1.
String instrument
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String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum—and others by hitting the strings with a wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow. In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord or piano, with bowed instruments, the player rubs the strings with a horsehair bow, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician operates a wheel that rubs the strings. Bowed instruments include the string instruments of the Classical music orchestra. All of the string instruments can also be plucked with the fingers. Some types of string instrument are mainly plucked, such as the harp, in the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, string instruments are called chordophones. Other examples include the sitar, rebab, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, in most string instruments, the vibrations are transmitted to the body of the instrument, which often incorporates some sort of hollow or enclosed area. The body of the instrument also vibrates, along with the air inside it, the vibration of the body of the instrument and the enclosed hollow or chamber make the vibration of the string more audible to the performer and audience. The body of most string instruments is hollow, some, however—such as electric guitar and other instruments that rely on electronic amplification—may have a solid wood body. Archaeological digs have identified some of the earliest stringed instruments in Ancient Mesopotamian sites, like the lyres of Ur, the development of lyre instruments required the technology to create a tuning mechanism to tighten and loosen the string tension. During the medieval era, instrument development varied from country to country, Middle Eastern rebecs represented breakthroughs in terms of shape and strings, with a half a pear shape using three strings. Early versions of the violin and fiddle, by comparison, emerged in Europe through instruments such as the gittern, a four stringed precursor to the guitar and these instruments typically used catgut and other materials, including silk, for their strings. String instrument design refined during the Renaissance and into the Baroque period of musical history, violins and guitars became more consistent in design, and were roughly similar to what we use in the 2000s. At the same time, the 19th century guitar became more associated with six string models. In big bands of the 1920s, the guitar played backing chords. The development of guitar amplifiers, which contained a power amplifier, the development of the electric guitar provided guitarists with an instrument that was built to connect to guitar amplifiers. Electric guitars have magnetic pickups, volume control knobs and an output jack, in the 1960s, larger, more powerful guitar amplifiers were developed, called stacks
2.
Guitar
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The guitar is a musical instrument classified as a fretted string instrument with anywhere from four to 18 strings, usually having six. The sound is projected either acoustically, using a wooden or plastic and wood box, or through electrical amplifier. It is typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers, the guitar is a type of chordophone, traditionally constructed from wood and strung with either gut, nylon or steel strings and distinguished from other chordophones by its construction and tuning. There are three types of modern acoustic guitar, the classical guitar, the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar. The tone of a guitar is produced by the strings vibration, amplified by the hollow body of the guitar. The term finger-picking can also refer to a tradition of folk, blues, bluegrass. The acoustic bass guitar is an instrument that is one octave below a regular guitar. Early amplified guitars employed a body, but a solid wood body was eventually found more suitable during the 1960s and 1970s. As with acoustic guitars, there are a number of types of guitars, including hollowbody guitars, archtop guitars and solid-body guitars. The electric guitar has had a influence on popular culture. The guitar is used in a variety of musical genres worldwide. It is recognized as an instrument in genres such as blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, folk, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, punk, reggae, rock, soul. The term is used to refer to a number of chordophones that were developed and used across Europe, beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas. The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, has applied to a wide variety of chordophones since classical times. Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar, at least two instruments called guitars were in use in Spain by 1200, the guitarra latina and the so-called guitarra morisca. The guitarra morisca had a back, wide fingerboard. The guitarra Latina had a sound hole and a narrower neck. By the 14th century the qualifiers moresca or morisca and latina had been dropped, and it had six courses, lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early representations reveal an instrument with a sharply cut waist
3.
Bass guitar
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The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb, by plucking, slapping, popping, strumming, tapping, thumping, or picking with a plectrum, often known as a pick. The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to a guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length. The four-string bass, by far the most common, is tuned the same as the double bass. The bass guitar is an instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the guitar has pickups and it is plugged into an amplifier and speaker on stage, or into a larger PA system using a DI unit. Since the 1960s, the guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section. While types of basslines vary widely from one style of music to another, many styles of music utilise the bass guitar, including rock, heavy metal, pop, punk rock, country, reggae, gospel, blues, symphonic rock, and jazz. It is often a solo instrument in jazz, jazz fusion, Latin, funk, progressive rock and other rock, the adoption of a guitar form made the instrument easier to hold and transport than any of the existing stringed bass instruments. The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in more easily than on acoustic or electric upright basses. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period, around 1947, Tutmarcs son, Bud, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L. D. Heater Music Company wholesale jobber catalogue of 1948, however, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success. In the 1950s, Leo Fender, with the help of his employee George Fullerton and his Fender Precision Bass, which began production in October 1951, became a widely copied industry standard. This split pickup, introduced in 1957, appears to have been two mandolin pickups, the pole pieces and leads of the coils were reversed with respect to each other, producing a humbucking effect. Humbucking is a design that electrically cancels the effect of any AC hum, the Fender Bass was a revolutionary new instrument, which could be easily transported, and which was less prone to feedback when amplified than acoustic bass instruments. Monk Montgomery was the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, roy Johnson, and Shifty Henry with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, were other early Fender bass pioneers. Bill Black, playing with Elvis Presley, switched from bass to the Fender Precision Bass around 1957. The bass guitar was intended to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, following Fenders lead, in 1953, Gibson released the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with extendable end pin, allowing it to be played upright or horizontally. 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
4.
Violin
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The violin is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use, smaller violin-type instruments are known, including the violino piccolo and the kit violin, but these are virtually unused in the 2010s. The violin typically has four strings tuned in fifths, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings. Violins are important instruments in a variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition and in varieties of folk music. They are also used in genres of folk including country music and bluegrass music. Electric violins are used in forms of rock music, further. The violin is sometimes called a fiddle, particularly in Irish traditional music and bluegrass. The violin was first known in 16th-century Italy, with further modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries. In Europe it served as the basis for stringed instruments used in classical music, the viola. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or equal it, many of these trade instruments were formerly sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other mass merchandisers. A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier or violinmaker, the parts of a violin are usually made from different types of wood and on the use of a pickup and an amplifier and speaker). Violins can be strung with gut, Perlon or other synthetic, the earliest stringed instruments were mostly plucked. Similar and variant types were probably disseminated along East-West trading routes from Asia into the Middle East, the first makers of violins probably borrowed from various developments of the Byzantine lira. These included the rebec, the Arabic rebab, the vielle, the earliest pictures of violins, albeit with three strings, are seen in northern Italy around 1530, at around the same time as the words violino and vyollon are seen in Italian and French documents. One of the earliest explicit descriptions of the instrument, including its tuning, is from the Epitome musical by Jambe de Fer, by this time, the violin had already begun to spread throughout Europe. The violin proved very popular, both among street musicians and the nobility, the French king Charles IX ordered Andrea Amati to construct 24 violins for him in 1560, one of these noble instruments, the Charles IX, is the oldest surviving violin. The Messiah or Le Messie made by Antonio Stradivari in 1716 remains pristine and it is now located in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford
5.
