by JimN » 14 Dec 2011, 18:27
Hi, Geoff,
No - the discussion was about attachment of a strap at the body end of the neck. Quality archtop guitars have a gap between the treble end of the neck and the vibrating top of the body, in order not to inhibit resonance and sound-production. Even though made of plywood, Some Gibson and (even) Hofner electric archtops maintain that construction style. Examples are the Gibson ES-175 and the Hofner Violin Bass.
Neither model was supplied with a strap button near the neck and various methods of attaching a strap have been seen over the years, including fixing at the headstock end by means of a shoelace (as per The Beatles in your illustration above). But these methods also include tucking a cord around the neck at the treble end, routed so as to pass under the fretboard extension (in effect, encompassing the heel area). Paul McCartney certainly used that method on his first Hofner, and there are photos of various jazz guitarists doing the same with guitars like the ES-175. There's a famous shot of the late Dave Goldberg doing just that.
HTH,
JN
PS: For an example of the method in action - see the photo of Anna using it in post 1.