The Rise, Fall, and Rise of the Archtop

When Lloyd Loar joined Gibson in 1919, the guitar world was turned on its head. Loar, who himself was not a luthier, but was a part-time musician and consultant to companies like GM and others, came in and took the famous guitar company by storm. Loar is credited with creating much of what today's archtop guitars feature: the arched top, floating bridge, and f-holes. Musicians of the time loved them.

Of course, different waves of music pushed different types of guitars into the spotlight, and in the 1950s, solid guitars took over, and many musicians left archtops behind. When compared to some of the more sleek solids, the archtop looked much larger and old fashioned.

Fortunately, the archtop would experience a renaissance. In the 1990s, some musicians started to come back to the instruments, and their popularity began to rise once more. Like the saying goes, "Everything old is new again." Archtop guitars are no different. Still today, they're sought after instruments, and luthiers are booked years into the future to build custom guitars for interested customers.

Are you thinking of having an archtop guitar built on your behalf? Check out Fine Archtops and get in touch with a skilled archtop guitar luthier today.

Archtop Guitars from our Facebook Community

Last week, we put out a call for those in the Fine Archtops Facebook community to post a photo of their favorite archtop guitars. We got a great response, and would like to put the spotlight on some of the guitar photos that were posted. As always, if you're on Facebook, we'd love for you to like the Fine Archtops page and share your own guitar photos and stories.


This 15-inch Elm and Purpleheart belongs to Daniel Whitt.


Peter Warmington's custom-built archtop. One of its unique features is a trilogy bridge that can drop the low string from E-D-C, and can also drop other strings a half step.


A 2001 Gibson ES165 Herb Ellis, belonging to Dennis Shea.


Maurício MI's Benedetto 16-B.

Are you a fan of archtop guitars, or are you looking to have a custom archtop built? Check out the Fine Archtops website at FineArchtops.com.

NEW! Archtop of the Week

If you're reading this blog post, chances are, you're a big fan of archtop guitars. So are we, and we're always looking for ways to bring more interesting archtop guitar-related content to the Fine Archtops website, as well as our communities on Facebook and Twitter. One interesting suggestion came in from a user on Facebook, suggesting that we have an "archtop of the day/week/month" feature.

We love the idea, and we're going to run with it.

So here's what we're going to do. Each week, we'll put out a call to our friends on Facebook and Twitter to provide us with a photo or two of an archtop guitar they own, as well as a bit of backstory on how they ended up with the guitar. Then we'll publish the story on our blog as "Archtop of the Week!"

Interested in getting started today? You can post on our Facebook timeline, send us a private Facebook message, or tweet us to tell us more about your archtop.

Bob Benedetto: A Just Jazz Guitar Interview

After his 60th birthday, Bob Benedetto wasn't content to retire and take it easy. Instead, he saw this milestone as the perfect opportunity to start a new journey; to strike out on his own once more and make guitars by himself.

Benedetto's relationship with Fender lasted seven years, and Bob said that he and the Fender family separated on very good terms. The opportunity was there for Benedetto to have his own manufacturing facility, and he felt he had to take it.

But will Bob continue making his own custom archtop guitars?

"In our new facility in Savannah, Georgia, I have set up my own personal workbench in my own corner of the building, where I will continue to make unique instruments as I always have," Benedetto said.

For fans of Benedetto's guitars, that news is certainly music to their ears.

You can read more of Just Jazz Guitar's interview with Bob Benedetto in the February 2007 issue.