Electric guitar
solid-body guitar | |
Classification |
chordophone) |
---|---|
Developed | 1932, United States |
Playing range | |
(a guitar tuned to E standard) | |
Sound sample | |
Electric guitar lick in the style of Chuck Berry |
An electric guitar is a
Invented in 1932, the electric guitar was adopted by jazz guitar players, who wanted to play single-note guitar solos in large big band ensembles. Early proponents of the electric guitar on record include Les Paul, Eddie Durham, George Barnes, Lonnie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, T-Bone Walker, and Charlie Christian. During the 1950s and 1960s, the electric guitar became the most important instrument in popular music.[1] It has evolved into an instrument that is capable of a multitude of sounds and styles in genres ranging from pop and rock to folk to country music, blues and jazz. It served as a major component in the development of electric blues, rock and roll, rock music, heavy metal music and many other genres of music.
Electric guitar design and construction varies greatly in the shape of the body and the configuration of the neck, bridge, and pickups. Guitars may have a fixed bridge or a spring-loaded hinged bridge, which lets players "bend" the pitch of notes or chords up or down, or perform vibrato effects. The sound of an electric guitar can be modified by new playing techniques such as string bending, tapping, and hammering-on, using audio feedback, or slide guitar playing.
There are several types of electric guitar. Early forms were hollow-body
In rock, the electric guitar is often used in two roles: as a rhythm guitar, which plays the chord sequences or progressions, and riffs, and sets the beat (as part of a rhythm section); and as a lead guitar, which provides instrumental melody lines, melodic instrumental fill passages, and solos. In a small group, such as a power trio, one guitarist may switch between both roles; in larger groups there is often a rhythm guitarist and a lead guitarist.
History
Many experiments with electrically amplifying the vibrations of a string instrument were made dating back to the early part of the 20th century. Patents from the 1910s show telephone transmitters were adapted and placed inside violins and banjos to amplify the sound. Hobbyists in the 1920s used carbon button microphones attached to the bridge; however, these detected vibrations from the bridge on top of the instrument, resulting in a weak signal.[2]
Electric guitars were originally designed by acoustic guitar makers and instrument manufacturers. The demand for amplified guitars began during the big band era; as orchestras increased in size, guitar players soon realized the necessity in guitar amplification and electrification.
The first electrically amplified stringed instrument to be marketed commercially was a cast
In 1934, the company was renamed the
By early-mid 1935, Electro String Instrument Corporation had achieved success with the "Frying Pan", and set out to capture a new audience through its release of the Electro-Spanish Model B and the Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts, which was the first full 25-inch scale electric guitar ever produced.[14][9][10][11][12] The Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts was revolutionary for its time, providing players a full 25-inch scale, with easy access to 17 frets free of the body.[15] Unlike other lap-steel electrified instruments produced during the time, the Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts was designed to play while standing upright with the guitar on a strap, as with acoustic guitars.[15] The Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts was also the first instrument to feature a hand-operated vibrato as a standard arrangement,[15] a device called the "Vibrola", invented by Doc Kauffman.[15] [16] It is estimated that fewer than 50 Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts were constructed between 1933 and 1937; fewer than 10 are known to survive today.[9][10][11][12]
The
Gibson's first production electric guitar, marketed in 1936, was the ES-150 model ("ES" for "Electric Spanish", and "150" reflecting the $150 price of the instrument, along with matching amplifier). The ES-150 guitar featured a single-coil, hexagonally shaped "bar" pickup, which was designed by Walt Fuller. It became known as the "Charlie Christian" pickup (named for the jazz guitarist who was among the first to perform with the ES-150 guitar). The ES-150 achieved some popularity but suffered from unequal loudness across the six strings.
A functioning solid-body electric guitar was designed and built in 1940 by Les Paul from an Epiphone acoustic archtop as an experiment. His "log guitar" — a wood post with a neck attached and two hollow-body halves attached to the sides for appearance only — shares nothing in common for design or hardware with the solid-body Gibson Les Paul, designed by Ted McCarty and introduced in 1952.
