User:Andrewa/Archtop guitar
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This is a copy I'm working on to refactor the large first section of the archtop guitar article. Probably best for others not to work on it, as that will make it a bit hard to preserve the history and give you credit for your edits here. I'll try to incorporate any improvements made in the meantime when I copy this page to the article. Andrewa
An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched belly, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players.
The full body of an archtop makes it prone to acoustic feedback when used with high-gain amplification, which makes it an unsuitable design for many music styles and particularly for most styles of rock music. Some rock players refer disparagingly to archtop guitars as jazz boxes, reflecting this.
Typically, an archtop has:
- F-holes similar to members of the violin family.
- A single cutaway to allow access to the upper frets.
- Humbucker pickups.
However, exceptions exist in each case.
Although archtop normally refers to a hollow-bodied instrument, some makers of solid-bodied guitars with carved bellies also refer to these as archtop to distinguish these from flat top guitars. For example, Gibson refer to the standard Gibson Les Paul as an arch top to distinguish it from flat top models such as the Les Paul Junior and Melody Maker.