Sound box
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A sound box or sounding box is an open chamber in the body of a musical instrument which modifies the sound of the instrument, and helps transfer that sound to the surrounding air. Objects respond more strongly to vibrations at frequencies, known as resonances. The frequency and strength of the resonances of the body of a musical instrument have a significant impact on the quality it produces. The air inside the chamber has its own resonances, and these interact with the resonances of the body, the sound box typically adds resonances at lower frequencies, enhancing the lower-frequency response of the instrument. The distinctive sound of an instrument with a sound box owes a lot to the made to the tone. A sound box is found in most string instruments, the most notable exceptions are some electrically amplified instruments like the solid body electric guitar or the electric violin, and the piano which uses only a sound board instead. Drumhead lutes such as the banjo or erhu have at least one end of the sound box covered with animal skin. Open back banjos are used for clawhammer and frailing, while those used for bluegrass have the back covered with a resonator. In some arrangements, loudspeakers are mounted on a sound box to enhance their output. One notable example of this arrangement is called the bass reflex enclosure, however, in these cases the box resonance is carefully tuned so as to make the sound more equal across frequencies, rather than to impart a particular character to the reinforced sound. Acoustic guitar Basic physics of the violin Filter Frequency response Resonance chamber
6.
Pickup (music technology)
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The signal from a pickup can also be recorded directly, using a DI box or broadcast on the radio or television. Most electric guitars and electric basses use magnetic pickups, acoustic guitars, upright basses and fiddles often use a piezoelectric pickup. A magnetic pickup consists of a permanent magnet with a core of such as alnico or ferrite. The pickup is most often mounted on the body of the instrument, Magnetic pickups used with string basses can be attached to the bridge. The permanent magnet creates a field, the motion of the vibrating steel strings disturbs the field, changing magnetic flux. The pickup is then connected with a cable to an amplifier which amplifies the signal to a sufficient magnitude of power to drive a loudspeaker. A pickup can also be connected to recording equipment via a patch cable, there may also be an internal preamplifier device mounted in an acoustic guitar or in an external box. When a preamp is used in way, it is between the pickup and cable and can significantly reduce the equivalent impedance of the pickup coil. The output voltage of magnetic pickups varies between 100 mV rms to over 1 V rms for some of the higher output types, some high-output pickups achieve this by employing very strong magnets, thus creating more flux and thereby more output. This can be detrimental to the sound because the magnets pull on the strings can cause problems with intonation as well as damp the strings. Other high-output pickups have more turns of wire to increase the voltage generated by the strings movement, however, this also increases the pickups output resistance/impedance, which can affect high frequencies if the pickup is not isolated by a buffer amplifier or a DI unit. The turns of wire in proximity to each other have an equivalent self-capacitance that and this resonance can accentuate certain frequencies, giving the pickup a characteristic tonal quality. The more turns of wire in the winding, the higher the output voltage, the inductive source impedance inherent in this type of transducer makes it less linear than other forms of pickups, such as piezo-electric or optical. The tonal quality produced by this nonlinearity is, however, subject to taste, the external load usually consists of resistance and capacitance between the hot lead and shield in the guitar cable. The electric cable also has a capacitance, which can be a significant portion of the overall system capacitance and this arrangement of passive components forms a resistively-damped second-order low-pass filter. Single coil pickups act like an antenna and are prone to pick up mains hum along with the musical signal. Mains hum consists of a signal at a nominal 50 or 60 Hz, depending on local alternating current frequency. The changing magnetic flux caused by the mains current links with the windings of the pickup, the pickups also are sensitive to the electromagnetic field from nearby cathode ray tubes in video monitors or televisions
7.
Audio feedback
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Audio feedback is a special kind of positive feedback which occurs when a sound loop exists between an audio input and an audio output. In this example, a received by the microphone is amplified and passed out of the loudspeaker. The sound from the loudspeaker can then be received by the microphone again, amplified further, for small PA systems the sound is readily recognized as a loud squeal or screech. Feedback is almost always considered undesirable when it occurs with a singers or public speakers microphone at an event using a reinforcement system or PA system. The sound of guitar feedback is considered to be desirable musical effect in metal music, hardcore punk. Jimi Hendrix was an innovator in the use of guitar feedback in his guitar solos to create unique sound effects not possible with more traditional playing techniques. The principles of audio feedback were first discovered by Danish scientist Søren Absalon Larsen, if the small signal gain is greater than 1 for some frequency then the system will start to oscillate at that frequency because noise at that frequency will be amplified. Sound will be produced without anyone actually playing, the sound level will increase until the output starts clipping, reducing the loop gain to exactly unity. This is the principle upon which electronic oscillators are based, although in case the feedback loop is purely electronic. Early academic work on acoustical feedback was done by Dr. C. Paul Boner, Boner reasoned that when feedback happened, it did so at one precise frequency. He also reasoned that it could be stopped by inserting a very narrow notch filter at that frequency in the signal chain. He worked with Gifford White, founder of White Instruments to hand craft notch filters for specific feedback frequencies in specific rooms, Boner was responsible for establishing basic theories of acoustic feedback, room-ring modes, and room-sound system equalizing techniques. To maximize gain before feedback, the amount of energy that is fed back to the microphones must be reduced as much as is practical. As well, microphones should not be positioned in front of speakers, additionally, the loudspeakers and microphones should have non-uniform directivity and should stay out of the maximum sensitivity of each other, ideally at a direction of cancellation. Public address speakers often achieve directivity in the mid and treble region via horn systems, sometimes the woofers have a cardioid characteristic. This allows independent control of the pressure levels for the audience. If monitors are oriented at 180 degrees to the microphones that are their sources, almost all microphones for sound reinforcement are directional. Almost always, the frequency responses of sound reinforcement systems is not ideally flat
8.
Semi-acoustic guitar
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A semi-acoustic guitar or hollow-body electric is a type of electric guitar that originates from the 1930s. It has both a box and one or more electric pickups. This is not the same as a guitar, which is an acoustic guitar with the addition of pickups or other means of amplification. This led makers to try a series of designs that focused on amplifying a guitar electrically through a loudspeaker, in 1936, Gibson made their first production run of electric guitars. These guitars, known as ES-150s were the first manufactured semi-acoustic guitars, Gibson based them on a standard production archtop, with f holes on the face of the guitars soundbox. This model resembled traditional jazz guitars that were popular at the time, the soundbox on the guitar let limited sound emit from the hollow body of the guitar. These guitars, however, could be electrically amplified via a Charlie Christian pickup, the clear sound of the pickups made the ES series immediately popular with jazz musicians. The first semi-acoustic guitars are thought of as an evolutionary step in the progression from acoustic guitars to full electric models. However, Gibson made the ES-150 several years after Rickenbacker made the first solid-body electric guitar, the ES series was merely an experiment the Gibson company used to test the potential success of electric guitars. The experiment was a successful venture, and the ES series is often referred to as the first successful electric guitar. The ES-150 was followed by the ES-250 a year later, in became a long line of semi acoustics for the Gibson company. In 1949 Gibson released two new models, the ES-175 and ES-5 and these guitars came standard with built-in electric pickups and are widely considered the first fully electric semi-acoustic guitars. Prior models were not built with pickups, rather, they came as attachments, several models, including the ES-350T by Gibson, were made in the 1950s to accommodate this growing demand by including a more comfortable version of the archtop model. Gibson and other makers followed these variations with a new type of guitar that featured a block of solid wood between the front and back sections of the guitars cutaway. This guitar still functioned acoustically, but had a resonant cavity inside. Gibson first manufactured this variant in 1958 and it is commonly referred to as a semi-hollow body guitar, because of the smaller, less open body. Rickenbacker also began making semi-acoustic guitars in 1958, when the company changed ownership in 1954, they hired German guitar crafter, Roger Rossmiesl. He developed the 300 series for Rickenbacker, which was a wide semi-acoustic that did not use a traditional f hole, rather it used a sleeker dash hole on one side of the guitar, the other side had a large pickguard
9.
