By: Laura Thompson

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with either nylon or steel strings. Some modern guitars are made of polycarbonate materials. Guitars are made and repaired by luthiers. There are two primary families of guitars: acoustic and electric.

Acoustic guitars (and similar instruments) with hollow bodies have been in use for over a thousand years. There are three main types of modernacoustic guitar: the classical guitar (nylon-string guitar), the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar. The tone of an acoustic guitar is produced by the vibration of the strings, which is amplified by the body of the guitar, which acts as a resonating chamber. The classical guitar is often played as a solo instrument using a comprehensive fingerpicking technique.

Electric guitars, introduced in the 1930s, rely on an amplifier that can electronically manipulate tone. Early amplified guitars employed a hollow body, but a solid body was found more suitable. Electric guitars have had a continuing profound influence on popular culture. Guitars are recognized as a primary instrument in genres such as blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, reggae, rock, soul, and many forms of pop.

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".[1] 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.[2] These instruments are descended from ones that existed in ancient central Asia and India. For this reason guitars are distantly related to modern instruments from these regions, including the tanbur, the setar, and the sitar. The oldest known iconographic representation of an instrument displaying the essential features of a guitar is a 3,300 year old stone carving of a Hittite bard.[3]

The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, have been applied to a wide variety of cordophones 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 Andalusian Arabic qitara,[4] itself derived from the Latin cithara, which in turn came from the Ancient Greek κιθάρα kithara,[5] and is thought to ultimately trace back to the Old Persian language Tar which 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-string oud, which was introduced by the invading Moors in the 8th century.[6] Another suggested influence is the six-string Scandinavian lut (lute), which gained in popularity in areas of Viking incursions across medieval Europe.[citation needed] Often depicted in carvings c. 800 AD,[citation needed] 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 since antiquity.[citation needed]

Two medieval instruments that were called "guitars" were in use by 1200: the guitarra moresca (Moorish guitar) and the guitarra latina (Latin guitar). The guitarra moresca had a rounded back, wide fingerboard, and several sound holes. The guitarra Latina had a single sound hole and a narrower neck.[7] By the 14th century the qualifiers "moresca" and "latina" had been dropped and these two cordophones were usually simply referred to as guitars.[8]

The Spanish vihuela or (in Italian) "viola da mano", a guitar-like instrument of the 15th and 16th centuries, is widely considered to have been a seminal influence in the development of the guitar. It had six courses (usually), lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early representations reveal an instrument with a sharply cut waist. It was also larger than the contemporary four course guitars. By the late 15th century some vihuelas were played with a bow, leading to the development of the viol. By the sixteenth century the vihuela's construction had more in common with the modern guitar, with its curved one-piece ribs, than with the viols, and more like a larger version of the contemporary four-courseguitars. The vihuela enjoyed only a short period of popularity in Spain and Italy during an era dominated elsewhere in Europe by the lute; the last surviving published music for the instrument appeared in 1576. Meanwhile the five-course baroque guitar, which was documented in Spain from the middle of the 16th century, enjoyed popularity, especially in Spain, Italy and France from the late 16th century to the mid 18th century.[9][10]

Confusingly, in Portugal, the word vihuela referred to the guitar, whereas guitarra meant the "Portuguese guitar", a variety of cittern.

Classical Guitars Acoustic Guitars Electric Guitars Bass Guitars 7 string Guitars 12 String Guitars Double neck and multiple neck Guitars Custom Shop Guitars Celebrity specially designed guitars Harp Guitars Archtop Guitars Blues and jazz Guitars Hollowbody Guitars

The classical guitar (also called classic guitar, Spanish guitar, nylon-string guitar or concert guitar) is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones. The classical guitar is well known for its comprehensive right hand technique, which allows the soloist to perform complex melodic and polyphonic material, in much the same manner as the piano.

The phrase "classical guitar" is ambiguous in that it might refer at least three different concepts: the instrumental technique — the individual strings are usually plucked with the fingernails or rarely

without nails. its historic repertoire — though this is of lesser importance, since any repertoire can be (and is) played

on the classical guitar (additionally: classical guitarists are known to borrow from the repertoires of a wide variety of instruments)

its shape, construction and material excluding three strings made of nylon — modern classical guitarshape, or historic classical guitar shapes (e.g. early romantic guitars from France and Italy). A guitar family tree can be identified.[1] (The flamenco guitar is derived from the modern classical, but has differences in material, construction and sound[2][3])

The name classical guitar does not mean that only classical repertoire is performed on it, although classical music is a part of the instrument's core repertoire (due to the guitar's long history); instead all kinds of music (folk, jazz, flamenco, etc.) are performed on it.

The term modern classical guitar is sometimes used to distinguish the classical guitar from older forms of guitar, which are in their broadest sense also called classical, or more descriptively: early guitars. Examples of early guitars include the 6-string early romantic guitar (ca. 1790 - 1880), and the earlier baroque guitars with 5 courses.

Today's modern classical guitar was established by the late designs of the 19th century Spanish luthierAntonio Torres Jurado. Hence the modern classical guitar is sometimes called the "Spanish guitar".

A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. It is often referred to simply as an acoustic guitar, although strictly speaking the nylon-strung classical guitar is acoustic as well.

The most common type can be called a flat-top guitar to distinguish it from the more specialized archtop guitar and other variations. The standard tuning for an acoustic guitar is E-A-D-G-B-E (low to high), although many players, particularly fingerpickers, use alternate tunings (scordatura), such as "open G" (D-G-D-G-B-

D), "open D" (D-A-D-F♯-A-D), or "drop D" (D-A-D-G-B-E). There are many different variations on the construction of, and materials used in, steel-string guitars. The various combinations of the different woods and their quality, along with design

and construction elements (for example, how the top is braced), are among the factors affecting the timbre or "tone" of the guitar. Many players and luthiers feel a well-made guitar's tone improves over time.

[edit] Styles Acoustic guitars are commonly constructed in several different body shapes. In general, the guitar's soundbox can be thought of as being composed of two connected chambers: the "upper

bout" and "lower bout", which meet at the "waist", or the narrowest part of the body face near the soundhole. The proportion and overall size of these two parts helps determine the overall tonal balance and "native sound" of a particular body style – the larger the body, the louder the volume.

A "00", "Double-Oh" or "Grand Concert" body style is the major body style most directly derived from the classical guitar. It has the thinnest soundbox and the smallest overall size of the major styles, making it very comfortable to play but also one of the quietest. Its smaller size makes it suitable for younger or smaller-framed players. These guitars are commonly called "parlor steels" as they are well-suited to smaller rooms. Martin's 00-xxx series and Taylor's GC series are common examples.

A "Grand Auditorium" (GA) guitar, sometimes called a "000" or "Triple-Oh", is very similar in design to the Grand Concert, but slightly wider and deeper. Many GA-style guitars also have a convex back panel to increase the volume of space in the soundbox without making the soundbox deeper at the edges, which would affect comfort and playability. The result is a very balanced tone, comparable to the 00 but with greater volume and dynamic range and slightly more low-end response, without sacrificing the ergonomics of the classical style, making these body styles very popular. Eric Clapton's signature Martin guitar, for example, is of this style. Taylor's GA and x14 series and Martin's 000-xxx series are well-known examples of the Grand Auditorium style.

A "Dreadnought", arguably the most common body style, incorporates a deeper soundbox, but a smaller and less-pronounced upper bout (the area of the soundbox between the waist and neck) than most styles, giving a somewhat wedge-shaped appearance – hence its name, relating to a class of warship. The dreadnought style was designed by Martin Guitars[1] to produce a deeper sound than "classic"-style guitars, with very present bass fundamentals. This body style's combination of a small profile with a deep sound has made it immensely popular, and it has since been copied by virtually every major steel-string luthier. Martin's "D" series such as the D-28 are classic examples of the dreadnought.

