Finding the best archtop guitar for your acoustic or electric style can be challenging. Arch top and hollow body guitars are awesome for jazz, blues, or rockabilly music, but there are so many different body styles and shapes to choose from, how are you supposed to know what to look for? Don’t worry. We’re here to help. We’ll help you pick out the perfect guitar, but first, let’s answer the question, what is an archtop guitar?
Modern archtop acoustic guitars were designed by Orville Gibson in the late 19th century to build rigidity, increase volume, and improve the tone of an acoustic guitar. The unique body design is similar to a violin in that both the top and back are carved out of a single piece of wood or a bookmatched set. By carving out the wood, the top and back can actually be tuned to one another through a process called tap tuning. That’s the real magic behind the tone. Now you know what makes archtop guitars so special.
Let’s check out some of the top-rated archtop guitars, so you can compare their features and find the perfect guitar to start playing.
Compare the Top Acoustic Archtop Guitars in 2021
Contents
- 1 Compare the Top Acoustic Archtop Guitars in 2021
- 1.1 Eastman AR503CE Electric Archtop Guitar
- 1.2 Gretsch G100CE Acoustic-Electric Guitar
- 1.3 Gretsch G6118T Players Edition Anniversary Hollow Body Electric Guitar
- 1.4 Ibanez LGB30 George Benson Hollowbody Electric Guitar
- 1.5 Ibanez AFC95 Archtop Electric Guitar
- 1.6 D’Angelico Premier EXL-1 Hollow-Body Electric Guitar
- 1.7 The Loar LH-350-VS Archtop Cutaway Guitar
- 1.8 Guild Starfire II ST Hollow Body Electric Guitar
- 1.9 Godin 5th Avenue Archtop Acoustic Guitar
- 1.10 Epiphone DOT ES Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitar
- 1.11 Ibanez AS73G Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar
- 2 What We Recommend and Why
Here is a list of the best archtop acoustic/electric guitars that will take your jazz or blues tone to the next level.
- Eastman AR503CE
- Gretsch G100CE
- Gretsch G6118T
- Ibanez LGB30
- Ibanez AFC95
- D’Angelico Premier EXL-1
- The Loar LH-350-VS
- Guild Starfire II ST
- Godin 5th Avenue
- Epiphone DOT ES
- Ibanez AS73G
Eastman AR503CE Electric Archtop Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
Eastman Guitars is a brand known for top quality handmade guitars. The interesting thing about their products is that though these instruments are very well-made, they are offered to musicians at very affordable prices. To show the quality they can offer, top musicians like Jon Herington, Jennie Vee and Neal Casal have found great joy and satisfaction from owning and playing instruments from the brand.
The AR503CE is an electric archtop offered by this brand. It features a body design with a single cutaway. The top is made of carved spruce while the back and sides are made of flamed maple laminates.
The 3-ply neck is made of maple while the fingerboard that plays host to 20 frets is made of ebony. Driving the sound is a single humbucker mounted at the neck. For controls, it has just two – volume and tone and it really performs.
The sound you get from this guitar is reminiscent of a piano sound. It’s deep, articulate and resonant. Any jazz lover will surely fall in love with it.
The classic finish on this is just a bonus as is the included hardshell case.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Deep, articulate and resonant.
- Build – Beautiful and well-made.
- Case – Includes a hardshell case.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Sides and Back – Made of laminates
Bottom Line
This is a acoustic guitar for real jazz lovers. It delivers on aesthetics, tone and playability. One owner describes it this way “I feel better each time I pick it up.”
Gretsch G100CE Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
Gretsch has been producing musical instruments since 1883 and most certainly knows a thing or two about what it takes to create quality instrument as we can see from its creations like the Gretsch G100CE.
This is an electric, archtop hollow-body guitar that encapsulates the best of the brand. Renowned for making some of the best hollow-body guitars ever as well as vintage styled ones, Gretsch combines these two areas of strength in this one guitar.
It features a standard archtop hollow body with a synchromatic cutaway. It has a spruce top while the back and sides are made of laminated maple and covered in a lovely natural urethane finish.
The usual F-holes are present as is the floating tortoiseshell pickguard, which completes the vintage look we all expect from an archtop.
