Modern Guitar Innovations – 1902 – The Archtop Guitar

• Summary
• What: Development of the archtop guitar.
• When: 1902
• Why: Archtop mandolins and guitars were created by Gibson to use the principles of violin design to make louder instruments.
• Who: Orville H. Gibson
• Born: 1856. Died: 1918
• Worked with: The Gibson Mandolin Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd. The company was founded by 5 Kalamazoo businessmen. Orville was paid a salary. The company was named for him but wasn't his.

Orville Gibson applied lessons from violin construction first to mandolins and then to guitars. Solid wood tops carved to an arched shape without bracing that would inhibit vibrations was another innovation designed to produce greater volume. The Style O was an archtop guitar but still retained the round sound hole. It was also a larger guitar than the earlier Torres or Martin guitars, with a lower bout width growing from 16 inches to 18 inches in later models.