A "Jumbo" body style is bigger again than a Grand Auditorium but similarly proportioned, and is generally designed to provide a deeper tone, similar to a dreadnought (the body style was designed by Gibson to compete with the dreadnought[1]) but with maximum resonant space for greater volume and sustain. This comes at the expense of being oversized, with a very deepsounding box, and thus somewhat more difficult to play. The foremost example of this style is the Gibson J-200, but like the dreadnought, most guitar manufacturers have at least one jumbo model.

Any of these body styles can optionally incorporate a "cutaway". A cutaway guitar has a redesigned upper bout that removes a section of the soundbox on the underside of the neck, hence the name "cutaway". This allows for easier access to the frets that are located on top of the soundbox past the heel of the neck. The tradeoff is reduced soundbox volume, and often a change in bracing, which can change the resonant qualities and hence the tone of the instrument.

Another variation on the standard acoustic guitar is the 12-string guitar, which sports an additional, doubling string for each of the traditional six strings. This guitar was made famous by artists such as Lead Belly, Pete Seeger and Leo Kottke.

All of the above guitars are relatively traditional in looks and construction, and are commonly referred to as "flattop" guitars. All are commonly seen and heard in popular music genres, including rock, blues, country, and folk. However, other styles of guitar have been introduced and enjoy moderate popularity, generally in more specific genres:

The archtop guitar incorporates a top, either carved out of solid wood or heat-pressed using laminations, that is arched like instruments in the violin family, usually with an f-hole rather than a round sound hole. These guitars are most commonly used by swing and jazz players and often incorporate electronics in the form of a pickup. However, many other kinds of acoustic guitars may incorporate these kinds of electronics as well.

The "Selmer-Maccaferri guitar" is usually played by those who follow the style of Django Reinhardt. It is an unusual-looking instrument, distinguished by a fairly large body with squarishbouts, and either a "D"-shaped or longitudinal oval soundhole. The strings are gathered at the tail like an archtop guitar, but the top is flatter. It also has a wide fingerboard and slotted head like a nylon-string guitar. The loud volume and penetrating tone make it suitable for single-note soloing, and it is frequently employed as a lead instrument in gypsy swing.

The resonator guitar or resophonic guitar produces sound with one or more metal cones (resonators) instead of the wooden soundboard (guitar top/face). Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars, which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion instruments in dance orchestras. They became prized for their distinctive sound, however, and found life with several musical styles (most notably bluegrass and also blues) well after electric amplification solved the issue of inadequate guitar sound levels.

Traditionally, steel-string guitars have been made of a combination of various "tonewoods", or woods that have pleasing resonant qualities when used in instrument-making. Foremost are Sitka spruce, the most common, and Alpine and Adirondack spruce, the most sought-after, woods for the making of guitar tops. The back and sides of a particular guitar are typically made of the same wood; Brazilian or East Indian rosewood and Honduras mahogany are traditional choices, however, maple has been prized for the figuring that can be seen when it is cut in a certain way (such as "flame" and "quilt" patterns). A common non-traditional wood gaining popularity is sapele, which is tonally similar to mahogany but slightly lighter in color and possessing a deep grain structure that is visually appealing.

Due to decreasing availability and rising prices of premium-quality traditional tonewoods, many manufacturers have begun experimenting with alternative species of woods or more commonly available variations on the standard species. For example, some makers have begun producing models with redcedar or mahogany tops, or with spruce variants other than Sitka. Cedar is also common in the back and sides, as is basswood. Entry-level models, especially those made in East Asia, often use nato wood, which is again tonally similar to mahogany but is cheap to acquire. Some have also begun using non-wood materials, such as plastic or graphite. Carbon-fiber and phenolic composite materials have become desirable for building necks, and at least one high-end luthier (Composite Acoustics) produces a line of all-carbon-fiber guitars, prized for their high stability in changing climates that would cause wood instrument panels to swell and shrink.

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction or piezoelectricity to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker. Since the output of an electric guitar is an electric signal, the signal may easily be altered using electronic circuits to add "color" to the sound. Often the signal is modified using effects such as reverb and distortion.

Invented in 1931, the electric guitar became a necessity as jazz musicians sought to amplify their sound. Since then, the electric guitar has become the most important instrument in popular music.[1] It has evolved into a stringed musical instrument that is capable of a multitude of sounds and styles. It served as a major component in the development of rock and roll and countless other genres of music.

Various experiments at electrically amplifying the vibrations of a string instrument date back to the early part of the twentieth century. Patents from the 1910s show telephone transmitters 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 vibration from the bridge on top of the instrument, resulting in a weak signal.[2] With numerous people experimenting with electrical instruments in the 1920s and early 1930s, there are many claimants to havebeen the first to invent an electric guitar.

Electric guitars were originally designed by guitar makers and instrument manufacturers. Guitar innovator Les Paul experimented with microphones attached to guitars. Some of the earliest electric guitars adapted hollow bodied acoustic instruments and used tungsten pickups. The first electrically amplified guitar was designed in 1931 by George Beauchamp, General Manager at National Guitar Corporation with Paul Barth who was Vice President.[3] The maple body prototype for the one piece cast aluminum "Frying Pan" was built by Harry Watson, factory superintendent of National Guitar Corporation.[4] Commercial production began in late summer of 1932 by the Ro-Pat-In Corporation (Electro-Patent-Instrument Company Los Angeles),[5][6]

a partnership of Beauchamp, Adolph Rickenbacker (originally Rickenbacher), and Paul Barth.[7] By 1934 the company was renamed Rickenbacker Electro Stringed Instrument Company. The need for the amplified guitar became apparent during the big band era as orchestras increased in size, particularly when guitars had to compete with large brass sections. The first electric

guitars used in jazz were hollow archtop acoustic guitar bodies with electromagnetic transducers. By 1932 an electrically amplified guitar was commercially available. Early electric guitar manufacturers include: Rickenbacker (first called Ro-Pat-In) 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.

The solid body electric guitar is made of solid wood, without functionally resonating air spaces. Rickenbacker offered a cast aluminum electric steel guitar, nicknamed "The Frying Pan" or "The Pancake Guitar", developed in 1931 with production beginning in the summer of 1932. This guitar sounds quite modern and aggressive.

The first solid body "Spanish" standard guitar was offered by Vivi-Tone no later than 1934. An example of this model, featuring a guitar-shaped body of a single sheet of plywood affixed to a wood frame. Another early, substantially solid Spanish electric guitar, called 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 earliest documented performance with an electrically amplified guitar was in 1932, by Gage Brewer.[2] The Wichita, Kansas-based musician had an Electric Hawaiian A-25 (frypan, lap-steel) and a standard Electric Spanish from George Beauchamp of Los Angeles, California. Brewer publicized his new instruments in an article in the Wichita Beacon of October 2, 1932 and through performances that month.

The first recordings using the electric guitar were by Hawaiian style players, in 1933. Bob Dunn of Milton Brown's Musical Brownies introduced the electric Hawaiian guitar to Western Swing with his January 1935 Decca recordings, departing almost entirely from Hawaiian musical influence and heading towards Jazz and Blues. Alvino Rey was an artist who took this instrument to a wide audience in a large orchestral setting and later developed the pedal steel guitar for Gibson. An early proponent of the electric Spanish guitar was jazz guitarist George Barnes who used the instrument in two songs recorded in Chicago on March 1, 1938, "Sweetheart Land" and "It's a Low-Down Dirty Shame". Some incorrectly attribute the first recording to Eddie Durham, but his recording with the Kansas City Five was 15 days later.[8] Durham introduced the instrument to a young Charlie Christian, who made the instrument famous in his brief life and would be a major influence on jazz guitarists for decades thereafter.[9]

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 a 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 great 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.

