Archtop Guitar Luthiers

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American Archtop Guitars: The American Archtop Guitars are handcrafted by Dale Unger. There are a variety of models available including the Maple Top, Spruce Top, Legend, the Collector Series and the American. Standard features include 16" or 17" body, body depth of 2 5/8" or 3", 25" Fingerboard Scale 21 Frets, w

idth of Neck at Nut: 6 string 1 3/4" &-7 string 2 1/16",

fingerboard, bridge, fingerrest and tailpiece all made of solid ebony and adjustable Truss Rod. Curt Sheller and Pat Lenz - Joy Spring playing American ArchtopsWebsite: American Archtop Guitars

Andersen Guitars: $$$$ Andersen Stringed Instruments are handcrafted acoustic instruments in both the mandolin and guitar families. Arch top and flat top available. Premium models come with premium and American tonewoods. Traditionally styled standard archtop, 16", 17", or 18" lower bout.Website: Andersen Guitars

Benedetto Guitars: $$$$ The Benedetto Arch Top Guitars come in a variety of models such as: the LaVenezia made from flamed maple; the Manhatten with fine–lined binding package, unbound ebony fingerrest and Benedetto cello–style tailpiece; the Fratello for the discriminating jazz traditionalist; the Bambino Elite with master grade, hand carved spruce top and features a flamed or quilted maple hand carved back with matching sides. At 14 ½" wide and 2 ¼" deep, the Bambino Elite is small in stature but huge in tonality and flexibility. Available beginning in May 2007 in very limited numbers; and the Bravo Elite. Electric Arch Tops also available. "Benedetto Players" VideoWebsite: Benedetto Guitars

Blanchard Guitars: $$$$ Blanchard Guitars are made by Mark Blanchard and feature curly european maple back and sides, European spruce tops, maple bindings, ebony fingerboards, gold played hardware, and subtle amber burst finishes in 16" and 17" sizes.Website: Blanchard Guitars

Buscarino Guitars: $$$$ Craig Wagner on his Buscarino Virtuoso Buscarino Guitars have an excellent record of retaining or increasing their value over the years. Because of the small numbers of guitars we make in a year it makes our guitars much more valued and sought after by guitarists and collectors.Website: Buscarino Guitars

CB Hill Guitars: CB Hill manufactures acoustic and electric archtop guitars. Models include the Pacific Clipper laminated Arch Top, the Regatta hard carved arch top & the ii-V-I(251) Semi-Hollow.Website: CB Hill Guitars

Comins Guitars: $$$$ Comins guitars are produced by Bill Comins in his Pennsylvania shop. Model types include the Chester Avenue, the F Master, the Heirloom, and the Woodland. Website: Comins Guitars

Cronin Guitars: $$$ Cronin Guitars produces handcrafted archtop acoustic guitars. Four models are available; the Master, the Journeyman, the Artist, and the Bostonian. Each offers fine craftsmanship, with features including hand-carved, graduated, and tuned tops and backs. All models feature Venetian cutaways, parallel-braced tops, and graphite-reinforced necks.Website: Cronin Guitars

Cushman Guitars: $$ Cushman archtop guitars are produced by Matthew Cushman according to plans by Robert Benedetto. Standard features include 17" body width, 3" body depth, maple neck, 25" scale, 21 frets, 12" fingerboard radius, and natural, blonde, or sunburst finish.Website: Cushman Guitars

D'Ambrsoio Guitars: D'Ambrsoio guitars come in three models. The first, Model O-One, is well suited for traditional and big-band jazz as well as contemporary acoustic fingerpicking. Its oversized sound hole projects and increases bass response, and makes it louder than f-hole archtops. The second model, Prelude 020802, is of thicker, heaver construction which makes it a stable guitar capable of projecting an enormous tone. The body has 3" depth and flame maple binding, and it has a bright red translucent finish. Prelude 030503, the third model, is a round cutaway s-holed type with a dark brown amber finish. The top is Sitka spruce with a three-layer purfling and quilted maple binding , and the shape is an "A" neck measuring 1 23/32" at the nut and 2 3/32” at the 12th fret. Website: D'Ambrsoio Guitars

