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Old 08-24-2019, 08:49 AM
Richard Mott Richard Mott is offline
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To me the biggest distinction between an archtop guitar and a flattop guitar derives from the fact that the archtop bridge creates sound by pushing down on the top, whereas the bridge on a flattop pulls up because the strings are normally anchored to it. The tendency for cross-string vibration is typically greater on the flattop, such that everything fills in, especially on chords and arpeggios. By contrast, chords and notes on an archtop come quicker, but can feel a little more abrupt. Flattop players love the natural sustain and fullness of their instruments. Archtop players like the speed of response, emphatic punch, and cross-string clarity of theirs. Flattop players sometimes struggle with the dryness and more restrained bass response on archtops. Archtop players, at least this one, struggle with what they have come to see as exaggerated bass on many flattops, and find that cross-string vibration and overtones at times interfere with the music. That said, in my experience, the very best flattops and archtops are more alike each other than not—i.e., greater fullness and sustain in the best archtops make them suitable for a wide range of music, and the best flattops, with a more controlled bass, and manageable sustain and harmonic envelope, allow freer and clearer playing. Examples of the former include a wonderful cut by Howard Emerson called “Sit Calm Leigh” played fingerstyle on a Monteleone archtop https://monteleone.net/Artists-howard_emerson.php, and jazz work by the New West Guitar Quartet doing a demo at Healdsburg of flattop guitars built by Jeff Traugott. The overlap of the truly top-flight archtop and flattop instruments is considerable.

Last edited by Richard Mott; 08-24-2019 at 09:17 AM.
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