At an Engineering Fair in 1940, first prize went to NC State University physics professor Sidney Wilson for his invention of a solid body guitar, claimed by NC State University to be the first of its kind. They also maintain that the pickup on this guitar was the first to have individual polepieces for each string, which addressed the unequal loudness problem of the ES-150's single blade. However, a Gibson experimental bar pickup with polepieces has been documented by Duchossoir as early as 1939, and Gibson had introduced a metal covered pickup with individual poles by 1940 on the ES-100 and 150 models. Professor Wilson also disposed of the acoustical body, reasoning that it was not necessary for a fully electric instrument. He developed the guitar shown here and entered it in the annual engineering fair. Patents from academia were quite unusual in the 1940s, so Professor Wilson did not patent his invention.

Early proponents of the electric guitar on record include: Jack Miller[disambiguation needed ] (Orville Knapp Orchestra), Alvino Rey (Phil Spitalney Orchestra), Les Paul (Fred WaringOrchestra), Danny Stewart (Andy Iona Orchestra), George Barnes (under many aliases), Lonnie Johnson, Floyd Smith, Big Bill Broonzy, T-Bone Walker, George Van Eps, Charlie Christian (Benny Goodman Orchestra) Tampa Red, Memphis Minnie, and Arthur Crudup.

A functionally solid body electric guitar was designed and built by Les Paul from an Epiphone acoustic archtop. His "log guitar" (so called because it consisted of a simple 4x4 wood post with a neck attached to it and homemade pickups and hardware, with two detachable Epiphone hollow body halves attached to the sides for appearance only) shares nothing in design or hardware with the solid body "Les Paul" model sold by Gibson. However, the feedback problem associated with 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]

In 1945, Richard D. Bourgerie made an electric guitar pickup and amplifier for professional guitar player George Barnes. Bourgerie worked through World War II at Howard Radio Company making electronic equipment for the American military. Barnes showed the result to Les Paul, who then arranged for Bourgerie to have one made for him.

The bass guitar[1] (also called electric bass,[2][3][4] or simply bass; / b̍eɪs/) is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb (by fingering, slapping, popping, tapping, or thumping), or by using a pick.

The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length, and four, five, six, or eight strings. The four-string bass—by far the most common—is usually tuned the same as the double bass,[5] which corresponds to pitches one octave lower than the four lower strings of a guitar (E, A, D, and G).[6] The bass guitar is a transposing instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds (as is the double bass) to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the bass guitar is plugged into an amplifier and speaker for live performances.

Since the 1960s, the bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section.[7] While the types of basslines performed by the bassist vary widely from one style of music to another, the bassist fulfills a similar role in most types of music: anchoring the harmonic framework and laying down the beat. The bass guitar is used in many styles of music including rock, metal, pop, punk rock, country, reggae, blues, and jazz. It is used as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, Latin, funk, and in some rock and metal styles.

In the 1930s, musician and inventor Paul Tutmarc from Seattle, Washington, developed the first electric string bass in its modern form, a fretted instrument designed to be held and played horizontally. The 1935 sales catalog for Tutmarc's electronic musical instrument company, Audiovox, featured his "Model 736 Bass Fiddle," a four-stringed, solid-bodied, fretted electric bass instrument with a 30½-inch scale length.[8] The alteration to a "guitar" form made the instrument easier to hold and transport, and the addition of frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period.

Around 1947, Tutmarc's son, Bud, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L.D. Heater Co. wholesale jobber catalogue of '48. However, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success.

[edit] 1950s In the 1950s, Leo Fender, with the help of his employee George Fullerton, developed the first mass-produced electric bass.[9] His Fender Precision Bass, introduced in 1951, became a widely

copied industry standard. The Precision Bass (or "P-bass") evolved from a simple, uncontoured "slab" body design similar to that of a Telecaster with a single coil pickup, to a contoured body design with beveled edges for comfort and a single four-pole "single coil pickup." This "split pickup", introduced in 1957, appears to have been two mandolin pickups (Fender was marketing a four string solid body electric mandolin at the time). Because the pole pieces of the coils were reversed with respect to each other, and the leads were also reversed with respect to each other, the two coils, wired in series, produced a humbucking effect (the same effect is achieved if the coils are wired in parallel).

A Fender Standard Jazz Bass (front and back views) The "Fender Bass was a revolutionary new instrument, one that could easily be played by an electric guitarist, could be easily transported to a gig, and could be amplified to just about any

volume without feeding back".[10] Monk Montgomery was the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, with Lionel Hampton's postwar big band.[11] Roy Johnson, and Shifty Henry with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, were other early Fender bass pioneers.[9] Bill Black, playing with Elvis Presley, adopted the Fender Precision Bass around 1957.[12]

Following Fender's lead, Gibson released the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with extendable end pin in 1953, allowing it to be played upright or horizontally. Gibson renamed the Electric Bass in 1958 as the EB-1 [13](The EB-1 was reissued around 1970, but this time without the end pin.) Also in 1958 Gibson released the maple arched top EB-2 described in the Gibson catalogue as A hollow-body electric bass that features a Bass/Baritone pushbutton for two different tonal characteristics.[14] In 1959 these were followed by the more conventional-looking EB-0 Bass. The EB-0 was very similar to a Gibson SG in appearance (although the earliest examples have a slab-sided body shape closer to that of the double-cutaway Les Paul Special).

Gibson EB-3 Whereas Fender basses had pickups mounted in positions in between the base of the neck and the top of the bridge, many of Gibson's early basses featured one humbucking pickup mounted

directly against the neck pocket. The EB-3, introduced in 1961, also had a "mini-humbucker" at the bridge position. Gibson basses also tended to be smaller, sleeker instruments; Gibson did not produce a 34" scale bass until 1963 with the release of the Thunderbird, which was also the first Gibson bass to use dual-humbucking pickups in a more traditional position, about halfway between the neck and bridge. A small number of other companies also began manufacturing bass guitars during the 1950s: Kay in 1952, and Danelectro in 1956;[12]

1956 saw the appearance at the German trade fair "Musikmesse Frankfurt" of the distinctive Höfner 500/1 violin bass made using violin construction techniques by Walter Höfner, a second generation violin luthier.[15] The instrument is often known as the "Beatle Bass", due to its endorsement by Paul McCartney.

In 1957 Rickenbacker introduced the model 4000 bass,[16] the first bass to feature a neck-through-body design; the Fender and Gibson versions used bolt-on and glued-on necks. With the explosion of the popularity of rock music in the 1960s, many more manufacturers began making electric basses. First introduced in 1960, the Fender Jazz Bass was known as the Deluxe Bass and was meant to accompany the Jazzmaster guitar. The Jazz Bass (often referred to as a "J-bass") featured two

single-coil pickups, one close to the bridge and one in the Precision bass' split coil pickup position. The earliest production basses had a 'stacked' volume and tone control for each pickup. This was soon changed to the familiar configuration of a volume control for each pickup, and a single, passive tone control. The Jazz Bass' neck was narrower at the nut than the Precision bass (1½" versus 1¾").

1970s Fender Jazz Bass with maple fretboard Another visual difference that set the Jazz Bass apart from the Precision is its "offset-waist" body. Pickup shapes on electric basses are often referred to as "P" or "J" pickups in reference to the

visual and electrical differences between the Precision Bass and Jazz Bass pickups. Significantly, Fender chose to label the headstock of this model with a decal noting Jazz Bass Electric Bass [3].

Fender also began production of the Mustang Bass; a 30" scale length instrument used by bassists such as Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones ("P" and "J" basses have a scale length of 34", a design echoed on most current production electric basses of all makes). In the 1950s and 1960s, the instrument was often called the "Fender bass", due to Fender's early dominance in the market.

Gibson introduced the short-scale (30.5") bass the Gibson EB-3 in 1961, favoured by Jack Bruce of Cream.