Fender Esquire
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The Fender Esquire is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Fender, the first Spanish style guitar sold by Fender, debuting in 1950. Shortly after its introduction, a version was introduced and was renamed the Broadcaster a few months later. The Gretsch Company at the time marketed a set under the Broadkaster name. The more versatile Broadcaster/Telecaster has since become one of Fenders most popular models with dozens of variations produced, once the Telecaster was introduced, the Esquire became marketed as a lower-cost version. Over the following two decades, the availability of other low-cost models saw the Esquires sales decline and the model was discontinued in 1969, the model has since been reissued but remains a relatively niche guitar. The first prototype for the Esquire was completed by Leo Fender in the fall of 1949, the prototype shared with these guitars the now-familiar slab body shape with single cutaway to allow easier access to the upper frets. The neck, like the first Esquires manufactured in 1950, was made from a piece of maple without a truss rod. The neck was attached to the body with four screws and a plate, unlike in traditional guitar construction. Unlike the Esquire, the neck was wider at the nut, like the production models, it had a removable pickup cover, but unlike the production models, the cover had straight sides. The prototype had one pickup, as did Esquires manufactured from 1951 onwards. Over the winter of 1949/50, Fender refined the design, the neck width at the nut was narrowed, and the head modified to accommodate all six tuners on one side. A tone selector switch was added, and the controls were mounted on a parallel to the strings. Around the spring of 1950, Fender had completed a neck pickup design, the single pickup guitar was first manufactured in April 1950, and made its commercial debut as the Esquire in RTECs Spring catalogue of that year. Unlike the pinewood prototype, the bodies were made of solid ash, the dual pickup version was first manufactured in June of that year. Neither version had a rod at that time, though in November. The guitar was designed as an instrument with no acoustic manipulation of the tone. Rather the guitars pickup was designed and placed to transmit the richest signal for later manipulation by the tone switch, following the renaming of the dual pickup Broadcaster, production and promotion of the single pickup Esquire was briefly discontinued. It was reintroduced with a rod in January 1951
10.
Electric guitar
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The vibrations of the strings are sensed by a pickup, of which the most common type is the magnetic pickup, which uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction. The signal generated by a guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is plugged into a guitar amplifier before being sent to a loudspeaker. The output of a guitar is an electric signal. Invented in 1931, the electric guitar was adopted by jazz guitarists. Early proponents of the guitar on record included Les Paul, Lonnie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, T-Bone Walker. During the 1950s and 1960s, the guitar became the most important instrument in pop music. It has evolved into an instrument that is capable of a multitude of sounds and styles in genres ranging from pop and rock to country music, blues and jazz. It served as a component in the development of electric blues, rock and roll, rock music, heavy metal music. Electric guitar design and construction vary greatly in the shape of the body and the configuration of the neck, bridge, Guitars may have a fixed bridge or a spring-loaded hinged bridge that lets players bend the pitch of notes or chords up or down or perform vibrato effects. The sound of a guitar can be modified by new playing techniques such as string bending, tapping, hammering on, using audio feedback, in a small group, such as a power trio, one guitarist switches between both roles. In larger rock and metal bands, there is often a rhythm guitarist, many experiments at 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, 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. With numerous people experimenting with electrical instruments in the 1920s and early 1930s, Electric guitars were originally designed by acoustic guitar makers and instrument manufacturers. 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, the general manager of the National Guitar Corporation, with Paul Barth, who was vice president. The maple body prototype for the one-piece cast aluminum frying pan was built by Harry Watson, commercial production began in late summer of 1932 by the Ro-Pat-In Corporation, in Los Angeles, a partnership of Beauchamp, Adolph Rickenbacker, and Paul Barth. 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 issued in 1937. The Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts provided players a full 25 scale, with 17 frets free of the fretboard and 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. The need for the guitar became apparent during the big band era as orchestras increased in size, particularly when acoustic guitars had to compete with large
11.
Electric bass
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The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb, by plucking, slapping, popping, strumming, tapping, thumping, or picking with a plectrum, often known as a pick. The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to a guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length. The four-string bass, by far the most common, is tuned the same as the double bass. The bass guitar is an instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the guitar has pickups and it is plugged into an amplifier and speaker on stage, or into a larger PA system using a DI unit. Since the 1960s, the guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section. While types of basslines vary widely from one style of music to another, many styles of music utilise the bass guitar, including rock, heavy metal, pop, punk rock, country, reggae, gospel, blues, symphonic rock, and jazz. It is often a solo instrument in jazz, jazz fusion, Latin, funk, progressive rock and other rock, the adoption of a guitar form made the instrument easier to hold and transport than any of the existing stringed bass instruments. The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in more easily than on acoustic or electric upright basses. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period, around 1947, Tutmarcs son, Bud, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L. D. Heater Music Company wholesale jobber catalogue of 1948, however, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success. In the 1950s, Leo Fender, with the help of his employee George Fullerton and his Fender Precision Bass, which began production in October 1951, became a widely copied industry standard. This split pickup, introduced in 1957, appears to have been two mandolin pickups, the pole pieces and leads of the coils were reversed with respect to each other, producing a humbucking effect. Humbucking is a design that electrically cancels the effect of any AC hum, the Fender Bass was a revolutionary new instrument, which could be easily transported, and which was less prone to feedback when amplified than acoustic bass instruments. Monk Montgomery was the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, roy Johnson, and Shifty Henry with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, were other early Fender bass pioneers. Bill Black, playing with Elvis Presley, switched from bass to the Fender Precision Bass around 1957. The bass guitar was intended to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, following Fenders lead, in 1953, Gibson released the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with extendable end pin, allowing it to be played upright or horizontally. 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
12.
Rock music
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It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by blues, rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of genres such as electric blues and folk. Musically, rock has centered on the guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar. Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature using a verse-chorus form, like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. Punk was an influence into the 1980s on the subsequent development of subgenres, including new wave, post-punk. From the 1990s alternative rock began to rock music and break through into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the visually distinctive goth and emo subcultures and this trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, Hammond organ and synthesizers. The basic rock instrumentation was adapted from the blues band instrumentation. A group of musicians performing rock music is termed a rock band or rock group, Rock music is traditionally built on a foundation of simple unsyncopated rhythms in a 4/4 meter, with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies are often derived from older musical modes, including the Dorian and Mixolydian, harmonies range from the common triad to parallel fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock, because of its complex history and tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that it is impossible to bind rock music to a rigidly delineated musical definition. These themes were inherited from a variety of sources, including the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music and rhythm, as a result, it has been seen as articulating the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality, according to Simon Frith rock was something more than pop, something more than rock and roll. Rock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with the concept of art as artistic expression, original. The foundations of music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music, with country. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, debate surrounds which record should be considered the first rock and roll record. Other artists with rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis
13.
