Does it occur to anyone that whilst one may consider generalising both flat-tops and, say, solid electric guitars, and saying that one sounds better would obviously be banal, as they are two very differnt musical instruments and one cold not generalise the sound of a flat-top (e.g. am 0-18 with an SJ200 or a Guild 12 string) let alone "electric" guitar - e.g. A telecaster, with a les Paul, with a ..whatever, as they will all sound differnt, and are affercted by the amplification.
Archtops were made in Chicago by Stella/Harmony and by Hofner in Germany, in their hundreds of thousands and sold for a few pounds/Deutschmarks/dollars for many years, whereas Gibsons, Epiphones, Strombergs were a whole "'nother" thing.
I'l mention once again:
Flat-tops were designed and made to be played fingerstyle until the late '20s when they were generally redesigned to be strummed.
Archtops were re-designed in the early '20s as orchestral rhythm instruments.
Later innovations of acoustic archtops were made lighter to sound less percussive and more "musical" but that is another conversation.
To compare the generalised sound of an archtop guitar with a generalised notion of a flat-top is as useful as comparing an orange with a bicycle.
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Silly Moustache,
Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer.
I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom!
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