A seven-string guitar is a guitar with seven strings instead of the usual six. Some types of seven-string guitars are specific to certain cultures (i.e. Russian and Brazilian guitars). The standard 7-string guitar tuning is BEADGbe. Seven-string electric guitars are used particularly in certain styles of music, such as heavy metal, rock and jazz. Rock and metal artists such as Born of Osiris, Devin Townsend, Chelsea Grin, Fear Factory, Steve Vai, Scribe, Dream Theater, Animals as Leaders, Bleeding Oath, Trivium, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slayer, Megadeth, Deftones, Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, Behemoth, Periphery, Nevermore, TesseracT, Textures and Mucc have all experimented with seven-string guitars. Jazz artists such as George Van Eps, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, Lenny Breau and Jimmy Bruno use 7-strings.

Extra strings are usually added to extend the bass range of the 6-string guitar. These strings are commonly added in two different ways. The first and most common construction is to increase the width of the fingerboard such that the extra string (or strings) may be stopped by the left hand. The second method is to leave the fingerboard unchanged such that the extra bass strings lie next to the existing bass strings and free of the fingerboard in the same fashion in which the archlute and theorboare constructed. Such unfrettable bass strings were historically known as diapasons or bourdons.

In the Renaissance period, the guitar was generally strung with four pairs of strings, termed courses. Each string in a course was tuned to the same pitch. By the baroque period it had five courses and used a variety of tunings, some of the tunings re-entrant. During the eighteenth century six courses became common and the modern practice of using six single strings became the standard practice after 1800. These developments illustrate an ongoing desire on behalf of players to increase the range of the instrument. Seven-string guitars arose from such a desire and have been in use for over 150 years. French guitarist Napoleon Coste (1805–1883) composed works with a seven-string guitar specifically in mind. The Italian guitarist Mario Maccaferri (b 1899) was a celebrated advocate of bass strings (diapasons or bourdons). In Mexico a guitarra séptima or guitarra sétima with fourteen strings, strung in seven double courses has been used for an even longer time and descriptions of it date back to 1776 (Antonio Vargas). This makes the history of the seven-string guitar more than 230 years old.

The twelve-string guitar is an acoustic or electric guitar with 12 strings in 6 courses, which produces a richer, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Essentially, it is a type of guitar with a natural chorus effect due to the subtle differences in the frequencies produced by each of the two strings on each course.

The strings are placed in courses of two strings each that are usually played together. The two strings in each bass course are normally tuned an octave apart, while each pair of strings in the treble courses are tuned in unison. The tuning of the second string in the third course (G) varies: some players use a unison string while others prefer the distinctive high-pitched, bell-like quality an octave string makes in this position. Some players, either in search of distinctive tone or for ease of playing, will remove some of the doubled strings. For example, removing the higher octave from the three bass courses simplifies playing running bass lines, but keeps the extra treble strings for the full strums.

The strings are generally arranged such that the first string of each pair to be struck on a downward strum is the higher octave string; however, this arrangement was reversed by Rickenbacker on their electric 360/12.

The tension placed on the instrument by the strings is high, and because of this, 12 string guitars have a reputation for warping after a few years of use. Some twelve-string guitars have non-traditional structural supports to prevent or postpone such a fate, at the expense of appearance and tone. Until the invention of the truss rod in 1921, twelve-string guitars were nearly universally tuned lower than the traditional EADGBe, to reduce the stresses on the instrument. Leadbelly often used a low C-tuning, but in some recordings can be recognisable low B and A-tunings.[1]

Some performers prefer the richness of an open tuning due to its near-orchestral sound. For a very complex plucked-string sound, the 12-string can be set to standard tuning (or possibly an octave lower), then the top one and low two string pairs can be tuned to whole-tone intervals. The usual gamut of guitar tunings are also available.

The twelve-string guitar has traditionally occupied rhythm or accompaniment roles in folk, rock, and popular music. This is largely because it is more difficult to pluck individual strings on the twelve-string guitar and substantially more difficult to bend notes than on a comparable six-string instrument.

Some hard rock and progressive rock musicians use double-necked guitars, which have both six-string and twelve-string components, allowing the guitarist easy transition between different sounds.

The greater number of strings complicates playing, particularly for the plucking (or picking) hand. The gap between the dual-string courses is usually narrower than that between the single-string courses of a conventional six-string guitar, so more precision is required with the pick or fingertip when not simply strumming chords. Note bending and some forms of extended playing techniques are also complicated by the presence of doubled strings.

Twelve-string guitars are made in both acoustic and electric forms. However, it is the acoustic type that is most common.

A multi-neck guitar is a guitar that has multiple fingerboard necks. They exist in both electric and acoustic versions. Although multi-neck guitars are quite common today, they are not by any means a modern invention. Examples of multi-neck guitars and lutes go back at least to the Renaissance.

Today, the most common type of multi-neck guitar is the double neck guitar, of which the most common version is an electric guitar with twelve strings on the top neck, while the bottom neck has the normal six. Combination six-string and bass guitar are also used, as well as a fretless guitarwith a regular fretted guitar, or any other combination of guitar neck and pickup styles. There are also acoustic versions. Two necks allows the guitarist to switch quickly and easily between guitar sounds without taking the time to change guitars.

There are also multi-necked guitars having more than two necks, multi-neck basses, and multi-neck hybrid instruments which combine one or more guitar necks with other instrument necks such as bass, mandolin, banjo, etc. as well as differently shaped multi-necked guitars like the multi-necked guitars Michael Angelo Batio uses which are either a 'v' or 'x' shape allowing him to play on multiple necks at the same time.

There are many variations of how multiple-necked guitars can be customized, such as the number of strings on a neck, frets or no frets, the tuning used on each neck, etc. Recently, instruments with two or three necks that combine 6, 7, and 8 string guitars have become popular.

One of the more common combinations is where one neck of a double-necked guitar is set up as for a 6 string guitar and the other neck is configured as a 4 string bass guitar. Guitarist Pat Smear of the Foo Fighters utilizes a double-necked guitar during live performances (bass guitar top neck, six-string electric guitar bottom neck) in order to perform Krist Novoselic's bass part in the song "I Should Have Known," from the album Wasting Light, in addition to his own duties. Rickenbacker International Corporation and Gibson Guitar Corporation in the USA have both manufactured production models of these configurations in the past.

A less common configuration has a 12 string guitar neck combined with a 4 string bass guitar neck: Geddy Lee of Rush is well known for using the 4/12-string Rickenbacker 4080/12 production model live in the 1970s.

Mike Rutherford of Genesis, circa 1980, playing a double-necked guitar with an unusual Shergold twelve-string/bass configuration In the 1970s and 1980s Mike Rutherford of Genesis was known for playing a custom-made Shergold Modulator twin-neck guitar-bass unit in live

shows, as he frequently changed between lead guitar, 12-string guitar and bass guitar, depending on the arrangement of the song. The unique design concept of Rutherford's Shergold guitar set is that it consists of several interchangeable modular elements, each of which could be separated and recombined, and which attached to the other units through a system of dowels and thumbscrews, and an electrical connector. The complete original set consisted of a "top section" 6-string guitar, two "top-section" 12-string guitars (each in a different tuning), and a "bottom-section" 4-string bass. Each section could be separated and re-attached to create a variety of twin-neck combinations, with either the 6-string or one of the two 12-strings on the top, and the 4-string bass on the bottom, and there was a matching lower-body section which could be attached to the 6-string and 12-string main units, which created a single complete guitar when these were not attached to the bass.[19] (As a tongue-in-cheek reference to this, the puppet version of Rutherford in the video for Land of Confusion plays a four-necked guitar.)