Heavy metal music
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Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are associated with aggression. The first heavy metal such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath. During the mid-1970s, Judas Priest helped spur the evolution by discarding much of its blues influence, Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility. Beginning in the late 1970s, bands in the new wave of British heavy metal such as Iron Maiden, before the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as metalheads or headbangers. During the 1980s, glam metal became popular with such as Mötley Crüe. Since the mid-1990s popular styles have further expanded the definition of the genre and these include groove metal and nu metal, the latter of which often incorporates elements of grunge and hip hop. Heavy metal is characterized by loud distorted guitars, emphatic rhythms, dense bass-and-drum sound. Metal subgenres variously emphasize, alter, or omit one or more of these attributes, the typical band lineup includes a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist, a lead guitarist, and a singer, who may or may not be an instrumentalist. Keyboard instruments are used to enhance the fullness of the sound. Deep Purples Jon Lord played an overdriven Hammond organ, in 1970, John Paul Jones used a Moog synthesizer on Led Zeppelin III, by the 1990s, in. almost every subgenre of heavy metal synthesizers were used. The electric guitar and the power that it projects through amplification has historically been the key element in heavy metal. The heavy metal guitar sound comes from a use of high volumes. Guitar solos are an element of the heavy metal code. That underscores the significance of the guitar to the genre, most heavy metal songs featur at least one guitar solo, which is a primary means through which the heavy metal performer expresses virtuosity. One exception is nu metal bands, which tend to omit guitar solos, with rhythm guitar parts, the heavy crunch sound in heavy metal. Palm muting the strings with the hand and using distortion. Palm muting creates a tighter, more sound and it emphasizes the low end
14.
Preamplifier
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Without this, the final signal would be noisy or distorted. They are typically used to amplify signals from analog sensors such as microphones, because of this, the preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and interference. An ideal preamp will be linear, have input impedance. It is used to boost the strength to drive the cable to the main instrument without significantly degrading the signal-to-noise ratio. The noise performance of a preamplifier is critical, according to Friiss formula, when the gain of the preamplifier is high, the SNR of the final signal is determined by the SNR of the input signal and the noise figure of the preamplifier. Three basic types of preamplifiers are available, current-sensitive preamplifier parasitic-capacitance preamplifier charge-sensitive preamplifier, in an audio system, they are typically used to amplify signals from analog sensors to line level. The second amplifier is typically a power amplifier, the preamplifier provides voltage gain but no significant current gain. The power amplifier provides the current necessary to drive loudspeakers. For these systems some common sensors are microphones, instrument pickups, preamplifiers are often integrated into the audio inputs on mixing consoles, DJ mixers, and sound cards. They can also be stand-alone devices, the integrated pre-amplifier in a foil electret microphone. The first stages of an instrument amplifier, which is sent to the power amplifier. With instrument amplifiers, the preamp is often designed to produce overdrive or distortion effects, a stand-alone unit for use in live music and recording studio applications. As part of a stand-alone channel strip or channel strip built into a mixing desk. A masthead amplifier used with television receiver antenna or a satellite receiver dish, the circuit inside of a hard drive connected to the magnetic heads or the circuit inside of CD/DVD drive which connects to the photodiodes
15.
Equalization (audio)
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Equalization is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal. The most well known use of equalization is in recording and reproduction but there are many other applications in electronics. The circuit or equipment used to achieve equalization is called an equalizer and these devices strengthen or weaken the energy of specific frequency bands or frequency ranges. In sound recording and reproduction, equalization is the commonly used to alter the frequency response of an audio system using linear filters. Most hi-fi equipment uses relatively simple filters to make bass and treble adjustments, graphic and parametric equalizers have much more flexibility in tailoring the frequency content of an audio signal. An equalizer is the circuit or equipment used to achieve equalization, since equalizers, adjust the amplitude of audio signals at particular frequencies, they are, in other words, frequency-specific volume knobs. The term EQ specifically refers to this variant of the term, stereos and basic guitar amplifiers typically have adjustable equalizers which boost or cut bass or treble frequencies. Mid- to high-priced guitar and bass amplifiers usually have more bands of frequency control, such as bass, mid-range and treble or bass, low-mid, high-mid, some amps have an additional knob for controlling very high frequencies. Broadcast and recording studios use sophisticated equalizers capable of more detailed adjustments. The most common equalizers in music production are parametric, semi-parametric, graphic, peak, graphic equalizers are often included in consumer audio equipment and software which plays music on home computers. Parametric equalizers require more expertise than graphic equalizers, and they can provide more specific compensation or alteration around a chosen frequency and this may be used in order to remove unwanted resonances or boost certain frequencies. An acoustic guitarist who finds that her instrument sounds too boomy may ask the engineer to reduce the low frequency range response. A guitarist who finds that the instrument sound in the PA has too much finger noise may ask the engineer to reduce the frequency range response. The concept of equalization was first applied in correcting the frequency response of telephone lines using passive networks, a plot of the systems net frequency response would be flat, as its response to all frequencies would literally be equal. Much later the concept was applied in engineering to adjust the frequency response in recording, reproduction. Audio amplifiers have long had filters or controls to modify their frequency response and these are most often in the form of variable bass and treble controls, and switches to apply low-cut or high-cut filters for elimination of low frequency rumble and high frequency hiss respectively. Graphic equalizers and other equipment developed for improving fidelity have since used by recording engineers to modify frequency responses for aesthetic reasons. Hence in the field of audio electronics the term equalization is now used to describe the application of such filters regardless of intent
16.
Electric upright bass
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The electric upright bass is an electronically amplified version of the double bass that has a minimal or skeleton body, which greatly reduces the size and weight of the instrument. The EUB retains enough of the features of the bass so that double bass players are comfortable performing on it. While the EUB retains some of the characteristics of the double bass. The first production electric upright basses were developed independently in the mid-1930s by Regal, Vega, however, in the 1930s and 1940s, neither the transducers and or amplification equipment which were then available could accurately reproduce the deep tones of the bass. This may have contributed to the lack of public interest in either the electric upright basses or the electric instruments that emerged in the 1930s. The scale length of EUBs varies, some scales are 42, similar to most double basses, the shorter scale can make it easier for bass guitarists to convert to the EUB. Some scales lie between two extremes, for example 34, like a long scale bass guitar. The fingerboard extends over two octaves and usually has side dots for the players reference, regardless of scale length, the strings are usually tuned to E1, A1, D2, G2 at the same pitch as the double bass or bass guitar. Double bass players use features of the instrument such as the neck heel, the rear of the body of an upright bass is usually braced against the hip with player standing or knee if sitting. Many EUBs therefore mirror these features in their design, there will often be a raised reference point about 1/3 down from the nut to the bridge at either the D or Eb position ) to represent the neck heel of the acoustic bass. Many EUBs have wooden or metal bars to brace the instrument against the musicians body, the wooden or metal brace bars help the EUB to rest against the players body in a position roughly similar to the way a double bass rests against the body. Most EUBs are fretless, but a number are fretted. Solid bodied EUBs produce very little sound without electronic amplification, hollow-bodied EUBs produce a quiet tone that is loud enough for individual practice. However, since hollow-bodied EUBs do not have a resonant cavity like a double bass. To amplify the EUB, the vibrations are sensed with a pickup. Early EUBs used magnetic pickups similar to those in electric guitars, many modern EUBs use piezoelectric pickups located in the bridge or a combination of pickup types. The signal from the pickup is usually preamplified and equalized with a preamplifier, for practice in a hotel room or apartment, an EUB can also be connected to headphones. Some EUBs have a resonant chamber, such as the Eminence EUB
17.
