An archtop guitar is a specific type of guitar known for its signature arched top. The first archtop guitars were made in the 1890s by Orville Gibson. In their original form, these were acoustic guitars with steel strings and commonly played by jazz and blues musicians. It is noted for its warm, open sound. Before the days of the electric guitar pickup, the need to make a guitar louder was answered by making it bigger. The archtop typically is a large-bodied guitar.http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=13467

There are websites devoted exclusively to the instrument. Remaining contemporary in its newer iterations, the archtop has now translated to an electric guitar, such as those made by the Godin Company.http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=godin+archtop+guitar&src=3WWRWXGB&ZYXSEM=0 A good example is the Godin 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II Archtop Electric Guitar. It is described as follows: "With the soul of a 1950's archtop and today's level of modern playability."http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Godin-5th-Avenue-CW-Kingpin-II-Archtop-Electric-Guitar?sku=584109

It appears that the archtop will remain a popular guitar body style, even with the addition of the latest hardware.http://www.amazon.com/ Crossover guitars, such as this archtop and similar guitars by manufacturers such as Epiphone, are known as acoustic/electric guitars that can be played equally well plugged or unplugged. The same big rich hollow-body sound stands up to either microphone or its electric pickups.http://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/electrics.html