The Fender Custom Shop is a division of Fender Musical Instruments, housed within their headquarters complex in Corona, Riverside County, California. The Fender Custom Shop primarily exists to compete with smaller companies and independent luthiers that, in turn, build products reminiscent of those Fender designed and built in their 'golden era' of circa 1950-65. Indeed, much of the output from the Fender Custom Shop is replicated vintage models, and in the case of the Fender Relic series, legitimized copies of would-be vintage examples, complete with scratches, chips, wear, burn marks, and general signs of abuse. In addition, the Fender Custom Shop produces special-order guitars for customers through a Custom Shop dealer network, creates limited edition 'art' guitars, builds limited edition amplifiers, and does some research & design for the parent company.

nearly 20 years Fender was owned and operated by the CBS corporation. Many players felt that the interests of CBS were at odds with the marketplace, profits declined, and in 1984 CBS sold the rights to the Fender name and designs to an investor group of employees led by Bill Schultz who launched Fender Musical Instruments. The Custom Shop was begun in 1987, under the supervision of then-CEO Schultz. The initial staff comprised only two Master Builders (John Page, Michael Stevens) and a Haas VF4 CNC machine (modified for woodwork) that cuts three bodies or four necks at once.

The primary intent of the Fender Custom Shop was to create instruments in the tradition of Leo Fender and his staff at the original Fender facilities in Fullerton, CA, accommodating famous endorsers and other discerning players who wanted the accuracy, detail, and quality—as well as customization and personal touches—that were widely perceived as omitted under the tutelage of CBS, and considered lacking on the revamped Fender's mass-produced instruments. In 1991, the Fender Custom Amp Shop was created and housed in Scottsdale, Arizona, Fender's headquarters at the time. Seven years later, the entirety of Fender's US manufacturing and R & D operations, along with Custom Shop divisions, was moved to its present location in Corona. Currently, the Fender Custom Shop employs over 50 craftsmen and produces both custom one-off projects and limited CNC-tooled production runs.

[edit] Personnel With a growing popularity of the Les Paul guitars, hundreds of unendorsed imitations and copycat versions had

appeared on the markets. However, due to the lack of U.S. legislation to address patent infringements and restrict the import sales, oversea imitations caused legal and financial problems to the Gibson Guitar Corporation. An also troublesome thing was the existence of high quality imitations of vintage Les Paul (and vintage Stratocaster) produced by oversea manufacturers.

For instance, during 1970s and early 1980s, Japanese manufacturer Tokai Gakki produced superb replicas of 1957–59 vintage Les Pauls, and replicas themselves were gradually highly regarded. In the 1980s, to respond to the high demand for vintage models, Gibson itself began to offer a line of "Custom Shop models", almost accurate reproductions of early Les Paul crafted by the Gibson Guitar Custom Shops.

There are many celebrity guitars made by many Artists

Artists want their instruments to look and sound a certain way so these next couple slides are some of the most popular examples

Eddie Van Halen built his guitar (Black and White) by hand, using an imperfect body and a neck bought from Wayne Charvel's guitar shop. The body and neck were constructed by Lynn Ellsworth of Boogie Bodies guitars, whose parts were being sold by Wayne Charvel at the time. Eddie installed a humbucker in the bridge position essentially creating a Fat Strat. In 1979, Eddie began to play a black, rear loaded Charvel with yellow stripes. This was later replicated by Charvel along with the black and white striped model and the red white and black model (EVH Art Series Guitars). He also used a stock unmodified Ibanez Destroyer on a lot of the tracks on Van Halens first album such as You Really Got Me and Runnin' With the Devil. This same Ibanez Destroyer was later modified and nicknamed by Van Halen fans as "The Shark" guitar. Another mostly stock Ibanez Destroyer painted red/orange was borrowed from Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P. for the recording of most of the on the Women and Children First album.

Also, in 1979 Eddie's original guitar was repainted with Frankenstein artwork. Eddie also changed the neck, removed part of the pick guard and eventually installed a Floyd Rose vibrato unit. The guitar is known both as a "frankenstrat" and as the "Frankenstein." Fender issued a replica of the guitar in relic form at a retail price of in 2007. A "new" (non-relicced) Frankenstratwas available through the Charvel company for significantly less, but it was discontinued. This Fender/Charvel series was the first time Van Halen had consented to the commercial release of a guitar with his signature graphics on it.

Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstrat Guitar In 1983, Eddie began to use a brand new Kramer guitar with artwork similar to its predecessor and with a hockey-stick or "banana" headstock, which came to be known as the "5150." This

guitar was rear-loaded (no pick guard), had a Floyd Rose vibrato unit and a neck that was later electronically mapped in order for it to be copied on the later Music Man and Peavey signature models. This guitar was last used on the track "Judgment Day" on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album. Various versions of it can be seen in the music videos for "Panama","When It's Love" and the concert video, Live Without a Net. The guitar itself was a variant of a Kramer Pacer, although not a model that was technically available at the time.

It was painted with Krylon paints by Van Halen and used through the OU812 tour, after which it was "retired." However, Eddie did break out the guitar for use on the 2004 reunion tour, although the neck had finally failed and had apparently been replaced. A copy of this guitar was available (although not with Van Halen's permission) through the current manufacturer of Kramers, Music Yo, a subsidiary of the Gibson company, sadly Gibson ended the Music Yo business and Kramer is just known as a "Gibson Sister Company". In 2012 the Gibson company again began producing the "1984" model Kramer. These guitars did not feature the custom graphics of the 5150 guitar, as the striped EVH graphics are trademarked by Edward Van Halen.

Eddie has used a Steinberger GL-2T guitar with TransTrem on several songs, including "Get Up" and "Summer Nights" (from 5150). It was custom painted with the "Frankenstein" graphics. He has also used Kramer and Peavey model guitars fitted with the Steinberger TransTrem unit.

In the early 1990s, Ernie Ball produced an EVH signature "Music Man" guitar, and Eddie used this on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance albums. This guitar is still commercially available under the "Axis" name, and retains all of the original features of the Edward Van Halen model. Although rumours abound of a personal falling-out between Edward and the Ernie Ball company's Sterling Ball, the official reason for the cessation of the commercial relationship was that Edward was upset that Ernie Ball could not produce enough of this guitar to meet demand.

Eddie named his line of Peavey signature Wolfgang guitars after his son, Wolfgang. The guitar itself was similar to the previous Axis line, but with a slightly altered shape and many additional options available in Peavey's much larger custom shop. These guitars included a device called a "D-Tuna" which enabled a guitarist to tune the low E string down to D with a slight turn of a knob attached to the end of the bridge.

In 2003, at the NAMM show, the relationship between Peavey and Eddie began to strain. Peavey constructed a glass enclosed stage for Eddie in which to play for VIP's at 2 p.m. Eddie arrived late, shocking fans there with his disheveled appearance, as he immediately went upstairs and initially refused to play. After an hour of negotiations, Eddie came down while fans, who had lined up for hours prior to the appearance, roared with approval. Eddie ended up spending his short time on stage, talking about Wolfgang guitar production and his promise to take a keen interest in quality control. Eddie left, having only played a few notes and small riffs, much to the dissatisfaction of the fans and Peavey.[citation needed] The end came in 2004, when Peavey company parted ways with Van Halen, reportedly because Eddie launched an on-line sale of hand patterned (by Edward) Charvel guitars, sold by the name of the "EVH Art Series Guitars", while he was still contractually obligated to Peavey. The guitars sold for large sums on eBay, and were essentially replicas of his famous "Frankenstrat" guitars, played by Van Halenmainly during the David Lee Roth era of the band. Eddie also launched Frankenstein replicas as noted above, which are the only Van Halen guitars currently endorsed by Eddie.

Most recently Eddie has collaborated with Fender guitars to produce a replica of the Frankenstrat. Eddie and Chip Ellis of the Fender Custom Shop teamed up to produce a guitar priced at each. Also, Eddie has collaborated with Fender to launch his own EVH brand of guitars, amps, and musical instrument equipment, starting with his new EVH Brand 5150 III amplifier. Eddie now uses prototypes of his new EVH Brand Wolfgang, which is an updated version Eddie's Peavey Wolfgangs but with new pickups, knobs, a thinner but very elaborate quilted maple top to allow the basswood the dominant tone, providing more tonal resonance but with a balanced high sustain. Also, the new Wolfgang is equipped with an Original Floyd Rose. In addition, the new guitar has a slightly altered headstock. This is because this was Ed and Hartley Peavey's original design for the headstock, which Eddie had patented without the scoop on final version of the Peavey Wolfgang. He has been seen with three new Wolfgang guitars, first a sunburst one, then a black one which he stated he liked less than the sunburst one and now he uses a white one, the best sounding one out of the three prototypes according to Ed.