Electric ukulele
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An electric ukulele is a ukulele which is electrically amplified. If not plugged in, it can still play acoustically, a solid-body electric ukulele produces very little sound acoustically, requiring an amplifier to be heard from more than a few feet away. An electro-acoustic ukulele is an acoustic instrument to which a passive pickup has been added. Such ukuleles have nylon or gut strings, not the metal strings necessary for ukuleles with magnetic pickups, electro-acoustic ukuleles may be played either unplugged or plugged into an amplifier. Such nylon-strung ukuleles include those designed to look like electric guitars. Electric ukuleles come in the four standard sizes as acoustic ukuleles. The electric lap steel ukulele is an instrument, consisting of a small ukulele-shaped solid-body which is laid in the artists lap. It has four strings raised above the neck, which are not pressed down onto a fretboard, an electric lap steel ukulele is essentially a small lap steel guitar with only four strings. Similar instruments have been built by custom instrument makers, but the only production manufacturer was Jupiter Creek Music before they closed their business in October 2012, Epiphone Fender Ovation Guitar Company Stagg Music Vox
18.
Electric mandolin
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The electric mandolin is an instrument tuned and played as the mandolin and amplified in similar fashion to an electric guitar. As with electric guitars, electric mandolins take many forms, Most common is a carved-top eight-string instrument fitted with a pickup in similar fashion to many arch top guitars. Solid body mandolins are common in 4-, 5-, and 8-string forms, acoustic electric and semi-acoustic mandolins also exist in many forms. Electric mandolins were built in the United States as early as the late 1920s, among the first companies to produce them were Stromberg-Voisinet, Electro, Vivi-Tone, and National Reso-Phonic. Gibson and Vega introduced their electric mandolins in 1936, in the United States, luthier/inventor Paul Bigsby began building solidbody electric mandolins in 1949. His first one had 10 strings and was built for Al Giddings, other Bigsby electric mandolin players were multi-instrumentalist Paul Buskirk, Johnny Muessig, and Eschol Cosby. Bigsbys most famous mandolin, built in 1952, was owned and played by Western swing musician Tiny Moore, Gibson and Rickenbacker introduced solidbody 8-string mandolins in the 1950s, while Fender followed the single-course idea with its 4-string version. A related instrument, the Bahian guitar, was developed in Brazil beginning in the 1940s, Bahian guitars typically have a solid body and 4 or 5 single-course strings tuned in fifths, but are considered to be electric versions of the cavaquinho rather than the mandolin. Both four string single course and eight string double course solid body mandolins have been produced by several makers, from 1956 to 1976, Fender produced a four string version which they simply called the Fender Electric Mandolin. Its body shape was based on a version of the Stratocaster body. They currently produce an eight string electric mandolin with a very similar body shape. They also currently produce a version of the Fender Electric Mandolin concept, called Mando-Strat. Gibson manufactured the EM-200 solid body electric mandolin from 1954 to 1971 and they currently produce a solid body mandolin known as the Mandobird, based on a smaller version of the Gibson Firebird body and sold under the Epiphone label. Both four and eight string versions are available, the Mid-Missouri Mandolin Company produced two models, the EM-4 and EM-8, with carved top bodies and four and eight strings respectively. Blue Star produces four and five string models under the name Mandoblaster, jbovier produces four and five string EMC electric mandolins, which resemble the Fender electric mandolins, and a four string ELS electric mandolin. EMC stands for Electric Mandocaster and ELS stands for Electric Leo Smith, the Eastwood Guitars manufactures solid body eight string electric mandolin under the name Mandocaster. It has Telecaster resembling body, two single coil pickups and a pickup switch known from Stratocaster guitars and they also make Mandocaster 12 which is actually an octave guitar. It is tuned the same as any standard guitar, E-E, Mandocaster at the Eastwood Guitars website
19.
Electric violin
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An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups and it can also refer to a violin fitted with an electric pickup of some type, although amplified violin or electro-acoustic violin are more accurate in that case. The Electro Stringed Instrument Corporation, National and Vega sold electric violins in the 1930s and 1940s, there has been a great deal more commercial success of well known manufacturers of electric violins since the 1990 for both well known, established companies and new makers too. Acoustic violins may be used with an add-on piezoelectric bridge or body pickup, to avoid feedback from the resonances of the hollow body under high amplification on stage, many instruments have a solid body instead. This raw sound is preferred in rock, pop. Several semi-hollow designs exist, containing a sealed but hollow resonating chamber that provides some approximation of acoustic violin sound while reducing susceptibility to feedback, solid-body electric violins typically have a non-traditional, minimalistic design to keep weight down. Lately, materials such as kevlar, glass and carbon fibres, are used in the build process and they are often seen as experimental instruments, being less established than electric guitar or bass. Hence, there are variations on the standard design, such as frets, extra strings, machine heads, baritone strings that sound an octave lower than normal. Luthier Yuri Landman built a 12 string electric violin for the Belgian band DAAU, the strings on this instrument are clustered in four groups of three strings tuned unison creating a chorus. Also the instrument features an extra pickup in the piece for extra amplification of string resonances. Acoustic 5-string violins are becoming common, and it is not unusual for an electric violin to have 5,6,7 or more strings. The typical solid body also accommodates the extra tension caused by more strings without stressing the instrument too much, the extra strings are usually a low C string for 5-strings, a low C and low F for 6, and a low C, F and B♭ for 7. Electric violin signals usually pass through electronic processing, in the way as an electric guitar. This could include delay, reverb, chorus, distortion, or other effects, today electric violins are even being used to reinvigorate music education. Today stated The perfect blend of instruments and rock and roll is giving kids across the country a whole new appreciation for music. Electric violins may use magnetic, piezoelectric, or electrodynamic pickups, guitar /coil type magnetic pickups require the use of violin strings that have ferrous metal wraps or cores. A few single-coil guitar-style magnetic systems are available, The small body size, one unusual acoustic/electric violin system uses the string itself as a linear active pickup element. Made to fit standard acoustic violins, the only requisite is that the string is electrically conducting, generally, piezoelectric pickups are inexpensive and more common
20.
