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I like playing flattops more than I like listening to them played if that makes any sense. It's because most recorded solo flattop music is either in styles that I don't normally listen to (like folksy open position, triadic stuff) or played by virtuosic electric guitarists in ways that to me doesn't suit acoustic guitar. Of course there are expectations.
What I like about flattops is that they make wonderful practice laboratories. You can really absorb fine details in your playing. You start paying attention to things that are harder to notice when playing an electric guitar. You discover new, intangible qualities in your touch and sound that you end up appreciating.
By all means bring up archtops, especially if you’re comparing them to your flattop experience. At least let’s try to keep the focus on flattops, since they don’t get discussed on the forum as much. Everything I’m saying applies to acoustic archtops too, but the sustain and bass you get from a flattops make you play differently. Archtops, in my experience, tend to lean towards rhythm playing or fast, notey lines, whereas flattops encourage a different kind of touch and phrasing.
What are your thoughts?Last edited by Tal_175; 05-28-2026 at 09:07 AM.
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05-28-2026 07:53 AM
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I love flat top acoustics, though, the guitar I'm using now is probably not the sparkly, open string loving sound that most equate with a flattop.
I've basically taken to the all mahogany flattop as a guitar that has some of the attack and decay of an archtop, but more bass and more pleasing (to my ear) sound for playing unamplified solo. I don't necessarily play it too much differently than my other guitars...well, that's not really true...I don't really shoot for a whole different sound, but I do have to control it differently with my hands...you can play it softly, but it takes work from the fretting hand to keep the note going...you kind of need to play firm to play soft, if that makes any sense?
And it sounds nice for rhythm guitar, though it'd probably get lost in a group. It has the midrange, though, just the added bass would get muddy in a group.
Anyway, all about the flat tops...fun thread. It'll be interesting to see who else is into them.
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Lovely playing. Yeah, a mahogany top definitely gives you more of an in-between sound: less sustain and bass, a drier, more fundamental-heavy tone, and more note separation than the rosewood/spruce setup. I’m more in the latter camp these days. I find the trebles fatter and rounder on the more overtone-rich guitars.
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Body size matters too. Smaller flattops tend to be drier and clearer in my experience. The tonal diversity within the flattop world is remarkable. It’s a very dangerous rabbit hole to go down.
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My flat top (Collings OM1A JL) is my preferred couch guitar. It’s got a nice dry sound, a comfortable neck, and a manageable body size.
While I will practice single note line stuff on it, I find I spend the most time running through chord melody stuff on it.
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For many years I had a Gibson Blue Ridge (square shoulder dread), but as I transitioned to playing mainly jazz I found it less and less useful. I also found the dread shape less and less comfortable to play. 6 or 7 years ago I decided to replace it. I tried a bunch of different guitars and wound up with a GJ guitar for a while, but ultimately I missed the flattop sound. Did some more searching/trying and wound up with an Eastman ac308ce LTD. It's a "grand concert" size comparable to a 12-style Taylor. It's a little more mid-focused and less boomy on the the bottom and zing-y than the typical flattop, which is a good thing for my purposes. Works for jazz, but also for all the stuff Tal_I75 hates
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I had always felt a freedom of expression on a flat top. There was an ease of touch, a response that went particularly well with my fingerstyle playing and there was a response that brought out something naturally satisfying. I'd listen to Ralph Towner, John McLaughlin, John Abercrombie, Pat Metheny and others and of course Django. Yeah there was something about the attack and openness of the flattop.
So when I was building guitars I proposed an idea with Alan Carruth with whom I'd long collaborated with to make a flattop with the 16" dimensions familiar as a 175 or D'Aquisto. We went with a Double X bracing that would allow an exact tap tuning response that we went after when making archtops. The idea was to put a humbucker in it and create a hybrid guitar that had the openness of a flat top, but the even roundness of an archtop; a quality of its own that I could play jazz on.
It worked and played beautifully.
Recently it just got a refitting, the conversion to 7 strings which I now play. I'm falling in love with it all over again. I play the flat top and archtop alternately and the ideas that come to me with ease on one informs the way I play the other. Call it an ideal marriage but yeah, it's the unified field guitar.