The EVH Wolfgang was planned for initial sale to the public in early 2009, and is now commercially available to purchase. [31] As of February 2012 Eddie Van Halen has released different variations of the Wolfgang Guitar, for instance, there is an option called the "Stealth" it has all black hardware, and an Ebony fretboard. Since NAMM 2011 the Wolfgang Hardtail was introduced with either the aforementioned "Stealth" style or the standard Maple Fretboard/Chrome Hardware option. Eddie has also released the EVH Wolfgang USA Custom, similar to the Wolfgang Hardtail but with a bone nut rather than a locking one, also has a Les Paul style control layout.

In 2011 Eddie Van Halen donated his guitar, the Frankenstein 2, to the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution.[32] Actually, the above is not quite accurate. He actually lent his Frankenstrat guitar to a guy who replicated it down to the rust marks and cigarette burns ... to the T! The guitars, of which the man made 30, were priced to sell at $25,000 apiece. His work was so well done that Eddie, the man himself, could not tell the difference. There even were 1972 quarters drilled into the tremelo system (to prevent vibration) in each guitar. The maker said that proved to be quite a challenge, tracking down 30 1972 quarters. It has been said that if Eddie Van Halen ever decided to auction off his original guitar, it would be the first guitar ever to fetch in auction.

In the 1980s, Roth commissioned construction of custom guitars with additional frets from master luthier Andreas Demetriou. Andreas developed the concept adding many unique specifications. Uli Jon Roth has had five of these "Sky" guitars handcrafted by the British luthier. To be able to emulate the high notes of a violin, all of the Sky Guitars contain extra frets. The first Sky Guitar (used on the album Beyond the Astral Skies) has 30 frets. Later versions of the Sky Guitar overcame the problem of the higher register frets becoming too narrow by widening the frets by whole steps for the highest notes. In an April 2001 Guitar Player Magazine interview, Roth reports that the guitars are either fretless above the 30th fret or have whole step fret spacing above the 27th fret, with 35 effective (half step) frets. All of the Sky guitars with frets have extensive fretboardscalloping as is favored by Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen (who was influenced greatly by Roth) and many neoclassical metal guitarists. The Sky guitar's pickups are custom 4-coil humbuckers made by John Oram, with one guitar having an Oram pickup hidden under the 24th fret.[3] The guitars named 'Mighty Wing' and 'Destiny' have 7 strings and the others have 6 strings. The 7th string is a low B.[4] Roth preferred amplifier is currently the Framus Dragon, and he uses a stalk mounted Vibesware guitar resonator (sustainer) to introduce infinite sustain during solos[5] both live, and on the song "Benediction" from "Under a Dark Sky".

In 2011, Dean Guitars released Custom Sky Guitars commissioned by Roth himself, after a few years contacting Roth in order to create Sky Guitars and market the instrument. Only 25 pieces available for each models (6 & 7 strings available). Each guitar was personally inspected, approved and even named by Roth himself.

The harp guitar (or "harp-guitar") is a stringed instrument with a history of well over two centuries. While there are several unrelated historical stringed instruments that have appropriated the name ―harp-guitar‖ over the centuries, the term today is understood as the accepted vernacular to refer to a particular family of instruments defined as "A guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking."[1] Additionally, in reference to these instruments, the word "harp" is now a specific reference to the unstopped open strings, and is not specifically a reference to the tone, pitch range, volume, silhouette similarity, construction, floor-standing ability, nor any other alleged "harp-like" properties. To qualify in this category, an instrument must have at least one unfretted string lying off the main fretboard. Further, the unfretted strings can be, and typically are, played as an open string.

This family consists of an almost limitless variety of different instrument configurations. Most readily identified are American harp guitars with either hollow arms, double necks or harp-like frames for supporting extra bass strings, and European bass guitars (or contraguitars). Other harp guitars feature treble or mid-range floating strings, or various combinations of multiple floating string banks along with a standard guitar neck.

While most players of harp guitars play on acoustic instruments, a few of them also work with electric instruments. Notable artists playing electric are Tim Donahue, Michael Hedges. American musician William Eaton both designs and plays electric harp guitar and is considered one of the world's great designers/builders of unique guitars.[2] The Japanese noise band Solmania built their own harp guitars. Yuri Landman has built a 17 string electric harp guitar for Finn Andrews of The Veils.[3] The instrument has an additional movable bridge on the harp section allowing to pitch the harp section higher or lower.

Historical harp guitar players include the great Italian virtuosi Pasquale Taraffo (1887–1937),[4] Mario Maccaferri, and Luigi Mozzani. Viennese and French virtuosos who often played instruments with extra, floating bass strings include Carulli, Coste, Giuliani, Mertz, Padovec and Sor.[5] Michael Hedges was known for playing a harp guitar build in the 1920s in his songs like "Because it's there". Andy McKee also plays a Harp Guitar in a few of his songs, such as "Into The Ocean." and also Antoine Dufour in songs, such as "Paroxysm".

[edit] Notable harp guitarists

An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players. Typically, an archtop guitar has: 6 strings An arched top and back, not flat Moveable adjustable bridge F-holes similar to members of the violin family Humbucker pickups (if any) Rear mounted tailpiece, stoptail bridge or Bigsby tremolo 14th-fret neck join The archtop guitar is often credited[1] to Orville Gibson, whose innovative designs led to the formation of the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd in 1902. His 1898 patent for a

mandolin, which was also applicable to guitars according to the specifications, was intended to enhance "power and quality of tone." Among the features of this instrument were a violin-style arched top and back, each carved from a single piece of wood, and thicker in the middle than at the sides; sides carved to shape from a single block of wood; and a lack of internal "braces, splices, blocks or bridges … which, if employed, would rob the instrument of much of its volume of tone." [2][3] However, Gibson was not the first to apply violin design principles to the guitar. Guitar maker A. H. Merrill, for example, patented in 1896 a very modern looking instrument "of the guitar and mandolin type … with egg-shaped hoop or sides and a graduated convex back and top."The instrument featured a metal tailpiece and teardrop shaped "f-holes," and strongly resembled the archtop guitars of the 1930s. Another transitional design is the parlor guitar fitted with a floating bridge and tailpiece. These inexpensive instruments, manufactured by companies such as Stella and Harmony, are associated with early blues musicians. The earliest Gibson designs (L1 to L3) introduced the arched top, and increasing body sizes, but still had round or oval sound holes.

In 1922, Lloyd Loar was hired by the Gibson Company to redesign their instrument line in an effort to counter flagging sales, and in that same year the Gibson L5 was released to his design. Although the new instrument models flopped commercially and Loar left Gibson after only a couple of years, Gibson instruments signed by Loar now are among the most prized and celebrated in stringed-instrument history. Perhaps the most revered instrument from this period is the F5 mandolin, but probably the more broadly influential was the L5 guitar, which remains in production to this day. The mature Gibson archtop guitar and its imitators are regarded as the quintessential "jazzbox".

The Gibson ES-150, the first electric archtop (1936). Note the single neck-mounted pickup. Archtop guitars were subsequently made by many top American luthiers, notably John D'Angelico of New York and his student Jimmy D'Aquisto, William Wilkanowski, Charles Stromberg

and Son in Boston, and by other major manufacturers, notably Gretsch and Epiphone. In Europe, companies such as Höfner and Hagström took up the manufacture of archtops. Archtopguitars were particularly adopted by both jazz and country musicians, and in big bands and swing bands.

