What are the best classes that lead up to a great Arcane Archerer?
Fighter 1/Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight X is a good route to Arcane Archer, though I advocate just taking all 10 levels of EK before Arcane Archer.
You could also lead in with Bard levels, if that's your thing, but a good Bard with archery feats is probably better off just staying as a bard.
Ranger and Urban Barbarian can also be used as the martial class lead into an Arcane Archer style build.
It's possible to go Paladin 2/Sorcerer 4/Dragon Disciple 4/Arcane Archer or something along those lines if you want, but that makes a better melee-caster style character than an archer.
Lore Warden archetype for Fighter gains you a couple of extra skill points at the loss or heavier armors that your archer will probably never wear.
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I would go Magus (Myrmidarch archtype) 12/ Arcane archer 8.
This gives:
Ranged spell strike with multi-target ranged spells
2 lvls of weapon training
a lvl of armor training
Ahe ability to take feats as a fighter lvl 9
BaB of 17
Casting as an 18th lvl magus in Med armor with no failure chance
And then all the fun Arcane Archer things ;-)
Just keep in mind that levels 1-3 of a Myrmidarch are very painful to play. Not that Fighter 1/Wizard 2 is super-fantastic, but before the Myrmidarch gets ranged spellstrike, it's a bad scene to play as an archer. Also, the loss of spells per level is tough, especially as you get to later level spells and probably don't have the bonus Int to get them.
That said, you can do some fun, damagey stuff with a Myrmidarch.
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Ranger 6 / Wizard 1 or Pally 5 / Sorc 2 is my favorite, but honestly, they said it right: Arcane Archers are worse caster/archers than eldrich knights. Weapon Specialization,faster spell progression, and extra feats outweigh what the AA gains. The only real use for the AA is to shoot area effects (anti-magic shell), and this takes so long to get it's not worth it. You can be a knight by 7, only give up 2 spell levels life, and gain the straight BAB and feats you need. Plus, you'll shoot rays like a badass. And 1 trait will put your spells "on level".
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I second the Eldrich knight instead of the AA, I was going for Arcane archer, but decieded to take EK instead. Bonus combat feat, yes please. Take transmutation as specalty school and you'll have plenty of duration spells to cast on your weapon, prettymuch all day. (Extend spell feat) I still only have a masterwork bow at 11th level, I just cast gravity bow and greater magic weapon and keen on it. Magical knack is a nice trait to take. Anyhow have fun, I'm having fun playing my "Arcane Archer" eldrich knight.
If you're playing up to higher levels, I can't stress enough that builds using Wizard casting are superior. Once you get to 11th you get Overland Flight, which is the single biggest benefit an archer can have (Magus get this spell at 13th level if going pure Magus, even later if taking levels in EK or AA).
The Myrmidarch is a great entry to spellcasting and archery, but the Wizard spell list (and the fact that you have so many more spells per level as a specialist wizard than as a Myrmidarch magus) is superior.
There are pros and cons to each build, and part of the decision really comes down to what level range you are going to be playing in. The higher you go, the more the Fighter 1/Wizard 5/EK 10/AA 4 build wins out, simply because you get access to the high level wizard spell list.
One more note: A Magus (even Myrmidarch) cannot use spell combat and Ranged Spellstrike in the same turn while wielding a bow. Spell Combat requires the offhand to be free, which it is not if you are using a bow. So Ranged Spellstrike really is only useful if you're just making that one attack, unless you're doing a funky thrown weapons build. Of course, you can use this to get an extra attack if used in conjunction with Quicken spell, but that takes up 5th level spellslots (which the Magus build doesn't get till 13th or later, and has very few of).
Edit: @truesidekick - You should use average damage when talking about how much an attack will deal. Talking about max damage is unrealistic and likely to falsely convince someone of something's power. The Shocking Grasp Arrow you're talking about would do about 35 damage (and that's including gravity bow, deadly aim, weapon spec, and a moderate strength modifier). That's a little different looking than throwing something like "70+ max damage" out for discussion. And, that tactic is limited in use, really, to 5th - 8th level in terms of being a decent option. Before that it does much less damage, and after it is probably worse than a full attack.
I'm not trying to be confrontational, but there's a lot wrong with that idea, truesidekick. Also, I didn't say the character was only good from 5-8, I said the whole standard for a shocking grasp spell was only really good in that level range.
I know this sounds confrontational, and I don't mean it that way, but there are a lot of things wrong with what you're saying.
First: AA's ability to enhance arrows by +1 doesn't stack with the Magus ability to give it numeric enhancements. So you'll have a +2 corrosive bow (from what you described), made into +3 from the magus ability.
Second: You're spending a feat on Intensify Spell in a build that doesn't really get that much from it, but needs tons of other feats. This character at level 10, if human, has 8 feats. I'll assume those are Point Blank, Precise, Rapid, and Manyshot...along with Weapon Focus, Deadly Aim, and, as you said, Skill Focus (UMD). That's 7. If you take Intesify spell you miss out on some other really good stuff.
Third: Arguing that you can use a scimitar on a build like this 1-4 is strange. You're focused on Dex, and, due to MAD, have a low Con. You don't have room for any melee feats, including weapon finesse, and you're not even a full BAB class. And you're going to take a -2 to attacks from from Spell Combat. You say something about it being better than a Fighter, but best I can figure you'll have an attack bonus of +4 or 5 at 4th level (which is garbage), while also not having a lot of hit points. Plus you'll be building for archery, so it'll be frustrating as all your feats are going to waste while you wait to get there.
Fourth: Your spellcasting is pushed back 4 levels (and it will be 5 when you either take more AA or switch over to EK), which means you don't get Overland Flight until 18th level or so...or the ability to Quicken Spells. You can't even cast 3rd level spells yet, so Vampiric Touch is pretty much out (and if you're using a scroll you're not only burning money, but only getting 2d6 temp hitpoints....not quite the awesome healing you've made it seem...I'd rather just drink a 3rd level cure potion for the same price if I needed healing so badly that I would sacrifice my full attack), and intensify spell doesn't even help Vampiric Touch, btw, not that you could do that before level 15 anyways. Also, you can only do your Intensified Shocking Grasp trick 3 times in a day....and that's if you're not using or memming any other 2nd level spells.
Fifth: Saying "well I have UMD, so I have access to the whole wizard spell list" is probably true, but for the higher level stuff it costs a TON to get that access, and you get it at minimum caster level. Is that really how you're going to spend your money, especially since you have no crafting skills to help alleviate costs elsewhere?
Sixth: You have 7 arcane pool points. Each combat will cost you 1 for your weapon. Let's say you are lucky and have a DM that only runs you through 3 encounters per day. You have 4 arcane pool points. That means you only get that Arcane Accuracy bonus in 4 rounds per day. It's certainly nice to have, but, again, it's not something you can just count toward what your attack bonus would look like all the time.
Annnyyyyyyhow, just some things to point out. No arcane archer style build is perfect, though I would still argue that once you get to 10th and beyond, the Fighter/Wizard/EK wins out, and continues to get even better every level past 10th.
Attack routine at 10th is something like:
7 bab + 1 haste +1 wf + 2 heroism + 7 Dex + 2 bow -2 Deadly Aim -2 Rapid Shot +1 bracers of archery (+17 total, not shabby, and right on par with the Magus/AA build when arcane accuracy is not considered...plus he can make his own magic gear and gear for his group)