About Guitar
A guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is played by plucking the strings with either fingers or a pick. The guitar has three main sections to it: the head, neck and body. The head consists of tuning knobs which control the tension of the strings to give the guitar the correct tune. The neck can also be called the fret board, and usually consists of around twenty frets. This is where the fingers are placed to give each string a different tone when plucked. The body is the biggest and most important part of the guitar. This is where the pickups or sound hole are depending on the type of guitar. There are three different types of guitar: acoustic, electric, and acoustic/electric. Electric guitars have a solid body with pickups built into it to transfer the sound to an amplifier via guitar cord, while acoustic guitars use a hollow body and sound resonating hole to amplify the tone. Acoustic/electric guitars have both a hollow body to be played as an acoustic and pickups so it can be played as an electric through an amplifier. While each guitar has its own unique characteristics, the basics of each are all the same.
History of guitar
Here it goes. Before the development of the electric guitar and the use of synthetic materials, a guitar was defined as being an instrument having "a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs, and a flat back, most often with incurved sides". The term is used to refer to a number of related instruments that were developed and used across Europe beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas
The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, have been applied to a wide variety of chordophones since ancient times and as such is the cause of confusion. The English word guitar, the German gitarre, and the French guitare were adopted from the Spanish guitarra, which comes from the Andalusia Arabic qitara, itself derived from the Latin cithara, which in turn came from the Ancient κιθάρα kithara, and is thought to ultimately trace back to the Old Persian language. Tar means string in Persian.
Although the word guitar is descended from the Latin word cithara, the modern guitar itself is not generally believed to have descended from the Roman instrument. Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar. One commonly cited influence is of the arrival of the four-stringed, which was introduced by the invading Moors in the 8th century. Another suggested influence is the six-string Scandinavian lut (lute), which gained in popularity in areas of Viking incursions across medieval Europe . Often depicted in carvings c. 800 AD, the Norse hero Gunther (also known as Gunnar), played a lute with his toes as he lay dying in a snake-pit, in the legend of Siegfried. It is likely that a combination of influences led to the creation of the guitar; plucked instruments from across the Mediterranean and Europe were well known in Iberia
Two medieval instruments that were called "guitars" were in use by 1200: the guitarra moresca (Moorish guitar) and the guitarra Latina Latina latina
Types of guitar:
1. Acoustic guitars
There are several notable subcategories within the acoustic guitar group: classical and flamenco guitars; steel-string guitars, which include the flat-topped, or "folk," guitar; twelve-string guitars; and the arched-top guitar. The acoustic guitar group also includes un-amplified guitars designed to play in different registers, such as the acoustic bass guitar, which has a similar tuning to that of the electric bass guitar.
1.1 acoustic guita2. Renaissance and Baroque guitars
These are the gracile ancestors of the modern classical guitar. They are substantially smaller and more delicate than the classical guitar, and generate a much quieter sound. The strings are paired in courses as in a modern 12-string guitar, but they only have four or five courses of strings rather than six. They were more often used as rhythm instruments in ensembles than as solo instruments, and can often be seen in that role in early music performances. (Gaspar Sanz' Instrucción de Música sobre la Guitarra Española of 1674 constitutes the majority of the surviving solo corpus for the era.
Renaissance and Baroque guitars are easily distinguished because the Renaissance guitar is very plain and the Baroque guitar is very ornate, with ivory or wood inlays all over the neck and body, and a paper-cutout inverted "wedding cake" inside the hole.
1.2 Renaissance and Baroque guitar3. Classical guitar
These are typically strung with nylon strings, plucked with the fingers, played in a seated position and are used to play a diversity of musical styles including classical music. The classical guitar's wide, flat neck allows the musician to play scales, arpeggios, and certain chord forms more easily and with less adjacent string interference than on other styles of guitar. Flamenco guitars are very similar in construction, but are associated with a more percussive tone. In Mexico Colombia
1.3 classical guitarWhy a guitar is shaped the way they shaped?
There is some design to allow for playing comfort, but that's not always the case. Sometimes guitars are just shaped to look cool (try playing a Gibson Flying V while sitting down and you'll know what I mean).
The most important thing is that the strings are able to vibrate. In an acoustic guitar, this means that the hollow body of the guitar allows the strings to resonate well. In a solid body electric guitar, there needs to be enough timber to resonate. Where that timber is makes a lot of difference. For example, around the bridge you need plenty of solid wood (one famous guitarist ruined his Ibanez Destroyer when he cut a "cool looking" cutaway into the body around the bridge, as this robbed the guitar of so much of its natural sound
Shape of a guitar
When you begin your search for an acoustic guitar, one of the first considerations should be the size and shape of the body. A guitar's body size and shape is a major determining factor in the instrument's final sound, as it relates to both volume and tonal qualities.
It should be fairly obvious that the larger body sizes have a greater potential for volume, which may or may not be fully achieved depending on the materials used and the maker's skill (not all Dreadnoughts are created equal!).
Variations in shape mean that two guitars with bodies of roughly the same size, while producing equivalent volume, can sound very different from one another. Further, as a general rule, large, "thick-waisted" bodies (such as the Dreadnought or the "Round-shouldered" Dreadnought), will produce a big sound with a more open midrange; "tighter-waisted" bodies (such as the Auditorium, Super Jumbo and Grand Concert) tend to produce a more "focused" sound with very solid overtones.
1. Grand Concert
The Grand Concert is the perfect guitar for finger style playing and vocal accompaniment. This body size is especially well-suited for lead playing, and its exceptional focus of tone makes it perfectly suited for recording and stage performance over microphones. The smaller body size also makes it a great choice for women, for male players of slighter build, or for those who for whatever reason prefer a smaller guitar.Body Length | 19-3/8" |
Body Depth @ End Pin | 4-3/4" |
Upper Bout Width | 10" |
Waist Width | 8-3/8" |
Lower Bout Width | 14-3/4" |
Auditorium Size
An exceptional guitar for finger style players, the Auditorium size also holds its own in ensemble playing, excels at lead & rhythm playing in the studio, mics extremely well, and makes an excellent rhythm instrument for fiddle backup.