Elfernik Guitars: $$$ Frans Elferink builds acoustic archtop guitars from air dried, well seasoned spruce and maple wood. There are a variety of models including the Tonemaster, Excalibur 17, Excalibur 18, Santa Monica, Moderne, and Jesse van Ruller. Model widths range from 16" to 18".Website: Elfernik Guitars

Ellsberry Guitars: $$$$ Ellsberry archtop guitars are built by James Ellsberry.

Crafted entirely by hand, the guitars are customized to individual player needs, from overall sound requirements to neck form and fit. Models include the L-35 Electric, which has a spruce top, 15" wide body, 2-1/4 " depth, and Venetian cutaway; the Jazz Standard, which has a spruce top,

17" wide body, 3" depth, and Venetian cutaway or non-cutaway; and the Arch de Lutan, an archtop with a bent wood top made from spruce and a 17" wide body, 3" depth, and Venetian cutaway or non-cutaway.

Website: Ellsberry Guitars

Evan Jones Guitars: Among his most tantalizing details are his signature rattlesnake vertabrae inlays, deer antler nut and bridge strips, natural oil finishes, and liberal use of the finest North American wood, Osage Orange. Evan is always working on new and interesting designs, and will work with you personally to satisfy your customized order. Evan Jones Promo VideoWebsite: Evan Jones Guitars

Foster Guitars: $$$$ Foster Guitars produces custom built, handmade 6-string and 7-string archtop guitars, acoustic flattop guitars, and solid body electric guitars. The archtop models are the Royale, Fleur de Lis Elite, Crescent City Elite, Crescent City Classic, Avalon, Crescent City, St. Charles Avenue, and Basin Street Edition. Jimmy Foster builds these archtops using a variety of spruce and cedar woods for the guitar tops, and a variety of maple and mahogany woods for the guitar backs. I Could Write a Book Foster Guitar VideoWebsite: Foster Guitars

Grimes Guitars: $$$$ Grimes archtop guitars are produced by Steve Grimes. He offers a variety of models, including the Jazz Laureate, Montreux, Kula Rose, Jazz Nouveau, and Bird of Paradise. Most models are available in 16", 17", or 18" body sizes, cutaway or non-cutaway.Website: Grimes Guitars

Harrison Guitars: $$$$ Doug Harrison builds two models of archtop guitars: the Standard Archtop, with a 16" or 17" body width, spruce top, and maple neck, and the GB Model, with a 14.25" body width, hand graduated carved spruce top, ebony or rosewood fretboard, fully hollow mahogany body, and mortise and tenon neck joint.Website: Harrison Guitars

Hopkins Guitars: $$$$ Hopkins archtop guitars are handcrafted by Peter Hopkins. He offers four models: the Contessa, Marquis, Monarch, and Monarch Regal. All models are made with AAA Sitka spruce and big leaf curly maple and offered in 16", 17", or 18" bodies.Website: Hopkins Guitars

James L. Mapson Guitars: $$$$ James L. Mapson Guitars offers handcrafted archtop guitars made from various tonewoods aged on site, including AA, AAA, and master grade maple and spruce from both domestic and European sources. Models include the limited edition Avante, Lusso, Solo, Bop City, and Jazz Standard.Website: James L. Mapson Guitars

Lacey Guitars: $$$$ Mark Lacey builds a variety of archtop models, including the 18" Imperial, 17" Premier, 16" Empire, 17" or 18" Eclipse, 16" Louie Shelton Artisan, 17" or 18" Virtuoso, 15" Classic, Artist, 16", 17", or 18" Arch Nouveau, and 18" Blue. Website: Lacey Guitars

