suited to blues and jazz music. This is the main reason why archtops are usually referred to as jazz boxes. The archtop guitar was invented by Orville Gibson, founder of the Gibson Guitar Corporation, in the 1890s. Archtop guitar became immensely popular with both jazz and country musicians, especially in jazz music.

The archtop guitars have a curved top and a hollow body. The electric version of the hollow body archtop guitar has a distinguishable sound among electric guitars, which is well suited for many styles of rock and roll. These electric guitars were usually equipped with a tremolo arm, often of the Bigsby type. Some of the most sought-after archtop guitars are the large Gibson archtop guitars models from the early 1930s to the 1959s. Some of the popular archtop guitars were made by Gibson, Gretsch, Epiphone, and some of the distinguishing handmade archtops were made by luthiers like the Wilkanowski, D'Angelico, D'Aquisto, Enrico Piretti and Stromberg.

There are many online shops that provide archtop guitar making kits as well as archtop vintage guitar at cheap or discounted price. Although acoustic archtop guitars are no more factory-produced, many vintage models of the archtops are still available at many custom shops. As long as there is interest in jazz guitar and early rock and roll music, archtop guitars are bound to be made in some form or the other.