The term electro-acoustic is possibly the most appropriate one for hollow-body electric guitars. Another name you often hear for this type of instrument is "semi-acoustic," although that label isn’t always the most accurate. They are also known as "archtop electrics," although this term only tells us the shape of the top, which may be carved or, more likely, pressed.
Several companies have been especially strong in this type of instrument. Such is the case of Gretsch and its endorser Chet Atkins, who stopped promoting them in the late eighties to move over to Gibson. The latter company made exquisite "archtop" instruments, such as its Citation model, advertised in 1969 as "the finest instrument of its kind in the world."
Before getting into our test bench proper, and to introduce the origins of this type of electro-acoustic guitar, we can mention some especially legendary ones, such as the Gretsch White Falcon, which has been seen in the hands of Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, among others.
Gretsch is the company responsible for most of the fame of this type of instrument, thanks to its output between the fifties and sixties. Guitars designed under the influence of the pop, rock and country musicians of the time.
Guild, a company that began production in 1952, making instruments that from the start became famous as quality guitars, both flat-top acoustics and archtop electro-acoustics. Some representative examples: the Guild Stratford or the Guild X500.
Epiphone. A company acquired by Gibson in 1957 that had previously been making (since the 1930s) archtop guitars, which were responsible for its success until then. Once under Gibson’s control, the Epiphone name was stamped on a line especially focused on semi-hollow electro-acoustic guitars. From 1970 onward, the brand was used for the range made in Japan and, more recently, in Korea. Some representative models would be the Epiphone Sheraton or the Epiphone Zephyr Emperor Regent.
Ibanez, Framus, Aria, Harmony... etc...
Richwood Delta Arch-Top
Richwood sells a complete range of instruments, from solid-body electric guitars, electric basses, "stage" acoustic guitars, 6- and 12-string flat-top acoustics, resonator guitars and archtop guitars, such as this Delta model or others in its catalog like the Preacher Vintage, Drifter or Superswinger 400, to name a few.
Our analysis
This type of instrument is usually played by jazz guitarists (such as George Benson, among many others), although it isn’t unusual to see some of these models in the hands of country and even pop guitarists. The look is very striking and helps with visual effects (I mean in promotion and on stage). Naturally, that’s if the band suits this kind of "vibe," in style and image.
The body
The body measures 38 cm wide x 48 cm high x 5 cm deep. As the name suggests, this is a hollow-body guitar with an arched top. Its construction materials are interesting: mahogany, maple, rosewood, etc., and it has a careful finish that results in a good-looking instrument with a legendary flavor.
Hardware and electronics
With gold-plated finishes, its tuners are precise and have a comfortable sensitivity/stiffness. As for the bridge (one of the things I liked most about the guitar), it is an original Bigsby; the way the tremolo works with this particular design is interesting. The truth is that, in the end, this tremolo concept, besides having a clearly marked and defined look, affects the sound because of the way the spring and its action "arm" are arranged.
Four knobs control the instrument’s volume and tone. Three of them are located on the lower part near the bridge, two acting on the volume of each pickup separately and the third controlling the tone,
and the fourth is set apart, near the end of the fingerboard, and controls the overall signal volume.
The pickup selector covers three positions for these two PAF-style humbuckers, also gold-plated. Moving through the selector, we go from treble to midrange sounds, ending up in the bass.
The sound
The part I liked most among the sounds this guitar offers is the low end. Pickup selector up, tone turned toward the bass extreme (not all the way) and play...
The reason I like it is that it offers enormous body in the low mids while not muddying the high strings. In other words, the first three strings (E, B, G) keep crystal-clear definition even in extreme bass settings looking for body.
A sound quite different from any solid-body electric. Electric brushstrokes with acoustic naturalness.
Feel and tuning
I mentioned a few lines back that the tuners are quite sensitive and precise. The guitar reached me practically in tune, and I barely had to touch it up. I think it holds (at least for the time it was with me) a balanced, stable tuning.
As for feel, I liked that the strings are relatively low with no fret buzz, although I noticed a certain stiffness, probably due to their gauge. However, that string gauge helps when it comes to getting thick, defined sounds.
Conclusions
I think some of the words used in this test bench can give an idea of "where things are headed": Korea, archtop, jazz, country, striking looks... are some of the ones used throughout the article. It is undoubtedly a personal guitar, because of its type (electro-acoustic), and it doesn’t offer extreme versatility, as you might expect, since it is expressly designed to work in specific fields. Personally, I see it as suitable for guitarists starting out on their jazz "flourishes" who want to move to less aggressive, more balanced sounds than those of a solid-body electric. Also for bands where the look and possible sounds (pop and country) fit, since it can certainly help achieve certain image touches (favorable or not, depending on the case).
