Some Basics Of The Electric Guitar

By Jason Briggs


Electric guitars are the stringed musical instruments which have electric capabilities. These electric guitars make use of the principle of electromagnetic induction. The string vibrations in the electric guitars are converted into electric signals with the help of electromagnets present in the guitar system. The electric signals produced are weaker and hence are amplified using the amplifiers before they are fed to the loudspeaker. Are you looking for a artcore guitar?

Electric guitars are usually made of six strings and also have a range of frets on the neck. Most of the electric guitars contain solid bodies, while a few of them are designed with hollow or semi-hollow bodies. Magnetic induction along with the amplification is what makes the electric guitars work. Magnetic pickups produce the sound in the guitars and this sound is controlled by various knobs. When an electric guitar is not plugged in, if a string of the guitar is struck, the sound produced is almost inaudible.

Electric guitars generally have longer necks which can be of two types i.e. set neck or a bolt-on neck. The top of the neck is called headstock. The headstock contains machine heads or tuners which when rotated change the string tension and hence help in tuning the guitar. Between the headstock and the neck are the nuts over which the strings of the guitar pass.

The playing area of the instrument is known as fingerboard or fretboard. The fingerboards of the electric guitars are made up of frets or bars horizontally located at regular distances. These frets stop the strings at a certain position, when pressed. This way of stopping the strings at the right position helps in producing appropriate tones. The tones produced by the electric guitars can be adjusted by control knobs. Electric guitars also have metallic cylinders called truss rods which can be used for adjusting the tension on the neck.

Electric guitars make use of various materials and construction techniques. The sound quality of the guitar depends on the materials used in the construction of some guitar bodies, though most of the solid body guitars aren't much affected by the materials used. The woods commonly used for the electric guitar bodies are swamp ash, poplar, maple, basswood, mahogany and alder. Other materials like cardboard and plastic are also used for bodies of some electric guitars. The materials used for soundboards of electric guitars are usually rosewood, ebony and koa. Materials used for the neck are maple, mahogany and basswood.

The electric guitar strings are not meant for producing louder tones. Therefore, the strings of electric guitars and those used for acoustic guitars are different. Stainless steel, pure nickel and nickel plated steel are commonly used in making the strings of electric guitar.

Electric guitars, though initially not widely recognized, have now gained huge fame in the music industry. They are being used as the major instruments in many musical shows and are used to play almost all types of music like rock n roll, heavy metal, punk, and pop.




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