Gibson's ES-150 guitar is generally recognized as the world's first commercially successful Spanish-style electric guitar. The ES stands for Electric Spanish, and it was designated 150 because it cost $150, along with an EH-150 amplifier and a cable. After its introduction in 1936, it immediately became popular in jazz orchestras of the period. Unlike the usual acoustic guitars utilized in jazz, it was loud enough to take a more prominent position in ensembles. Jazz guitarist Eddie Durham is usually credited with making the first electric guitar solo, but it was ES-150 player Charlie Christian who popularized the jazz guitar as a solo, not just a rhythm instrument. The ES-150's top was not carved on the underside, making it unsuitable for acoustic use.

The two-pickup Gibson ES-175 archtop guitar has been in production continuously since 1949. In 1951, Gibson released the L5CES, an L5 with a single cutaway body and two electric pickups, equally playable as either an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar. This innovation was

immediately popular, and while purely acoustic archtop guitars such as the Gibson L-7C remain available to this day, they have become the exception. In 1958, the L5CES was redesigned with humbucking pickups; Most but certainly not all subsequent archtop guitars conform loosely to the pattern set by this model[citation needed]. The electric archtop was particularly popular with jazz musicians Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel and Johnny Smith.

G6122-1962 Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman developed in the mid 1950s Other manufacturers introduced electric archtop guitars, notable examples including the Gretsch White Falcon and various Chet Atkins models. Some of these instruments have a distinctive

"twangy" sound and were taken up by country music and early rock and roll artists such as Duane Eddy and Eddie Cochran. Similar models remain popular in rockabilly. Gibson's last innovation in archtop design was the creation, in late 1950s, of "thinline" models with a reduced body depth, notably the Gibson ES-335 and Epiphone Casino[4]. These were

more feedback resistant and easier to play standing up. They are classed as semi acoustic guitars, although not all semi-acoustic guitars have an arched top. Thinlines became popular with mainstream pop and rock artists during the 1960s. The 335 and similar guitars were taken up by, and remain steadfastly popular with electric blues players; B B King's various "Lucilles" are based on 335s.

The 1970s and 1980s were a low point of interest in archtops, with many rock and pop (and some jazz and blues) players switching to solid body guitars. Interest in archtops was revived in the 1990s. Archtops had long been expensive instruments, with a level of finish and ornament to match. Boutique luthiers such as Roger Borys and Bob

Benedetto brought the aesthetics of the instrument to even greater heights, making them attractive to collectors, and also continuing to innovate in technical design. The Benedetto style of acoustic/electric archtop has itself been copied by luthiers such as Dale Unger and Dana Bourgeois. Most of the accessories (pickguard, bridge, tuner buttons, knobs, etc.) are made of wood (ebony or rosewood) instead of metal and have a clean acoustic look. It is estimated there are nearly 100 archtop guitar luthiers in North America alone.[5]

The Epiphone Dot, an inexpensive thinline archtop available since the 1990s Contrastingly, mass-market archtop guitars became more affordable in the late 20th century, due to a combination of low labor costs in Asian countries and computer numerically controlled

manufacture.[6] Most major guitar marques include at least a couple of archtops in their range, albeit not necessarily manufactured at their own facilities. Ibanez sell an extensive range of archtops under the Artcore marque. The Samick corporation sells archtops under its own name as well as manufacturing for other companies. Jay Turser and Eastwood are brands specialising in archtops. Gibson sells inexpensive Asian-made archtops under its Epiphone brand, such as the Epiphone Dot[7] .

Renewed interest in acoustic music has also led to the revival of purely acoustic archtops, such as the Gibson L-7C, The Loar Lh-600 and Godin 5th Avenue. Recent technical innovations include Ken Parker's use of carbon fibre in high-end acoustic archtops, and the Godin Montreal hybrid guitar.

The term jazz guitar may refer to either a type of guitar or to the variety of guitar playing styles used in the various genres which are commonlytermed "jazz". The jazz-type guitar was born as a result of using electric amplification to increase the volume of conventional acoustic guitars.

Conceived in the early 1930s, the electric guitar became a necessity as jazz musicians sought to amplify their sound. Arguably, no other musical instrument had greater influence on how music evolved since the beginning of the twentieth century. Although the earliest guitars used in jazz were acoustic and acoustic guitars are still sometimes used in jazz, most jazz guitarists since the 1940s have performed on an electrically amplified guitar or electric guitar.

Typically, jazz electric guitarists use an archtop with a relatively broad hollow soundbox, violin-style f-holes, a "floating bridge", and a magnetic pickup. Solid body guitars are also used.

Jazz guitar playing styles include "comping" with jazz chord voicings (and in some cases walking basslines) and "blowing" (improvising) over jazz chord progressions with jazz-style phrasing and ornaments. Comping refers to playing chords underneath a song's melody or another musician's solo improvisations. When jazz guitar players improvise, they may use the scales, modes, and arpeggios associated with the chords in a tune's chord progression.

The stringed, chord-playing rhythm instrument typical of jazz ensembles from 1900 until the early 1920s was the banjo, an instrument which was much louder than guitars of the time. The banjo could generate enough sound to be heard in groups which included military band-style instruments such as brass, saxes, clarinets, and drums, such as early jazz groups. As the acoustic guitar became a more popular instrument in the early 20th century, guitar-makers began building louder guitars which would be useful in a wider range of settings.

The Gibson L5, an acoustic archtop guitar which was first produced in 1923, was an early ―jazz‖-style guitar which was used by early jazz guitarists such as Eddie Lang. By the 1930s, the guitar began to displace the banjo as the primary chordal rhythm instrument in jazz music, because the guitar could be used to voice chords of greater harmonic complexity, and it had a somewhat more muted tone that blended well with the upright bass, which, by this time, had almost completely replaced the tuba as the dominant bass instrument in jazz music.

The next important development in jazz guitar came in the mid to late-1930s with the advent of electrical amplification. Although Gibson was not the first commercial producer to make an electric guitar, the company made the first successfully-marketed electric guitar, the ES150 in 1936. It was an acoustic archtop fitted with a guitar pickup, which sensed the vibrations in the metal strings so that they could be amplified by a guitar amplifier. When guitarist Charlie Christian used the amplified electric guitar to improvise horn-like, single-line melodies in the jazz context, jazz and blues musicians became interested in the potential of the louder, new electric guitar. His playing was heard by millions in the recordings he cut with Benny Goodman.

During the late 1930s and through the 1940s—the heyday of big band jazz and swing music—the guitar was an important rhythm sectioninstrument. Some guitarists, such as Freddie Green of Count Basie’s band, developed a guitar-specific style of accompaniment. Few of the big bands, however, featured amplified guitar solos, which were done instead in the small combo context. The most important jazz guitar soloists of this period included the Manouche virtuoso Django Reinhardt, Oscar Moore who was featured with Nat ―King‖ Cole’s trio, and Charlie Christian of Benny Goodman's band and sextet, who was a major influence despite his early death at 25.