Lehmann Guitars: $$$ The Contempo Model archtop draws its inspiration from the great archtop guitars of the mid-20th Century with some decidedly 21st Century additions. The Lehmann archtop is constructed as a solo style guitar or as a rhythm style instrument. The solo style has an “X” braced top that tends to make the tone sweet and lyrical. The parallel braced rhythm style guitar provides the punch and centered tone for improved projection. Both models are fitted with ebony tailpieces and pickguardsWebsite: Lehmann Guitars

Less Korn Guitars: $$$ Less Korn Guitars offers acoustic archtop guitars. Standard features include 16", 17", and 18" body sizes, spruce tops, big leaf maple backs, X braces, and the buyer's choice of stain.Website: Less Korn Guitars

Marchione Guitars: Stephen Marchione builds many different types of guitars, including classical guitars, flamenco guitars, archtop guitars, carve top guitars, and neck-through the body and tremolo electric guitars. There are five archtop guitar models: the 15" archtop, 16" archtop, 17" archtop, 18" archtop, and Whitfield. The Making of an Archtop Guitar (Video) Marchione 16" Archtop Guitar VideoWebsite: Marchione Guitars

Marioni Guitars: $$$$ Marioni archtop guitars are handcrafted by David Marioni. He offers three models: the spruce and maple 17 1/4" Virtuoso, the spruce and maple 17 1/4" Virtuoso 7 String, and the Expression, which has the main features of the Virtuoso but has a slightly thicker top and reinforced parallel bracing.Website: Marioni Guitars

Megas Guitars: $$$$ Ted Megas builds acoustic and electric archtop guitars. He offers three models. The first is the 17" Athena, with classic styling, split block mother of pearl inlays on the fingerboard, an aged spruce top, and a maple back. The second model is the 17" Apollo, with cello style f-holes, an aged spruce top, choice of scale length and nut width, and a maple neck. The third model is the Spartan, with a single plastic bound body and neck, an aged spruce top, parallel bracing, and a maple back.Website: Megas Guitars

Mesrobian Guitars: $$$ Mesrobian Guitars produces several archtop guitar models. The Standard model's features include a blonde finish, 17" body, hand graduated aged spruce top, hand graduated figured maple back with matching sides, bound f-holes, and an ebony pickguard. The Special model has many of the same features as the Standard, except it has non-bound f-holes; a multi bound body with 2 ply purfling; a single bound body, ebony fingerboard, and ebony peghead; gold plated tuning machines; and a 3 ply hardshell case. The Session model has all the same features as the Special except it has a laminated top with spruce veneers and a laminated back with figured maple veneers. Mesrobian, Alessandro Rottweiler Video Website: Mesrobian Guitars

Moll Custom Instruments: $$$$ Moll Custom Instruments offers both laminate and solid carved archtop guitars. There are two laminate models: the Pizzarelli and the 17" Working Man's Hero. The solid carved archtop models are the 17" and 18" Classic, the Express, the New Yorker, and the Classic Custom. All of these models are available as 7 strings.Website: Moll Custom Instruments

Monteleone Instruments: $$$$ John Monteleone handcrafts four models of archtop guitars: the Grand Artist, Radio City, Eclipse, and Radio Flyer.Website: Monteleone Instruments

Mortoro Guitars: $$$$ Mortoro archtop guitars are buit by Gary Mortoro. He offers a variety of models, including Free Flight, Free Bird, Starling, Small Starling, Songbird, Parrot, Song of Verona, and Riva of Garda. The standard features for all models include a 16" or 17" body with Venetian cutaway; ebony fingerboard, pickguard, bridge, tailpiece, headstock face & truss rod nut cover; parallel bracing; pearl inlay on headstock; and gold or black Schaller tuners.Website: Mortoro Guitars

Napolitano Guitars: $$$$ Napolitano Guitars offers four models of archtop guitars: the Primavera, Acoustic, Marquee, and Jazz Box. All models except the Jazz Box have 17" lower bouts, spruce tops, and maple backs, necks, and rims. The Jazz Box has a custom laminate top and back and a maple neck and rims. Website: Napolitano Guitars

