Fender owns and or distributes Fender, Squier, Guild, DeArmond, Gretsch, Sunn and Rodriguez. The Guild site implies that Guild instruments are built in the Fender factory but no mention is made of it's location. They want us to believe they are once again building the quality instruments they were known for and their material includes nods to their past but they don't really say where they're built or by whom. I think it's a safe bet that other brands, including DeArmond, are built outside the U.S. (not necessarily a bad thing).

I'm not familiar with the DeArmond archtops but if they have carved tops, not just pressed plywood, they probably have a bass bar running under the bass side of the bridge. You'll want make sure that any left hand versions are braced left handed as well.

If you're looking for an archtop guitar with actual acoustic tone of its own, you might want to think about a strictly acoustic archtop and add a vintage DeArmond floating pickup designed for archtops. Those sometime show up on eBay and I've seen them at vintage guitar shows.

      - Mark