Duke Ellington's big band had a rhythm section that included a jazz guitarist, a double bass player, and a drummer (not visible). It was not until the large-scale emergence of small combo jazz in the post-WWII period that the guitar took as a versatile instrument, which was

used both in the rhythm section and as a featured melodic instrument and solo improviser. In the hands of Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney, and Tal Farlow, who had absorbed the language of bebop, the guitar began to be seen as a ―serious‖ jazz instrument. Improved electric guitars such as Gibson’s ES175 (released in 1949), gave players a larger variety of tonal options. In the 1940s through the 1960s, players such as Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, and Jim Hall laid the foundation of what is now known as "jazz guitar

Shred guitar or shredding is a lead electric guitar playing style, based on fast guitar solos. Critics have stated that shred guitar is associated with "sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic minor scales, finger-tapping and whammy-bar abuse",[1] while other guitar writers say that rather than being a musical definition, it is a fairly subjective cultural term used by guitarists and enthusiasts of guitar music. It is usually used with reference to heavy metal guitar playing, where it is associated with rapid tapping solos and special effects such as whammy bar "dive bombs". The term is sometimes used with reference to playing outside this idiom, particularly bluegrass, country, jazz fusion and blues.[2][3]

In 1974, the German band Scorpions used their new guitarist Ulrich Roth for their album Fly to the Rainbow, for which the title track features Roth performing "... one of the most menacing and powerful whammy-bar dive bombs ever recorded".[1] A year later, Roth's solo guitar playing for the album In Trance "... would become the prototype for shred guitar. Everything associated with the genre can be found on this brilliant collection of songs — sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished minor harmonic scales, finger-tapping and ... jaw-dropping whammy-barabuse".[1][dead link]

In 1979, Roth left Scorpions to begin his own power trio, named "Electric Sun". His debut album Earthquake contained "... heaps of spellbinding fret gymnastics ... and nimble-fingered classical workouts."[1] In 1978, a "heretofore unknown guitarist named Eddie Van Halen" from Los Angeles released "'Eruption', a blistering aural assault of solo electric guitar" which featured rapid "tapping", which "had rarely been heard in a rock context before". Chris Yancik argues that it is this "record, above any other, that spawned the genre of Shred."[4]

Guitar Player's article "Blast Into Hyperspace With The Otherworldly Power Of Shred" reviews the book Shred! and states that the pioneers were "Eddie Van Halen, Al Di Meola and Ritchie Blackmore". The fast playing style combined with the heavily distorted tone of heavy metal music resulted in a new nickname "shred". [citation needed] Progressive rock, heavy metal, hard rock, and jazz fusion have all made use of and adapted the style successfully over the years. In general, the phrase "shred guitar" has been traditionally associated with instrumental rock and heavy metal guitarists. This association has become less common now that modern forms of metal have adopted shredding as well. In the 1990s, its mainstream appeal diminished with the rise of grunge and nu metal, both of which eschewed flashy lead guitar solos. Underground acts like Shawn Lane and Buckethead continued to developed the genre further.[5]

In an interview in March 2011, Steve Vai described 'shred' as: "The terminology used for someone who can play an instrument, and has such a tremendous amount of technique that what they do just seems completely effortless and absurd. It's like this burst of energy that just comes out in extremely fast tearing kind of playing where the notes actually connect. Shred has to have a particular kind of 'tide' to it, I think, that actually gives you that 'blow away' factor that makes it impressive, to a certain degree."[6][7]

Shredding includes "sweep, alternate and tremolo picking; string skipping; multi-finger tapping; legato, [and] trills." Speed Building, Legato, Tapping, [and] Sweep Picking techniques shredders need to know—sweep picking, tapping, legato playing, whammy bar abuse, speed riffing, [and] thrash chording. Shred guitarists use two- or three-octave scales, triads, or modes, played ascending and descending at a fast tempo. Often such runs are arranged in the form of an intricate sequential pattern, creating a more complex feel. This run or lick can be played by individually picking all, or a selection, of the notes, using techniques such as alternate picking or economy picking.[citation needed]

Alternatively, the lick can be played by multiple-picking notes (tremolo picking), or picking just the first or second note of a string followed by a rapid succession of hammer-ons and/or pull-offs (legato). Rhythmically, a shredder may include precise usage of syncopation and polyrhythms. Sweep picking is used to play rapid arpeggios across the fretboard (sometimes on all strings). The tapping technique is used to play rapid flourishes of notes or to play arpeggios or scalar patterns using pure legato with no picking. Various techniques are used to perform passages with wide intervals, and to create a flowing legato sound. Some performers utilize complex combinations of tapping, sweeping, and classical-style finger picking. This increases speed by reducing the motion of the strumming hand.

Shred guitar players often use electric solidbody guitars such as Ibanez, Gibson, Fender, Kramer, Carvin, Jackson, Charvel, Schecter, B.C. Rich and ESP. Some shred guitarists use elaborately-shaped models by B.C. Rich or Dean, as well as modern versions of classic-radical designs like Gibson's Flying V and Explorer models. Guitars with double-cutaways give performers easier access to the higher frets. Some shred guitarists, such as Scorpions' Ulrich Roth, have used custom-made tremolo bars and developed modified instruments, such as Roth's "Sky Guitar, that would greatly expand his instrumental range, enabling him to reach notes previously reserved in the string world for violins."[1]

Some shred guitar players use seven or eight string guitars to allow a greater range of notes, such as Steve Vai.[8] Most shred guitar players use a range of effects such as distortion and compression to facilitate the performance of shred techniques such as tapping, hammer-ons, and pull-offs, to create a unique tone. Shred-style guitarists often use high-gain vacuum tubeamplifiers such as Marshall, Carvin, Peavey, Mesa Boogie, ENGL, Laney, Hughes & Kettner, Krank and Randall.

2011 Guitar World Magazine focused on how shredding exists outside of heavy metal music with an article pointing out the magazine's Top 5 Shredding Bluegrass songs. The list included songs by instrumentalists Tony Rice, Josh Williams, Bryan Sutton, Chris Thile and David Grier.[9] Music Radar's list of the top 20 greatest shred guitarists of time featured Al Di Meola, John Petrucci and Steve Vai as the top three, respectively. Guitar World ranked Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy, Van Halen - Van Halen, and Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz, as the top three shred albums of all time, respectively.[10]

In 2003, Guitar One Magazine voted Michael Angelo Batio the fastest shredder of all time.[11][12] In the same year, Guitar One voted Chris Impellitteri the 2nd fastest shredder of all time followed by Yngwie Malmsteen at 3rd.[11][12] Daniel Himebauch of North Carolina holds the world record for most notes per second on a guitar by playing 90 notes per second on an Ibanez ex. [13]

[edit] References

The following key issues are critical in selecting your guitar and even more so if you’re selecting it for your child. As a parent, grandparent or caregiver, you fulfill many important roles in your child’s life. Your gift and provision of music, encouragement and confidence can last a lifetime. Having an appropriately sized and adjusted instrument is the best way to start. Each item below will give you new insight and help guarantee your success in accomplishing your musical desires.

Most importantly, only select a guitar you know is fully inspected and adjusted for easy playability, accuracy in tuning, intonation and tone production.

Many important issues rest on the quality and playability of your instrument. Always get the facts. Ask what has been done to make the instrument easy to play. There is no greater impedance to progress, developing proper technique and the enjoyment of learning to play than a poorly constructed instrument or one that is not correctly set up.

The old saying,― If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is‖, is a good guide. You should see red flags when presented with guitar packages valued at $800.00 and selling for only $199.00. The difference between the value and the selling price is too great. If it sells for $199.00 then that’s about what it may be worth but not worth buying. The ―$800.00 value package‖ would have to contain cheaply made products to only sell for $199.00. A $289.00 package at $199.00 is a much more realistic price.

Most major brand name companies compete with minor brand name companies for the entry and intermediate level player. Smaller brand name companies rely less on media advertising and more on dealer support and knowledge. These companies may even specialize in the entry and intermediate entry levels where as the major brands specialty is higher priced professional instruments. Obviously the cost of media advertising is included in the overall cost of the instrument. You may end up paying more for the brand name while the quality is the same or paying a competitive price for an instrument of less quality. A brand name guitar does not guarantee it to be a better guitar. As a side note, many major brand guitar makers provide free guitars to recording artist to use in concert, which is a very effective marketing tool. The fans that play guitar or want to begin playing the guitar associate the name brand with their favorite performers, not realizing that the expensive instruments they use share very little (except the name) with the entry level models.

Tuning machines should operate smoothly. Neck joint and heel should look and feel secure. The wooden bridge should be securely glued to the top. The fingerboard should be level with the top of the guitar. Most guitars should have an adjustable truss rod. String height at the nut above the first fret should be very low. Overall string height above the fingerboard should be low.

That’s all I could find on the history of guitars I included some things in the other PowerPoint that I did

I got the info from Wikipedia and first guitar.com

I hope you enjoyed this one