Oskar Graf Guitars: Oskar Graf builds archtop, acoustic, and classical guitars. The standard features of his archtop guitars include Sitka spruce tops, curly maple backs, sides, and necks, adjustable truss-roads, ebony fingerboards bound with ebony and purfling-stripes, and 16 3/8" lower bouts. I know this the archtop section but this video of a classical OG is flat coolWebsite: Oskar Graf Guitars

RMS Custom Guitars: Fine maker of archtop guitarsWebsite: RMS Custom Guitars

Siegmund Acoustic Archtop Guitars:

$$$$ Siegmund make three type of archtop guitars: acoustic, electric and resolectric. Their guitars are all entirely carved by hand using violin making tools, techniques and materials. They don’t use any power tools or computer routers. The acoustic archtop guitars have European woods for the body, western big-leaf maple for the neck, ebony for the base, lignum vitae adjustable wheels, split herringbone bound f-holes and bone inserts. It is also assembled with animal hide glue and parallel bracing. The electric archtop guitars have laminated maple tops, mahogany sides, rosewoods necks, Schaller roller bridges and a shellac/nitro finish. The resolectric archtop guitars have laminated walnut tops and backs, walnut sides and ebony necks. You have a choice of your size specifications.

Website: Siegmund Acoustic Archtop Guitars

Stefan Sonntag:

$$$$ Sonntaq builds hand-crafted, archtop jazz guitars exclusively in his workshop. He does not use any prefabricated wooden parts, but instead make them all himself. He offers seven different models of archtop guitars: J17 Allegria, J16/J17 Ballade, J16/J17 Standard, J17 Elektra, J18 Augusta, J17 D’Angelo and J18 D’Angelo. All these models are made with different materials and have slightly different modifications in size and body style.

Website: Stefan Sonntag

Stromberg Guitars:

$$ Stromberg company is a fairly small company who have a limited production of jazz guitars. Their main goal is customer satisfaction by providing you with affordable excellence. They offer six different models: the Montreux, the Monteray, the Newport, the Montreux custom, the Moterey H and the Newport LH. The custom, H, and LH models are identical to the other models except for a few modifications such as: different electronics or removal of the center block. Custom guitars are also available on special order basis.

Website: Stromberg Guitars

Stroup Guitars:

$$ Stroup guitars are handmade and affordable for everyone. All the measurements and construction features are taken from vintage and time-proven guitars. None of his guitars are identical because they all have small imperfections that are the result from the uniqueness of hand carving each one. If you are a perfectionist, his guitars are not for you. The standard specifications are: black binding, 3” depth, 25-½ scale, light or meduim bronze strings and adjustable steel truss rods. Solid woods include: Alaskan Sitka spruce tops, maple back and sides, mahogany necks and cocobolo or ebony fingerboards.

Website: Stroup Guitars

Greenfield Guitars: Greenfield Archtop guitars are fine acoustic instruments, carved from well seasoned cello woods. Each top and back plate is carefully hand graduated and tuned. This feature allows the guitar to be tailored into the final shape and graduation of the arches to achieve a specific, desired result. Website: Greenfield Guitars

Gagnon Guitars: Gagnon creates beautiful archtop guitars in a variety of models. They offer the Composer, Artiste, Devant, Ventura, metro, and the Imperial. Please click on the link for more information about the models available.Website: Gagnon Guitars

Klepper Guitars: All Howard Klepper guitars are one-of-a-kind, custom instruments. There are no standard model names or numbers. Output is about 10 guitars each year. As much as possible raw materials are used in constructing Klepper Guitars. This includes making parts that many builders buy ready-made, such as liner blocks, fretboards, bridges, strap buttons, and purflings. Their Archtop guitars are carved from well seasoned cello woods. Each top and back plate is carefully hand graduated and tuned. Please click on the link for more information.Website: Klepper Guitars