Electric sitar
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An electric sitar is a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the sitar, a traditional musical instrument of India. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional sitar, most resemble the electric guitar in the style of the body and headstock, though some have a body shaped to resemble that of the sitar. The instrument was developed in the late 1960s by Danelectro, when many western musical groups began to use the sitar, the sitar is generally considered a difficult instrument to learn. By contrast, the sitar, with its standard guitar fretboard. The twangy sitar like tone comes from a flat bridge adding the necessary buzz to the guitar strings, in addition to the six playing strings, most electric sitars have sympathetic strings, typically located on the left side of the instrument. These strings have their own pickups, and are tuned with a harp wrench. A unique type of bridge, a bridge, helps give the instrument its distinctive sound. Some electric sitars have drone strings in lieu of sympathetic strings, a few models, such as the Jerry Jones Baby sitar, lack both sympathetic and drone strings, while still retaining the distinctive buzz bridge. The sympathetic strings on most electric sitars do not resonate strongly enough to match the effect of an acoustic sitar, there are resonant chambers in the solidbody instruments that have Masonite tops, however it is not enough to excite the 13 strings into true sympathy. The strings are tensioned over two bridges with fret material as saddles so the sound is more like an autoharp than a sitar. Versions of the electric sitar were also developed mainly in India and these are smaller sized sitars that look like a sitar. These sitars are tuned the same way as the original classical sitar would be tuned, because the tone quality and playing technique differ significantly from that of the sitar, it is typically used in rock, jazz, and fusion styles. J. Thomas Hooked on a Feeling, The Spinners Its a Shame, The Box Tops Cry Like a Baby as well as some sides by The Stylistics, the Grass Roots Glory Bound, Guns N Roses, Lenny Kravitz, Robbie Dupree Steal Away, Oasis, R. E. Raagnagrok is a duo using electric sitar and electronic. Tom Petty features electric sitar on Dont Come Around Here No More, vinnie Bell used the instrument on several songs, including Green Tambourine by The Lemon Pipers, Band of Gold by Freda Payne, and Shes a Heartbreaker by Gene Pitney. On his award winning 1969 instrumental rendition of the Joe South tune Games People Play saxophonist King Curtis teamed with guitarist Duane Allman on the electric sitar and this can be found on the Duane Allman album An Anthology. The 1971 album Somethin Else recorded by Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass prominently featured an electric sitar, the instrument provided accompaniment on such songs as Snowbird, Rose Garden, Are You from Dixie. and others. On ABBA’s 1979 recording of I Have A Dream the refrain is played on an electric sitar, however the recording for the movie version of ‘Mamma Mia’ featured a real bouzouki
21.
Viola
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The viola is a string instrument that is bowed or played with varying techniques. It is slightly larger than a violin and has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century it has been the middle or alto voice of the family, between the violin and the cello. The strings from low to high are generally tuned to C3, G3, D4. In the past, the viola varied in size and style as did its names, the Italians often used the term, viola da braccio meaning literally, of the arm. Brazzo was another Italian word referring to the viola which the Germans adopted in the form, the French had their own names, Cinquiesme was a small viola, Haute Contre was a large viola and Taile meant Tenor. In the modern era, the French use the term Alto, the viola had enjoyed popularity in the heyday of five-part harmony up until the eighteenth century, taking three lines of the harmony and occasionally playing the melody line. Music that is written for the viola differs from that of most other instruments in that it uses the alto clef. Viola music switches to the treble clef when there are sections of music written in a higher register to make the notes easier to read. The viola often plays the voices in string quartets and symphonic writing. The viola occasionally plays a major, soloistic role in orchestral music, examples include Don Quixote by Richard Strauss and Harold en Italie by Hector Berlioz. In the earlier part of the 20th century, more composers began to write for the viola, encouraged by the emergence of specialized soloists such as Lionel Tertis and William Primrose. English composers Arthur Bliss, York Bowen, Benjamin Dale, Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams all wrote substantial chamber, many of these pieces were commissioned by, or written for Lionel Tertis. William Walton, Bohuslav Martinů, Toru Takemitsu, Tibor Serly, Alfred Schnittke, Paul Hindemith wrote a substantial amount of music for viola, including the concerto Der Schwanendreher. The concerti by Paul Hindemith, Béla Bartók, and William Walton are the big three of viola repertoire, the viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size violas body is between 25 mm and 100 mm longer than the body of a violin, with an average length of 41 cm. Small violas typically made for children typically start at 30 cm, for a child who needs a smaller size, a fractional-sized violin is often strung with the strings of a viola. Unlike the violin, the viola does not have a full size. The body of a viola would need to measure about 51 cm long to match the acoustics of a violin, there have been several experiments intended to increase the size of the viola, in the interest of improving the instruments sound
22.
Semi-acoustic
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A semi-acoustic guitar or hollow-body electric is a type of electric guitar that originates from the 1930s. It has both a box and one or more electric pickups. This is not the same as a guitar, which is an acoustic guitar with the addition of pickups or other means of amplification. This led makers to try a series of designs that focused on amplifying a guitar electrically through a loudspeaker, in 1936, Gibson made their first production run of electric guitars. These guitars, known as ES-150s were the first manufactured semi-acoustic guitars, Gibson based them on a standard production archtop, with f holes on the face of the guitars soundbox. This model resembled traditional jazz guitars that were popular at the time, the soundbox on the guitar let limited sound emit from the hollow body of the guitar. These guitars, however, could be electrically amplified via a Charlie Christian pickup, the clear sound of the pickups made the ES series immediately popular with jazz musicians. The first semi-acoustic guitars are thought of as an evolutionary step in the progression from acoustic guitars to full electric models. However, Gibson made the ES-150 several years after Rickenbacker made the first solid-body electric guitar, the ES series was merely an experiment the Gibson company used to test the potential success of electric guitars. The experiment was a successful venture, and the ES series is often referred to as the first successful electric guitar. The ES-150 was followed by the ES-250 a year later, in became a long line of semi acoustics for the Gibson company. In 1949 Gibson released two new models, the ES-175 and ES-5 and these guitars came standard with built-in electric pickups and are widely considered the first fully electric semi-acoustic guitars. Prior models were not built with pickups, rather, they came as attachments, several models, including the ES-350T by Gibson, were made in the 1950s to accommodate this growing demand by including a more comfortable version of the archtop model. Gibson and other makers followed these variations with a new type of guitar that featured a block of solid wood between the front and back sections of the guitars cutaway. This guitar still functioned acoustically, but had a resonant cavity inside. Gibson first manufactured this variant in 1958 and it is commonly referred to as a semi-hollow body guitar, because of the smaller, less open body. Rickenbacker also began making semi-acoustic guitars in 1958, when the company changed ownership in 1954, they hired German guitar crafter, Roger Rossmiesl. He developed the 300 series for Rickenbacker, which was a wide semi-acoustic that did not use a traditional f hole, rather it used a sleeker dash hole on one side of the guitar, the other side had a large pickguard
23.