The feedback associated with amplified hollow-bodied electric guitars was understood long before Paul's "log" was created in 1940; Gage Brewer's Ro-Pat-In of 1932 had a top so heavily reinforced that it essentially functioned as a solid-body instrument.[2]
Types
Solid-body
Unlike acoustic guitars,
One of the first solid-body guitars was invented by
The history of electric guitars has been summarized by Guitar World magazine, and the earliest electric guitar on their top 10 list is the Ro-Pat-In Electro A-25 "Frying Pan" (1932) described as "The first-fully functioning solid-body electric guitar to be manufactured and sold".[24] It was the first electric guitar used in a publicly promoted performance, performed by Gage Brewer in Wichita, Kansas in October 1932.[25][26][27] The most recent electric guitar on this list was the Ibanez Jem (1987) which featured "24 frets", an impossibly thin neck" and was "designed to be the ultimate shredder machine". Numerous other important electric guitars are on the list, including Gibson ES-150 (1936), Fender Telecaster (1951), Gibson Les Paul (1952), Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet (1953), Fender Stratocaster (1954), Rickenbacker 360/12 (1964), Van Halen Frankenstrat (1975), Paul Reed Smith Custom (1985) many of these guitars were "successors" to earlier designs.[24] Electric guitar designs eventually became culturally important and visually iconic, with various model companies selling miniature model versions of particularly famous electric guitars, for example, the Gibson SG used by Angus Young from the group AC/DC.
Chambered-body
Some otherwise solid-bodied guitars, such as the Gibson Les Paul Supreme, the PRS Singlecut, and the Fender Telecaster Thinline, are built with hollow chambers in the body. These chambers are designed to not interfere with the critical bridge and string anchor point on the solid body. In the case of Gibson and PRS, these are called chambered bodies. The motivation for this may be to reduce weight, to achieve a semi-acoustic tone (see below) or both.[28][29][30]
Semi-acoustic
Semi-acoustic guitars have a hollow body similar to an acoustic guitar and electromagnetic pickups mounted directly into the body. They work in a similar way to solid-body electric guitars except that because the hollow body also vibrates, the pickups convert a combination of string and body vibration into an electrical signal. Many models, with what are called semi-hollow bodies, have a solid block running through the middle of the soundbox designed to reduce acoustic feedback. They do not provide enough acoustic volume for live performance, but they can be used unplugged for quiet practice. Semi-acoustic guitars are noted for being able to provide a sweet, plaintive, or funky tone. They are used in many genres, including jazz, blues,
Electric acoustic
Some
Construction
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2015) |
Electric guitar design and construction vary greatly in the shape of the body and the configuration of the neck, bridge, and pickups. However, some features are present on most guitars. The photo below shows the different parts of an electric guitar. The
The
Some guitars have a fixed
Woods typically used in solid-body electric guitars include
The guitar output jack typically provides a
A few guitars, such as Rickenbacker guitars equipped with Rick-O-Sound, feature stereo output. There are a variety of ways the "stereo" effect may be implemented. Commonly, but not exclusively, stereo guitars route the neck and bridge pickups to separate output buses on the guitar. A stereo cable then routes each pickup to its signal chain or amplifier. For these applications, the most popular connector is a high-impedance 1⁄4 inch (6.35 mm) plug with a tip, ring, and sleeve configuration, also known as a TRS phone connector. Some studio instruments, notably certain Gibson Les Paul models, incorporate a low-impedance three-pin XLR connector for balanced audio. Many exotic arrangements and connectors exist that support features such as midi and hexaphonic pickups.
Bridge and tailpiece systems
The bridge and tailpiece, while serving separate purposes, work closely together to affect playing style and tone. There are four basic types of bridge and tailpiece systems on electric guitars. Within these four types are many variants.