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Love, flattops and I’ve had quite a few over the years. The current one I have is a single O by the Pre-War Guitar Company…Brazilian back and sides….it looks like mini D28 but packs a powerful punch… my other passion is flatpicking fiddle tunes on guitar…Tony Rice being a hero of mine
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Beautiful. Originally Posted by alltunes
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Really nice playing. I like the way that guitar sounds a lot. Originally Posted by John A.
For many years I had a Gibson Blue Ridge (square shoulder dread), but as I transitioned to playing mainly jazz I found it less and less useful. I also found the dread shape less and less comfortable to play. 6 or 7 years ago I decided to replace it. I tried a bunch of different guitars and wound up with a GJ guitar for a while, but ultimately I missed the flattop sound. Did some more searching/trying and wound up with an Eastman ac308ce LTD. It's a "grand concert" size comparable to a 12-style Taylor. It's a little more mid-focused and less boomy on the the bottom and zing-y than the typical flattop, which is a good thing for my purposes. Works for jazz, but also for all the stuff Tal_I75 hates
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Great sound, and really nice arrangement. Is that guitar strung with Monels? Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Well, this technically qualifies. Here is my 1954 Epiphone FT-210 Flattop Deluxe. Very interesting guitar. The top-of-the-line in pre-Gibson Epiphone flattops. They basically took an archtop and just put a flat top on it. It's ladder braced, but the thing is an absolute cannon and has a very unique tone.
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I picked up this Yamaha A3MVN about 4 years ago...the first time I've owned a flattop acoustic guitar since 1980! And that one was a Yamaha also, an FG-50 iirc, my very first guitar which I'd owned since 1971 or '72.
The FG-50 was nothing to write home about, it was a fine entry-level guitar but only just barely. This A3MVN on the other hand...holy crap is it a nice sounding instrument! It definitely lends itself to typical flattop open-string jangly chords, but it's also pleasantly warm and articulate when playing jazz chord solos and single-note lines. It probably gets more playing time around the house than my archtop.
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Do the piezo pickups suck though? My old Washburn acoustic-electric sounds great when it's not plugged in but not so good when it is (I'm trying to correct that). Originally Posted by Bob_Ross
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A Piezo pickup needs that Baggs Para Acoustic DI that we talked about in another thread. Originally Posted by Mick-7
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I fall in love with flattops every few years...then out of love...I'm fickle...
I don't have many on video...but here are four on a Taylor 322e in different genres:
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My Waterloo WL-S with TI plectrums. Sweet, mellow, but throaty. Probably more satisfying to play day-to-day than my L5. My couch guitar.
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I'm another flatpicking fan. One of my favourite albums to listen to is Flatpick Swing by Robert Bowlin and Tim May. I think flatpicking and country seeps through into everything I play. Here I'm on my cheapest guitar, a Tanglewood, but it's one of my favourites. Just incredible value for money (£175 used on the 'Bay).
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My A3MVN uses what Yamaha calls "SRT" ("Studio Response Technology") where the piezo feeds an internal preamp that has some swanky DSP including microphone modelling. It definitely sounds better than a traditional piezo-equipped flattop, but tbh I only use the pickup when I'm recording -- and always in addition to one or two real microphones -- so I have no idea how it fares in a live performance scenario. Originally Posted by Mick-7
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Yes it is, and rather old dead ones at that! Originally Posted by John A.
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My 35 year old Washburn flat-top has the piezo technology of that era, which was not so good. I suppose I could upgrade it. Originally Posted by Bob_Ross
It does help but still lacking, thanks. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Flat top or Archtop, that is the question?
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Archtop, for me
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Well done, I was trying to make the point that some modern acoustic Archtops have a more similar sound to a flat top acoustic guitar than old vintage Acoustic Archtops. Perhaps this is obvious. Originally Posted by StefanoGhirardo
Archtop, for me
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To me, it didn't sound like a flat top. It's clearly a very resonant guitar but it has a short sustain and narrow, less open frequency range (less high overtones and less lows) than a flattop. Though there are some flattops that can come close to it probably. Originally Posted by GuyBoden
Well done, I was trying to make the point that some modern acoustic Archtops have a more similar sound to a flat top acoustic guitar than old vintage Acoustic Archtops. Perhaps this is obvious.
Last edited by Tal_175; 05-29-2026 at 01:28 PM.
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To my ears, a good intermediate tone is the one played in this video (which I had already posted on the forum in the "The Players" section). Originally Posted by Tal_175
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