In most top bar hives, the bees build natural, free hanging comb from a ridge or starter strip on the bottom of the top bar.  Since thre is usually no foundation wires or side or bottom bars, the comb is usually harvested whole, and used as comb or chunk honey, or strained for liquid honey.
Since the bees have to produce all the wax, every time, you get less honey, but more wax.  As for better honey, one school of thought contends that comb honey is THE BEST Honey, since it holds onto all the good flavor the bees incorporated into it.  Second best is strained or pressed honey- that runs out of broken up combs.  Centrifically extacted honey is never quite as flavorfull as comb or pressed honey because when the tiny drops are whipped out of the comb, they lose some of their essential oils into the air.  (Anyone who has been in a honey house at extracting time can surely recall the intense smell of honey as it is extracted- this is lost flavor, and some claim they can taste the difference.)  The star thistle honey I strained from my TBH combs was VERY nicely flavored- I never did a side by side comparison with star thistle that was extracted centrifucally tho.  Might be a good experament for next year, since I have langstroths in the same yard as the TBH- they should be working similar floral sources.  Hmmmmmmm.......
If you plan on extracting and reusing combs, consider using the long box, but use a standard frame.  The advantages of a Top bar are that the wax is built fresh each time- no pesticide or disease residues.  You harvest more wax, and building top bars and a box requires much less skill and precision carpentry than building lansgtroth equipment.  This is important in developing areas where tools and materials are scarce, but may not be a concern to many people on this list.  Extractors are expensive, and so are uncapping knives, settling tanks, and everything else that goes into modern honey processing.  Harvesting a few frames of strained honey requires nothing more than a colander or strainer, and a big mixing bowl or bucket.  It works great on a small scale, but is too slow for large quantities.
Unless you <want> the specific advantages that Top Bars offer, the disadvantages may make langstoth style frames a better choice.  If you already have an extractor, and want to use it, you pretty much have to go with langstroth frames.  Natural, unreinforced comb won't hold up to extracting.
I built my TBH so that I can drop Lanstroth frames into it.  I started the hive from a Nuc, and still boost the hive occasionally by adding a frame of brood from another hive.  Frames added can be worked out by shifting them towards the back of the hive.  Once there is one or two frames of honey between the comb and the brood nest, the queen won't cross over to lay on it.  All the queens I have had in my TBH have been reluctant to cross any honey to lay.  In fact, you do have to watch and make sure the bees aren't closing in the brood nest with honey.  Even young vigourous queens seem to keep a smaller brood nest in a TB/ long hive than in a vertical one.  They seem less inclined to travel over than up.
 This too may account for less honey in a long hive- I have seen it stated before is that bees prefer to travel up and down, rather from side to side. It does seem to be true in my experience with my TBH.  Summer, or winter, it takes a little encouragement to get the bees to expand horizontally.  I guess it's another trade off.
I have been debating about putting a screened bottom under the brood nest area in my TBH.  I could take a roto-zip, cut out the plywood in the center of the box, and staple in Hardware cloth, but I an a little worried about doing so.  The field my TBH is in is extremely windy, and since the bees in the TBH are just above the floor when going into winter, they would be very exposed to drafts from below.  One of the problems of wintering a TBH that I have encountered is that although there is plenty of honey towards the back of the hive, the bees don't move back to use it.  I have to rearrange combs in Febuary to keep them from starving in cluster.   I'm afraid that with a screened bottom, this immobility would be fatal even sooner.
I asked for comment from anyone who has used screened bottom boards with TBH's, and I recieved no answers to my question- just inquiries from others who were wondering the same thing.  I would guess, that in a milder or more sheltered climate, the screened bottom board would be a very good thing.  I'm just afraid that the harsh, windy winters near Pontiac Michigan are just a bit too bitter to allow for sucessful wintering directly over a drafty bottom.  I may try to come up with a way to allow them the screen in the summer, but close it up in the winter.  Or maybe by providing a 1x6 skirting about the bottom to cut drafts.....   I don't know- I'm not much of  a carpenter, and my shop (and time) resources are very limited.  If anyone does try this, or has other Ideas, I'd love to hear about your experiences.
Ellen in Michigan
  waldig <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
One of the websites, mentioned that the long or TBH configuration results in
'less but better honey.' Did you find this to be the case ? Can folks
comment on this from their own experience ? I could not see why this config
would yield less honey. Or why it would be better, for that matter.

I also have a question about whether or not TBH's can use screened bottoms.