The neck is made of solid maple and feels lovely to the touch thanks to the smooth matte finish. The fretboard holds 20 frets and is made of rosewood.
In the electronics department, we find the lone single coil pickup that is mounted at the neck. This pickup is designed by the brand and though most will have expected to see dual pickups, this lone ranger really gets the job done.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Perfect for jazz.
- Build – Lovely and well-built.
- Playability – Easy to play.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Single pickup – Offers limited range
Bottom Line
If you are looking for a guitar that is designed strictly for playing jazz guitar, then you should consider going for this.
Gretsch G6118T Players Edition Anniversary Hollow Body Electric Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
If the previous Gretsch we looked was not to your taste, brace up for this next offering from the brand. This is a top quality offering for the professional who doesn’t want to cut any corners.
This is a guitar designed to celebrate the past and at the same time, pre-empt the future. It features a body shape that the brand calls “Anniversary”. The body is made entirely of maple laminates and sports a single cutaway. It is completed with a classy gloss urethane finish that further accentuates its vintage roots.
The neck is made of maple and also sports a gloss urethane finish. The fingerboard on the other hand is made of rosewood and holds 21 frets. It is also designed with pearloid neo-classic thumbnails.
For hardware, you will find a rocking bar bridge, a bigsby string-thru vibrato tailpiece and Gotoh locking tuning machines.
Unlike the previous Gretsch, this comes with two Filter’Tron humbucking pickups, which automatically means more tonal versatility. The tone you get from this is a hollow body sound that is full, rich and can be tweaked to fit a wide range of music styles.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Full, rich hollow body sound.
- Build – Great craftsmanship.
- Playability – Comfortable and easy to play.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Case – Does not come with one.
Bottom Line
This is a high-end hollow body electric guitar for musicians who want and appreciate quality. It embraces the best of vintage and modern eras, delivering a great tone from an amazing body.
Ibanez LGB30 George Benson Hollowbody Electric Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
Ibanez is a brand that has become quite popular in the guitar world. The brand however is better known for electric bass guitars and axes used by hard rocking guitarists. It is not the brand name that readily comes to mind when you think of archtop guitars. Strange as this may seem though, we have included an archtop from Ibanez in our list and with good reason too.
The Ibanez LGB30 is not just any hollow body but a George Benson signature hollow body guitar. For long the more popular LGB300 was totally out of the reach of many guitarists until now. The more affordable LGB30 means more guitarists can now enjoy George Benson’s signature sound.
This LGB (Little George Benson) guitar features a spruce top and flamed maple back and sides. The 3-piece neck is made of mahogany and maple while the fretboard, which holds 20 medium-gauge frets and acrylic/abalone block inlays is made of ebony.
The sound on this is powered by two Alnico-loaded Super 58 humbuckers and controls that allow you mess around with the sound to achieve a high level of versatility. This baby will shine for all kinds of jazz tones, blues and R ‘n’ B.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Highly versatile.
- Playability – Comfortable and easy to play.
- Build – Great craftsmanship.
Cons and Potential Flaws
There’s no real con to report at this time.
Bottom Line
This is an affordable alternative to the LGB300 so if you couldn’t afford that, grab this with both hands.
Ibanez AFC95 Archtop Electric Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
It’s another Ibanez on our list, but this time we are looking at something even more affordable. So if you thought the LGB30 was still beyond your reach, you should totally consider this.
The Ibanez AFC95 is one of the guitars from the brand’s Contemporary Archtop series. Do not be fooled by the fact that it is priced lower than many other archtops. It offers great value for the professional musician on a budget.
The body is the usual design you will expect of an archtop with a single cutaway. The top is made of spruce while the back and sides are made of maple. The neck is a 3-piece, set-in construction made of mahogany/maple and it has a slim profile that makes it comfortable to play.
The fretboard is made of ebony and holds 20 medium frets. It also holds acrylic off-set block inlays that add to the guitar’s already lovely black and gold color theme.
A peek into the power house reveals two Magic Touch-Mini humbuckers. These and the control options provided by the four knobs that offer exclusive volume and tone controls for each pickup gives this acoustic guitar its rich and highly expressive tone.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Rich, complex with lots of resonance.
- Playability – Easy to play.