A
A floating or trapeze tailpiece (similar to a violin's) fastens to the body at the base of the guitar. These appear on Rickenbackers, Gretsches, Epiphones, a wide variety of archtop guitars, particularly jazz guitars, and the 1952 Gibson Les Paul.[36]
Pictured is a
With the expiration of the Fender patent on the
The fourth type of system employs string-through body anchoring. The strings pass over the bridge saddles, then through holes through the top of the guitar body to the back. The strings are typically anchored in place at the back of the guitar by metal
Pickups
Compared to an acoustic guitar, which has a hollow body, electric guitars make much less audible sound when their strings are plucked, so electric guitars are normally plugged into a guitar amplifier and speaker. When an electric guitar is played, string movement produces a signal by generating (i.e., inducing) a small electric current in the magnetic pickups, which are magnets wound with coils of very fine wire. The signal passes through the tone and volume circuits to the output jack, and through a cable to an amplifier.[37] The current induced is proportional to such factors as string density and the amount of movement over the pickups.
Because of their natural qualities, magnetic pickups tend to pick up ambient, usually unwanted electromagnetic interference or EMI.[38] This mains hum results in a tone of 50 or 60 cycles per second depending on the powerline frequency of the local alternating current supply.
The resulting
Necks
Electric guitar necks vary in composition and shape. The primary metric of guitar necks is the scale length, which is the vibrating length of the strings from nut to bridge. A typical Fender guitar uses a 25.5-inch (65 cm) scale length, while Gibson uses a 24.75-inch (62.9 cm) scale length in their Les Paul. While the scale length of the Les Paul is often described as 24.75 inches, it has varied through the years by as much as a half inch.[39]
Frets are positioned proportionally to scale length—the shorter the scale length, the closer the fret spacing. Opinions vary regarding the effect of scale length on tone and feel. Popular opinion holds that longer scale length contributes to greater amplitude. Reports of playing feel are greatly complicated by the many factors involved in this perception. String gauge and design, neck construction and relief, guitar setup, playing style, and other factors contribute to the subjective impression of playability or feel.
Necks are described as
Materials for necks are selected for dimensional stability and rigidity,
Aside from possible engineering advantages, some feel that with the rising cost of rare tonewoods, human-made materials may be economically preferable and more ecologically sensitive. However, wood remains popular in production instruments, though sometimes in conjunction with new materials. Vigier guitars, for example, use a wooden neck reinforced by embedding a light, carbon fiber rod in place of the usual heavier steel bar or adjustable steel truss rod. After-market necks made entirely from carbon fiber fit existing bolt-on instruments. Few, if any, extensive formal investigations have been widely published that confirm or refute claims over the effects of different woods or materials on the electric guitar sound.
Several neck shapes appear on guitars, including shapes known as C necks, U necks, and V necks. These refer to the cross-sectional shape of the neck (especially near the nut). Several sizes of fret wire are available, with traditional players often preferring thin frets, and metal shredders liking thick frets. Thin frets are considered better for playing chords, while thick frets allow lead guitarists to bend notes with less effort.
An electric guitar with a folding neck called the "Foldaxe" was designed and built for Chet Atkins by Roger C. Field.[42] Steinberger guitars developed a line of exotic, carbon fiber instruments without headstocks, with tuning done on the bridge instead.
Fingerboards vary as much as necks. The fingerboard surface usually has a cross-sectional radius that is optimized to accommodate finger movement for different playing techniques. Fingerboard radius typically ranges from nearly flat (a very large radius) to radically arched (a small radius). The vintage
See also
- List of electric guitar brands
- Bass guitar
- Bahian guitar
- Bolt-on neck
- Distortion (guitar)
- Effects pedal
- Electric pipa
- Electromagnetic induction
- Electronic tuner
- Guitar harmonics
- Guitar synthesizer
- Guitar amplifier
- Keytar
- List of guitars
- List of guitarists
- Neck through construction
- Pickup
- Sitarla
- Stars and Their Guitars: A History of the Electric Guitar (documentary film)
- Set-in neck
- Vintage guitar
References
- ISBN 1-57958-464-0.
- ^ a b Wheelwright, Lynn; Carter, Walter (28 April 2010). [1]. Vintage Guitar. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- ^ "Invention: Electric Guitar". www.invention.si.edu. Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Archived from the original on 24 August 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
- ISBN 0-06-014579-X.
- ^ "Invention". Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-931759-15-4.
- ^ "Guitar E – berichte und fotos". viewgoods.de. Archived from the original on 25 October 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
- ISBN 0-448-22240-X.