Electric piano
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An electric piano is an electric musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of the piano-style musical keyboard. Unlike a synthesizer, the piano is not an electronic instrument. Instead, it is an electro-mechanical instrument, some early electric pianos used lengths of wire to produce the tone, like a traditional piano. Smaller electric pianos used short slivers of steel to produce the tone, the earliest electric pianos were invented in the late 1920s, the 1929 Neo-Bechstein electric grand piano was among the first. Probably the earliest stringless model was Lloyd Loars Vivi-Tone Clavier, a few other noteworthy producers of electric pianos include Baldwin Piano and Organ Company and the Wurlitzer Company. Early electric piano recordings include Duke Ellingtons in 1955 and Sun Ras India as well as tracks from the 1956 sessions included on his second album Super Sonic Jazz. Another factor driving their development and acceptance was the electrification of popular music. Musicians adopted a number of types of electric pianos for rock. This encouraged their manufacturers to modify them for use and then develop models primarily intended for stage use. However, some performers still perform and record with vintage electric pianos, in 2009, Fender Rhodes produced a new line of electro-mechanical pianos, known as the Rhodes Mark 7 followed by an offering from Vintage Vibe. The Neo-Bechstein electric piano was built in 1929, the Vierlang-Forster electric piano was introduced in 1937. The RCA Storytone electric piano was built in 1939 in a joint venture between Story & Clark and RCA, the case was designed by John Vassos, the American industrial designer. It debuted at the 1939 Worlds Fair, the piano has normal strings and hammer action but no soundboard. The sound is amplified through electromagnetic pickups, circuitry and a speaker system, many types were initially designed as a less-expensive alternative to an acoustic piano for home or school use. Some electric pianos were designed with multiple keyboards for use in school or college piano labs, electric piano is a heterogeneous category encompassing several different instruments which vary in their sound-producing mechanisms and consequent timbral characters. Yamaha, Baldwin, Helpinstill and Kawais electric pianos are actual grand or upright pianos with strings, the Helpinstill models have a traditional soundboard, the others have none, and are more akin to a solid-body electric guitar. On Yamaha, Baldwin and Kawais pianos, the vibration of the strings is converted to a signal by piezoelectric pickups under the bridge. Helpinstills instruments use a set of electromagnetic pickups attached to the instruments frame, all these instruments have a tonal character similar to that of an acoustic piano
24.
Electric grand piano
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Since electric amplification eliminates the need for a resonant chamber, electric grand pianos are smaller and lighter, and consequently more portable, than acoustic pianos. Electric amplification also bypasses the difficulty of having to mic a conventional grand piano, experimental efforts to electrify the grand piano began in the late 1920s with the Neo-Bechstein. In 1939, the first commercially available model, the RCA Storytone, was introduced and these instruments featured the traditional hammered-string mechanism with pickups instead of a soundboard. In the 1970s, hammered-string electric pianos returned to production, beginning with Yamahas CP-70 and CP-80, followed by models by Kawai. In the 1980s, with the advent of the piano, the electric grand piano declined in popularity. The electric grand sound survives as part of the official General MIDI specification, the band Keane uses Yamahas CP-70 exclusively in its music. The band Tokyo Keys also uses the CP-70 as a component of its sound. Michael Curtes of Polite Sleeper plays a CP-70B as his keyboard in live performances. Tony Banks of Genesis used a Yamaha CP-70 from 1978 to the late 1980s in the music and his solo work, as did his bandmates Phil Collins
25.
Pedal steel guitar
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The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric steel guitar that is built on legs or a stand and is fitted with foot pedals and knee levers which change the pitch of certain strings. The word steel comes from a piece of polished steel held against the strings and moved back, like other electric guitars, the musical instrument produces sound by the vibration of its strings which are converted by magnetic pickup connected to an amplifier. Pedal steels may have one or two necks that typically have 10 strings each, but may have as many as 14, unlike most other guitars, pedal steel guitars have reference lines on the fretboard where frets would be, but no actual frets. The player changes the pitch of one or more strings by sliding a metal bar from one position to another or vibrating them with a mechanical device, Pedal steels are typically plucked with a thumb pick and fingers, or two or three fingerpicks. The distinctive feature of pedal steel guitars are the namesake pedals as well as knee levers. The pedals are mounted on a bar below the body. While there are fairly standard pedal assignments, many advanced players devise their own setups. The range of copedents that can be set up varies considerably from guitar to guitar, aftermarket modifications to make additional copedents possible are common. The pedal steel evolved from the steel guitar and lap steel guitar. Like the console steel, a pedal steel may have multiple necks, the pedal steel, with its smooth portamenti, bending chords and complex riffs, is one of the most recognizable and characteristic instruments of American country music. A pedal steel guitar is typically rectangular and has no specific resonant chamber or conventional guitar body and these are mounted on a stand and equipped with foot pedals and usually knee levers. Many models feature two necks, the nearer to the player most often using a C6 tuning and the farther away using an E9 tuning. The most common configuration is one or two necks of ten each, but eight-string and twelve-string necks are also popular. Three-neck instruments are less common than those with one or two, but are not unknown, the pedals and/or knee levers on the underside allow the performer to tighten or relax one or more strings in combination to specific tuned notes, changing the instruments tuning during performance. Several people have been credited with the innovation, the Hawaiian style of playing was very popular in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. To increase the volume of the guitar, a resonator cone was added by the Dopyera Brothers to create the resophonic guitar. By the 30s, the guitar body was abandoned for a flat slab of wood or metal and the addition of an electric pickup. It was the first electric guitar to achieve commercial success, several pioneering manufacturers of the electric guitar were first famous for their work on the then more popular electric steel guitar, among them Adolph Rickenbacker, Paul Bigsby and Leo Fender
26.
Lap steel guitar
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The lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fretboard, there are three main types of lap steel guitar, Lap steel guitars, the first developed, which use a similar sound box to a Spanish guitar. Resonator guitars, particularly those with square necks, but also round neck versions with a raised nut, Electric lap steel guitars, which include the first commercially successful solid body instruments. These were originally marketed as electric Hawaiian guitars, in addition to the lap-played model, a closely related version called a console steel guitar is supported on legs. Electric lap steels typically have six or 8 and up to ten strings, Lap steel and resonator guitars may also be fitted with pickups, but do not depend on electrical amplification to produce sound. A lap steel guitars strings are raised at both the nut and bridge ends of the fingerboard, typically to about half an inch. The strings are too high to contact the surface of the neck, so frets, some lap steel guitars can be converted between lap and fretted playing, or are modified versions of conventional guitars—the only difference is usually string height. Round-necked resonator guitars set up for steel playing fall into this category, instruments designed exclusively as lap steel guitars typically have modified necks that make fretted playing impossible. The hollow neck acoustic lap steel, developed by Chris Knutsen and popularized by Weissenborn, the square-necked resonator guitar has a strengthened square profile neck, allowing heavier string gauges and/or higher tunings that would normally be considered impossible on a conventional guitar. The electric lap steel guitar typically incorporates the entire neck into the body of the guitar, again providing extra strength to allow a greater variety of string gauges. The lap steel guitar is typically placed on the players lap and this method of playing greatly restricts the number of chords available, so lap steel music often features melodies, a restricted set of harmonies, or another single part. This allows the player greater control when picking sets of notes on non-adjacent strings, on the other hand, a minority of Blues players, and many Rock players, use a conventional flatpick. Tut Taylor is one of the few Dobro players that use a flatpick and it is widely reported that the lap steel guitar was invented by a man named Joseph Kekuku in 1885. It is said that, at the age of 7, Kekuku was walking along a track and picked up a metal bolt. He taught himself to using this method with the back of a knife blade. Various other people have also credited with the innovation. The instrument became a fad in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. The instrument became popular in Hawaii, as musicians played in tent-rep shows
27.