- Appearance – Beautiful.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Build – May not have the best build quality.
Bottom Line
If the LGB30 was still too expensive for you, this Ibanez archtop offers good quality and tonal versatility at a more affordable price.
D’Angelico Premier EXL-1 Hollow-Body Electric Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
D’Angelico Guitars is a brand founded in 1932 by John D’Angelico, a master in the art of guitar building. Before his death in 1964, John D’Angelico was renowned for his handmade archtop guitars and mandolins. Many years after his death, the brand has continued to maintain his legacy by consistently offering guitars that are steeped in traditional values while also incorporating modern innovations.
The Premier EXL-1 is one of such offerings from the brand. This is a hollow body guitar with a laminated spruce top and laminated maple sides and back. The body design features a single cutaway and the cream colored binding provides a lovely contrast that accentuates the beauty of this instrument.
The neck is made of maple and the fretboard with its white perloid blocks is made of rosewood. All of these and the chrome hardware give this guitar a lovely, vintage look.
Powering this guitar’s sound is a mini-humbucker, which is a D’Angelico custom design for archtops. Though it has just the single pickup, which means the tonal range will be somewhat limited, it manages to deliver a focused, punchy yet warm tone that is perfectly suited for jazz play.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Punchy, focused and warm.
- Build – Beautiful and well put together.
- Playability – Easy to play.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Setup – Will likely require some.
Bottom Line
If you love playing jazz music and you want an affordable guitar that’s almost totally designed to excel at this kind of music then consider this guitar.
The Loar LH-350-VS Archtop Cutaway Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
The Loar combines top level craftsmanship and classic designs to deliver instruments that are not just beautiful, highly playable and tonally amazing but also embody the character and essence of guitars made during a time the brand describes as the Golden Age of guitar design and production – the 1920s and 1930s.
The LH-350 is an archtop from the brand that screams “Vintage” from every inch of it. The body design is the usual archtop design and includes a Florentine cutaway. It also features a hand carved spruce top with sides and back made of maple.
The neck which has that “C” neck profile that is reminiscent of vintage guitars is made of mahogany and the fretboard is made of bound rosewood and holds 19 frets, all of which the cutaway grants easy access to.
In keeping with its vintage theme, it sports a bound pickguard on which resides a lone control knob, an inlaid Fleur-de-Lys headstock design plus a tobacco sunburst finish which rounds the vintage theme off nicely.
For sound, it has a floating Kent Armstrong humbucking pickup. This single pickup together with the tonewoods shapes the tone that makes this guitar excellent for accompaniment or soloing.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Warm and woody.
- Playability – Easy.
- Electronics – Improves the sound.
Cons and Potential Flaws
With the single pickup, the tonal range is restricted.
Bottom Line
This is another guitar that is really niche specific. The jazz or blues guitar lover who wants top quality on a budget will love this.
Guild Starfire II ST Hollow Body Electric Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
The Guild Guitar brand has always stood for one thing – guitars that make playing a pleasure and not a chore. This has been its philosophy from its inception and continues to shape its operations even as a brand under the Cordoba Music Group.
The Starfire II ST is one of the brand’s guitars that have been receiving rave reviews. It is a hollow body electric guitar that presents the best of the vintage era in a package perfectly suited to the modern player.
The body design features a Florentine cutaway and the expected double f-holes. This body is made entirely of mahogany laminates and while it lacks a center block, there is a block that plays the role of a connector between the top and back and also helps improve its sustain.
The 3-piece neck is made of mahogany while the fretboard is made of rosewood. Overall, the guitar is nicely put together with the ivory white body binding and high gloss natural finish adding the visual finishing touches that makes it a lovely sight to behold.
For sound, it is loaded with two LB-1 Little Bucker pickups that offer a wide range of tonal options, making it suitable for a wide range of music genres.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Versatile.
- Volume – Loud acoustic volume.
- Build – Lovely and well-built.
Cons and Potential Flaws
Has the occasional feedback problem.
Bottom Line
This guitar delivers great sound and playability while also offering impressive aesthetic value and all at an affordable price.
Godin 5th Avenue Archtop Acoustic Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
Godin Guitars is a Canadian manufacturer of string instruments. This brand proudly sources all its tonewoods from North American, which allows it monitor, every stage of the production process like they say “from forest to stage”.
