In 1925 consultant to Gibson Guitars, Lloyd Loar designed his L5 Master Model Guitar.  He was building on the early work of Orville Gibson, founder of Gibson guitars.  Orville believed he could make superior instruments by cutting and carving the top and back of plucked stringed instruments  into arched plates as violin makers had done for centuries.  Loar’s L5 had two f holes like the violin family, and two tone bars, fitted and glued like the violin bass bar.  There was no soundpost to support the bridge.  The feet of the bridge sit on top of each of the tone bars for support.  The result for Loar was a guitar which was noticeably louder than existing models, with more projection.  Although very expensive for its time, the L5 was adopted by guitarists and banjo players for use in band rhythm sections, to some extent replacing the banjo in that role.   My 16″ archtop is built to emulate the sound of the 1920s L5.   I often use a cutaway, although the original L5 had a 14 fret neck with no cutaway.  I use more modern bridge, pickguard and tuners than the current replicas being built.