An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickups to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals, which ultimately are reproduced as sound by loudspeakers. The sound is sometimes shaped or electronically altered to achieve different timbres or tonal qualities via amplifier settings or knobs on the guitar. Often, this is done through the use of effects such as reverb, distortion and "overdrive"; the latter is considered to be a key element of electric blues guitar music and jazz, rock and heavy metal guitar playing. Designs also exist combining attributes of electric and acoustic guitars: the semi-acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars.
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 semi-acoustic guitars, while solid body guitars developed later. String configurations include the six-string guitar (the most common type), which is usually tuned E, A, D, G, B, E, from lowest to highest strings; the seven-string guitar, which typically adds a low B string below the low E; the eight-string guitar, which typically adds a low E or F# string below the low B; and the twelve-string guitar, which has six two-string courses similar to a mandolin.
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
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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.[3] The first electric guitars used in jazz were hollow archtop acoustic guitar bodies with electromagnetic transducers.
The first electrically amplified stringed instrument to be marketed commercially was a cast aluminium lap steel guitar nicknamed the "Frying Pan" designed in 1931 by George Beauchamp, the general manager of the National Stringed Instrument Corporation, with Paul Barth, who was vice president.[4] George Beauchamp, along with Adolph Rickenbacker, invented the electromagnetic pickups.[5] Coils that were wrapped around a magnet would create an electromagnetic field that converted the vibrations of the guitar strings into electrical signals, which could then be amplified. Commercial production began in late summer of 1932 by the Ro-Pat-In Corporation (Electro-Patent-Instrument Company), in Los Angeles,[6][7] a partnership of Beauchamp, Adolph Rickenbacker (originally Rickenbacher), and Paul Barth.[8]
In 1934, the company was renamed the Rickenbacker Electro Stringed Instrument Company. In that year Beauchamp applied for a United States patent for an Electrical Stringed Musical Instrument and the patent was later issued in 1937.[9][10][11][12] By the time it was patented, other manufacturers were already making their own electric guitar designs.[13] Early electric guitar manufacturers include Rickenbacker in 1932; Dobro in 1933; National, AudioVox and Volu-tone in 1934; Vega, Epiphone (Electrophone and Electar), and Gibson in 1935 and many others by 1936.
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 solid-body electric guitar is made of solid wood, without functionally resonating air spaces. The first solid-body Spanish standard guitar was offered by Vivi-Tone no later than 1934. This model featured a guitar-shaped body of a single sheet of plywood affixed to a wood frame. Another early, substantially solid Spanish electric guitar, called the Electro Spanish, was marketed by the Rickenbacker guitar company in 1935 and made of Bakelite. By 1936, the Slingerland company introduced a wooden solid-body electric model, the Slingerland Songster 401 (and a lap steel counterpart, the Songster 400).
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
[edit]Solid-body
[edit]
Unlike acoustic guitars, solid-body electric guitars have no vibrating soundboard to amplify string vibration. Instead, solid-body instruments depend on electric pickups, and an amplifier ("amp") and speaker. The solid body ensures that the amplified sound reproduces the string vibration alone, thus avoiding the wolf tones and unwanted feedback[19] associated with amplified acoustic guitars. These guitars are generally made of hardwood covered with a hard polymer finish, often polyester or lacquer. In large production facilities, the wood is stored for three to six months in a wood-drying kiln before being cut to shape. Premium custom-built guitars are frequently made with much older[why?], hand-selected wood.
One of the first solid-body guitars was invented by Les Paul. Gibson did not present their Gibson Les Paul guitar prototypes to the public, as they did not believe the solid-body style would catch on. Another early solid-body Spanish style guitar, resembling what would become Gibson's Les Paul guitar a decade later, was developed in 1941 by O.W. Appleton, of Nogales, Arizona.[20] Appleton made contact with both Gibson and Fender but was unable to sell the idea behind his "App" guitar to either company.[21] In 1946, Merle Travis commissioned steel guitar builder Paul Bigsby to build him a solid-body Spanish-style electric.[22] Bigsby delivered the guitar in 1948. The first mass-produced solid-body guitar was Fender Esquire and Fender Broadcaster (later to become the Fender Telecaster), first made in 1950, five years after Les Paul made his prototype. The Gibson Les Paul appeared soon after to compete with the Broadcaster.[23] Another notable solid-body design is the Fender Stratocaster, which was introduced in 1954 and became extremely popular among musicians in the 1960s and 1970s for its wide tonal capabilities and more comfortable ergonomics than other models. Different styles of guitar have different pick-up styles, the main being 2 or 3 "single-coil" pick-ups or a double humbucker, with the Stratocaster being a triple single-coil guitar.
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
[edit]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
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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, known as 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, funk, sixties pop, and indie rock. They generally have cello-style F-shaped sound holes, which can be blocked off to further reduce feedback. Whereas chambered guitars are made, like solid-body guitars, from a single block of wood, semi-acoustic guitar bodies are made from multiple pieces of wood in an archtop form, a method of construction different from the typical steel string acoustic guitar. The top is formed from a moderately thick piece of wood which is then carved into a thin outward-curving shape, whereas conventional acoustic guitars have a thin, flat top.
Electric acoustic
[edit]Some steel-string acoustic guitars include a built-in system to electrically amplify their output without altering their tone as an alternative to using a separate microphone. The system may consist of piezoelectric pickups mounted under the bridge, or a low-mass microphone (usually a condenser mic) inside the body of the guitar that converts the vibrations in the body into electronic signals. Combinations of these types of pickups may be used, with an integral mixer/preamp/graphic equalizer. Such instruments are called electric acoustic guitars. They are regarded as acoustic guitars rather than electric guitars because the pickups do not produce a signal directly from the vibration of the strings, but rather from the vibration of the guitar top or body, and the amplification of the sound merely increases volume, not alters tone.