One of its instruments is the 5th Avenue, which is the brand’s version of an archtop jazz-style acoustic guitar. In keeping with its policy, the guitar is made entirely (top, back and sides) of Canadian wild cherry. The arched top and back are molded and everything is nicely presented in a polished burst finish while the floating pickguard and cream binding further elevates its aesthetic value.
The neck is made of silver leaf maple while the fingerboard is made of rosewood. At the end of this neck, you find a gloss-black headstock with chrome-plated die-cast tuning machines both of which add a touch of the present day to the overall vintage theme.
At the bout end, we find a tusq bridge that is height adjustable, providing some much needed stability. This is a purely acoustic guitar. It offers more projection than the traditional acoustic archtops and has a tone that is rich and dynamic, making it suitable for a wide range of musical styles.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Rich and dynamic.
- Playability – A pleasure to play.
- Build – Beautiful and well-made.
Cons and Potential Flaws
Amplifying it will be a bit more difficult because of the absence of pickups.
Bottom Line
This is a purely acoustic archtop guitar that’s very affordable but offers good all-round quality.
Epiphone DOT ES Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
Epiphone is an instrument manufacturer that has been in the game for almost a century and half. Though it now operates as a brand under the Gibson family, it has still retained its history and character.
The Epiphone Dot is the brand’s attempt at recreating the ES-335 ‘Dot’, a legendary instrument that many have found to be totally out of their reach. Thankfully, the result is much more than a mere attempt.
This guitar’s body features an all-maple (laminate) construction. Being a semi-hollow guitar, it also features a mahogany center block. The SlimTaper neck with its ‘D’ profile is made of mahogany, hand-fitted and glued-in while the fretboard with its simple DOT inlay is made of rosewood. At the top of the neck, it sports the traditional Epiphone headstock.
Powering the sound are two Alnico Classic humbucker pickups. These are controlled by a separate volume and tone knob for each pickup and a pickup selector switch. With these, you can create interesting tonal variations.
This is one semi-hollow guitar that can flow with the best of jazz, blues and country in one instant and in the next be roaring like a rock artist’s ax.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Immensely versatile.
- Playability – Plays well.
- Build – Lovely and well-built.
Cons and Potential Flaws
You may experience some fret buzz and fuzz. This however may be corrected with a little professional setup.
Bottom Line
This is one guitar you should get if you want an archtop that is really versatile and can fit into different musical styles.
Ibanez AS73G Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
Finally, we will be ending with another product from Ibanez. This is taken from the brand’s Artcore Series.
From the previous Ibanez guitars we reviewed above, it is clear that the brand is taking some important strides in this niche. The Artcore Series AS73G is a much lower priced offering for those who cannot afford any of their previous offerings.
This guitar’s semi-hollow body with its double cutaway design is wholly made of maple. The neck, which is set-in, is made of mahogany with a rosewood fretboard which hosts 22 frets and block inlays. All of these are well put together and deliver a tone that is warm and balanced.
Taking it a step further is the guitar’s electronics section which includes two Classic Elite humbucker pickups designed by Ibanez. These pickups give voice to the guitar’s natural warm and balanced tone while adding interesting variations thanks to the control options, which include four knobs (a volume and tone control for each pickup) and a pickup selector switch. Different combinations are sure to bring up interesting tonal options.
This is the ideal solution for anyone looking for a very budget friendly archtop guitar.
Pros and Highlights
- Tone – Warm and balanced.
- Playability – Lightweight and easy to play.
- Build – Lovely and well-built.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Case – Does not come with one.
Bottom Line
Are you on a tight budget? Do you need an archtop guitar that is versatile enough to play almost any musical style? Check this out.
What We Recommend and Why
WOW! It’s been an interesting journey looking through these 11 great archtop guitars. It’s now that time when we choose one from the list that we will crown king of the manor.
After carefully reviewing of all the guitars listed above and putting into consideration the wide cost difference that exists between some of them, we finally chose the Ibanez LGB30 George Benson Signature Hollowbody Electric Guitar as our Top Arch Top Guitar from the lot. We made this choice based on the overall value (tone, aesthetics, playability and electronics) offered versus the cost.