- ^ a b c "An Important and Historical Instrument". Retrofret Vintage Guitars. Retrofret. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ^ a b c "The Earliest Days of the Electric Guitar". Rickenbacker. RIC. Archived from the original on 24 December 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
- ^ a b c "Stringed Instrument (Tremolo)". Google Patents. USPTO. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
- ^ a b c "Electric Stringed Musical Instrument". google.patents. USPTO. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
- ^ Kreiser, Christine (April 2015). "American History". Electric Guitar. 50: 16 – via MasterFILE Complete.
- ^ Maloof, Rich (28 June 2017). "Who Really Invented the Electric Guitar". Reverb.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Rickenbacker Ken Roberts Model Hollow Body Electric Guitar". Retrofret.com. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
- ^ "Apparatus for producing tremolo effects". US Patent Trade Mark Office. USPTO. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
- ^ D'arcy, David (12 November 2000). "ART/ARCHITECTURE; Strummed by One Hand, Sculptured by Another". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ Ed Mitchell (Total Guitar) (28 December 2011). "IN PRAISE OF: The Fender Stratocaster | IN PRAISE OF: The Fender Stratocaster". MusicRadar. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-7341256-0-3.
- ^ "O. W. Appleton Home Page". Worldwide Filmworks. 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- ISBN 0060149965.
- ^ Ross, Michael (17 November 2011). "Forgotten Heroes: Paul Bigsby". Premier Guitar. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ISBN 1-84537-042-2.
- ^ a b "Guitar World Magazine Tolinkski and Di Perna". 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- ^ Tolinski, Brad: "The 50 greatest moments in electric guitar history," March 2, 2023, Guitar World, retrieved July 9, 2023
- ^ "Marking History in Musical Treasures," December 7, 2021, Musical Instrument Museum, retrieved July 9, 2023
- Guitar.com, retrieved July 9, 2023
- ^ Hunter, Dave (19 October 2007) Chambering the Les Paul: A Marriage of Weight and Tone. Gibson Lifestyle
- ^ "Does my Les Paul have weight relief holes or sound chambers?". lespaulforum.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
- ^ Irizarry, Rob (5 March 2007) Making Electric Guitars That Won't Break Your Back. Building the Ergonomic Guitar.
- ISBN 1457460963. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ "Ash vs Alder: The Difference in Tone Woods Used in Fender Guitars". www.fender.com. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "What are the tonal differences on solid body guitars, between Alder, Ash, Poplar, Basswood, Mahogany and Maple? · Customer Self-Service". Fender Customer Support. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ a b "Body Wood Options". Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ISBN 0879308869.
- ^ "Electric Guitar (Les Paul model) by Gibson, Inc., Kalamazoo, 1952". National Music Museum. The University of South Dakota. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ISSN 0531-7479.
- ^ Lemme, Helmuth (25 February 2009). "The Secrets of Electric Guitar Pickups" (PDF). Build Your Guitar. Electronic Musician. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2016 – via Electric Guitar Pickup, Joseph Henry Project.
- ^ "Scale Length Explained". StewMac. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ "Roasted Maple: Guitar Neck Wood Guide". Commercialforestproducts.com. 22 September 2019.
- ^ "Pau Ferro Guitars | Fender Guitars". www.fender.com. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ISBN 0-634-05565-8.
Sources
- Broadbent, Peter (1997). Charlie Christian: Solo Flight – The Seminal Electric Guitarist. Ashley Mark Publishing Company. ISBN 1-872639-56-9.
External links
- ON! The Beginnings of Electric Sound Generation – an exhibit at the Museum of Making Music, National Association of Music Merchants, Carlsbad, CA – some of the earliest electric guitars and their history, from the collection of Lynn Wheelwright and others
- King of Kays Vintage guitar's from America, Japan, and Italy. Pictures, history, and forums.
- The Invention of the Electric Guitar – Online exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History
- Sweetwater Sound | Who Invented the Electric Guitar? — A chronological exploration of the development of the electric guitar from 1890 to 1952, including contributions from Rickenbacker, Bigbsy, Fender, and Gibson.