Silly Mustache's post on archtop history was great, very thoughtful. Esp. this part:
"The "real" archtop however is an acoustic instrument - and was developed for a specific purpose - i.e. not a solo finger-picked guitar like the flat-topped guitar of the '10s & '20s but an alternative to the plectrum banjo as a rhythm instrument in jazz/dance bands.
Therefore all the design work went into producing a staccato rhythm instrument - and NOT a melody instrument."
My only thought is that this feels true about the early history of the archtop, but genesis is not destiny. D'Angelico began in the 1930s following the Gibson approach, but by the 1950s and maybe earlier was producing "a lap piano" archtop that was capable of lots more things. D'Aquisto took this even further with X-braced European maple that produced supple melody-oriented instruments. His later designs, especially the Centura were almost ethereal sounding.
With those latter developments, the archtop evolved beyond the staccato rhythm production of its early roots. The D'As and those that followed them produced guitars suited to anything. I was listening to some of the Four Seasons archtops being played on John Monteleone's website, and wow! More than four to the bar on those. --Richard
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