Structure of Acoustic and Electric Guitars



Posted: Thursday, October 22, 2009

by Martina Meneghetti

The first guitars, although if they were not with the usual form, were born a lot of centuries ago in the Middle East. Over the centuries, this chord instrument, which used an amplification system with a sound box, underwent many transformations, until finally arriving to the instrument we know.

Of course even now there are several types, but the most common is the six-strings guitar. The guitar is composed of many pieces, starting from the top there are: the headstock together with the tuning keys used to keep tension in the strings and to change the tuning. Here we find the neck, the length can vary depending on the type of guitar, the neck is divided into frets that are used to tighten the strings and get the notes you want. Finally then we find the body with the soundboard and the bridge from where the strings branch off.

Of course in electric guitars we will not find the soundboard but a solid body (full body) that, to capture and disseminate the different sounds, uses pickups that are placed where would be the hole for the sound box. It is important to remember that in case of non-electric guitars sound quality and its uniqueness are completely dependent on the type of wood used to build the box and the type of joints inside it. Even in electric guitars, the wood is very important because the neck is subjected to a much higher tension than acoustic guitars, it also has a metal core; a good neck must be able to withstand the tension and its change when you change your tune and must also be sliding to let the right hand slide. One of the most important part is certainly the strings, that, plucked with the fingers or the plectrum, emit the characteristic sound of these musical instruments.

The strings are stretched in different ways to obtain different notes. The most common tuning is re-mi-sol-la-mi. This tuning, in which the interval between two adjacent strings is right one  fourth (except that between the second and third string, a distance of a major third) has established itself for its ease in forming chords. In guitars with more strings such as those with seven or eight strings, more low note are added to obtain a sound more dark and powerful, characteristic of metal music. The power of the sound of the electric guitar is given mainly by the type of pickup installed that characterize the power and the type of sound that will be expressed through the use of amplifiers that can alter the sound in different ways. The most common amplifiers are the combo and those constituted by a surface plus a speaker.

The technical description still does not do justice to the emotions and feeling you get playing these instruments. In conclusion when you play you discover a part of you that you did not know it existed.

By Martina Meneghetti with support from luci discoteca for any information, please visit supporto microfono       or for more info visit strumenti musicali mixer
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