Body Length | 19-3/8" |
Body Depth @ End Pin | 4-1/8" |
Upper Bout Width | 11-1/4" |
Waist Width | 9-3/16" |
Lower Bout Width | 15" |
The Dreadnought-size body is at its best in ensemble settings, where ultimate power and focus of tone is required to be heard among other instruments. This potential for power and clarity has made the Dreadnought guitar the most popular guitar size today, and the preferred choice of flat pickers (especially Blue Grass guitarists) who require a guitar that can be heard among such loud instruments as the fiddle, banjo & mandolin.
Body Length | 20" |
Body Depth @ End Pin | 4-7/8" |
Upper Bout Width | 11-1/2" |
Waist Width | 10-3/4" |
Lower Bout Width | 15-5/8" |
Components of guitar
1. Body
The body of the guitar is comprised of the Top, Back and Sides minus the neck. On an acoustic guitar the body provides amplification while on a solid body electric, the body is largely a stylistic concern. While electric guitar construction techniques and individual wood types do play a role in the tone of an electric guitar, remember that Ned Steinberger produced his famous electric guitars with no real body to speak of, that relied nearly entirely on the electronics to shape the sound.
2. Top
The Top of an acoustic guitar is the key component of its sound. A solid top acoustic guitar will sound better than a laminate top guitar 9 times out of 10. When speaking of the top on a solid body electric guitar, it is most often in reference to a carved top of quilted or flamed maple that is glued to the top of the solid back of the guitar. This is done entirely for cosmetic purposes, and guitars with highly quilted or flamed tops can fetch thousands of dollars on the boutique guitar market.
The 2 most popular woods for acoustic guitar Tops are Spruce and Cedar. Generally speaking, Spruce produces a bright sound and Cedar produces a warmer sound by comparison. Spruce is most often preferred by guitarists who use picks (flat-pickers) and Cedar is most often preferred by players who use their fingers (finger-pickers).
3. Sides
The Sides of an acoustic guitar may be solid or laminated. As stated before on this site, solid wood is preferable to laminates on an acoustic guitar. When speaking of the sides on a solid body electric guitar it is usually in reference to the angle of the cut or bevel.
4. Back
The Back of an acoustic guitar is often prized for the exotic wood employed in its construction. On normal acoustic it is just another component of the guitar, having about as much tonal importance as the Sides. It is the Top, remember, that is responsible for the lion’s share of an acoustic guitar’s tone.
5. Neck
The neck of the guitar connects the headstock to the body. A stable neck is essential in a good guitar. A neck can be glued or bolted onto a body, or it may even run all the way through the body in the case of neck-through-body construction. The neck of an acoustic guitar is usually glued to the body but some companies like Taylor
6. Truss Rod
The truss rod is a steel bar inside of the neck that is anchored at each end. It may be tightened or loosened to straighten or bow the neck. It is used to offset the tension created when the guitar is stringed.
7. Headstock
The Headstock is most often where a company brands their guitar. Many famous guitars are recognizable from their headstocks as well as their paint jobs or electronic configurations.
8. Tuners
Tuners are used to tighten and loosen the strings and are most often located on the headstock. Certain tremolo guitars have tuners at the tail rather than the headstock because they lock the strings in place at the Nut (top of the neck) to help keep the strings in tune.
9. Fretboard
The fretboard is glued to the top of the neck. A guitar fretboard usually has 21, 22 or 24 frets. Most acoustic guitars aren’t intended to be played high on the neck so there aren’t as many frets because they aren’t needed. Some Parlor acoustic guitar fretboards only have 18 or 19 frets.
10.Frets
A fret (tang) is piece of wire that is hammered into the fretboard so that a specific note is played when a string is held against it. Each frets is a musical intervals of one half step. Move one fret up the neck and you've moved one half step. Move twelve frets and you’ve moved one octave. A 24 fret neck is a 2 octave neck.
11. Nut
The nut is the thin strip at the top of the neck, right below the headstock, that holds the strings above the frets on the fretboard. The nut is traditionally made of bone. Today graphite or plastic is often used.
12. Pickups (Optional)
There are basically two types of guitar pickups: the Single Coil and the Double Coil a.k.a. the Humbucker. One could argue that the Single Coil pickup is best represented by the Fender Stratocaster and the Humbucker pickup by the Gibson Les Paul.
Traditionally, Single Coil pickups produce a hum (electronic noise) when plugged into an amplifier. Their tone is (generally speaking) thinner than a Humbucker. Humbuckers have a full, fat tone and produce no hum when plugged into an amp. Humbuckers are well suited to heavy, distorted sound because of their superior output and hum canceling characteristics. The Humbucker (Double Coil) pickup was created when someone, somewhere, sometime, discovered that when you place two Single Coil pickups next to each other, the hum cancels out, hence the name Hum-bucker. Each of these two styles of pickup has distinct tonal qualities that make it attractive, and each is available in wide output ranges.
13. Bridge
The Bridge is where the strings pass over at the tail of the guitar. Acoustic guitars utilize a one-piece bone or plastic bridge that is staggered for proper intonation set into a wooden tailpiece. The position of the bridge is vital in the intonation of the guitar.
14. Saddles
Saddles are almost never present on an acoustic guitar. The Saddles are the individual (hopefully moveable) parts on which the strings actually rest on the bridge of an electric guitar. These are extremely important in intonating your electric guitar.