Rickenbacker
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Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. In 1932, the became the worlds first to produce electric guitars and eventually produced a range of electric guitars. The company was founded in 1931 as the Ro-Pat-In Corporation by Adolph Rickenbacher and these instruments had been designed by Beauchamp, assisted at the National String Instrument Corporation by Paul Barth and Harry Watson. They chose the brand name Rickenbacher, though early examples bear the brand name Electro, nicknamed frying pans because of their long necks and circular bodies, the instruments were the first solid-bodied electric guitars, though they were a lap-steel type. They had a pickup with a steel cover that arched over the strings. By the time production ceased in 1939, several thousand frying pans had been produced, Electro String also sold amplifiers to go with their electric guitars. A Los Angeles radio manufacturer named Van Nest designed the first Electro String production-model amplifier, shortly thereafter, design engineer Ralph Robertson further developed the amplifiers, and by the 1940s at least four different Rickenbacker models were made available. Lansing of the Lansing Manufacturing Company designed the speaker in the Rickenbacker professional model, during the early 1940s, Rickenbacker amps were sometimes repaired by Leo Fender, whose repair shop evolved into the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company. Their next collaboration involved experiments with mounting three conical-shaped aluminum resonators into the body of the guitar beneath the bridge and these efforts produced an instrument which so pleased Beauchamp that he told Dopyera that they should go into business to manufacture them. After further refinements, Dopyera applied for a patent on the so-called tri-cone guitar on April 9,1927, thereafter, Dopyera and his brothers began to make the tri-cone guitars in their Los Angeles shop, calling the new guitars Nationals. Adolph Rickenbacher was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1887 and emigrated to the United States to live with relatives after the death of his parents, sometime after moving to Los Angeles in 1918, he changed his surname to Rickenbacker. In 1925, Rickenbacker and two formed the Rickenbacker Manufacturing Company and incorporated it in 1927. Adolph became a shareholder in National and, with the assistance of his Rickenbacker Manufacturing Company, patent infringement disagreements between National and Dobro led to a lawsuit in 1929 with Dobro suing National for $2,000,000 in damages. By the late twenties, the idea for electrified string instruments had been around for some time, George Beauchamp had himself been experimenting with electric amplification as early as 1925, but his early efforts involving microphones did not produce the effects he desired. Along the way Beauchamp also built a one-string test guitar made out of a 2X4 piece of lumber and it was nicknamed the frying pan because of its shape, though Rickenbacker liked to call it the pancake. The final design Beauchamp and Barth developed was an electric pickup consisting of a pair of horseshoe-shaped magnets that enclosed the pickup coil and these instruments constitute the origin of the electric guitar by virtue of their string-driven electro-magnetic pick-ups. In 1933 the Ro-Pat-In companys name was changed to Electro String Instrument Corporation, in 1934 the name of Rickenbacher was added in honor of the companys principal partner, Adolph Rickenbacker. Both models had been experimental, produced as early as 1932, the Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts Model was subject to a limited production of forty-six
28.
Frying pan (guitar)
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The frying pan in 1931/1932 was the first electric lap steel guitar ever produced, and one of the earliest electric guitar, along with the Stromberg Electro in 1928. George Beauchamp created the instrument in 1931, and it was manufactured by Rickenbacker Electro. The instrument—officially the Rickenbacker Electro A-22—earned its nickname because its circular body and it was designed to cash in on the popularity of Hawaiian music in the 1930s. The instrument was made of cast aluminum, and featured a pickup that incorporated a pair of magnets that arched over the strings. In the 1930s, Hawaiian music enjoyed widespread popularity in the United States, however, Hawaiian music featured the guitar as the main melodic instrument, and the volume of acoustic guitars was insufficient for large audiences. Beauchamp had helped develop the Dobro resonator guitar, and co-founded the National String Instrument Corporation, through these businesses, he was acquainted with Rickenbacker, who owned the machine company that manufactured the aluminum resonators and brass bodies for the instruments. With Rickenbackers help, Beauchamp designed a lap steel guitar with an aluminum body. Rickenbacker produced the instruments from 1932 to 1939, National Public Radio, The Electric Guitar - Present at the Creation Rickenbacker, The Earliest Days of the Electric Guitar
29.
Fender Broadcaster
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The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele /ˈtɛli/, is the worlds first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing, the Fender Telecaster was developed by Leo Fender in Fullerton, California in 1950. In the period roughly between 1932 and 1949, several craftsmen and companies experimented with electric guitars, but none had made a significant impact on the market. Leo Fenders Telecaster was the design that made bolt-on neck, solid body guitars viable in the marketplace, players had been wiring up their instruments in search of greater volume and projection since the late 1920s, and electric semi-acoustics had long been widely available. That hand-built prototype, a white guitar, had most of the features of what would become the Telecaster. The initial single-pickup production model appeared in 1950, and was called the Esquire, fewer than fifty guitars were originally produced under that name, and most were replaced under warranty because of early manufacturing problems. In particular, the Esquire necks had no truss rod and many were replaced due to bent necks, later in 1950, this single-pickup model was discontinued, and a two-pickup model was renamed the Broadcaster. From this point onwards all Fender necks incorporated truss rods, the Esquire was reintroduced in 1951 as a single pickup Telecaster, at a lower price. The so-called Nocaster was a variant of Telecaster. Produced in early to mid-1951, it was the result of action from the Gretsch company over the guitars previous name. By the summer of 1951 the guitar was officially renamed as the Telecaster and has known as such ever since. The term Nocaster was originally coined by collectors to denote these transitional guitars that appeared without a name on the headstock. Since they were manufactured in this form for only a few very early in the Broadcaster/Telecasters history, original Nocasters are highly prized. There are no official numbers, but experts estimate that fewer than 500 Nocasters were produced. Fender has since registered Nocaster as a trademark to denote its modern replicas of this famous rarity, in 1951, Fender released the innovative and musically influential Precision Bass as a similar looking stable-mate to the Telecaster. This body style was released as the Fender Telecaster Bass in 1968 after the Precision Bass had been changed in 1957 to make it more closely resemble the Stratocaster guitar. Leo Fenders simple and modular design was geared to mass production, Guitars were not constructed individually, as in traditional luthiery. Rather, components were produced quickly and inexpensively in quantity and assembled into a guitar on an assembly line, the bodies were bandsawn and routed from slabs, rather than hand-carved individually, as with other guitars made at the time, such as Gibsons
30.
Gretsch
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Gretsch is an American company that manufactures guitars, basses and drums. The company was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, Friedrich Gretsch manufactured banjos, tambourines, and drums until his death in 1895. In 1916, his son, Fred Gretsch Sr. moved operations to Brooklyn, most modern-era Gretsch guitars are manufactured in the Far East, though American-made Custom Shop models are available. In 2003, Gretsch entered an agreement with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Under the terms of that agreement Fred W. Gretsch would retain ownership while FMIC would handle most of the development, distribution, Gretsch was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch, a young German immigrant. His Brooklyn shop was designed for the manufacture of banjos, tambourines, in 1895, Gretsch died at the age of 39, and the then successful company was taken over by his son Fred Sr. By 1916, Fred had moved the company into a larger 10-story building in the Williamsburg district, chuck Berry also played the Duo Jet when he recorded his first major hit, Maybellene and is pictured on his LP After School Session. Two other models were introduced - the Country Club, and the White Falcon, Guitar production by the Gretsch Company began in the early 1930s, and Gretsch guitars became highly sought after, most notably in the 1950s and 1960s. They lost favor with players during the 1970s and 1980s for various reasons, Gretsch eventually went bankrupt, then was revived in 1989 by Fred W. Gretsch, a great-grandson of Friedrich Gretsch. Fred W. Gretsch remains president of the company, during this time, Chet Atkins became an endorser of Gretsch. Atkins was one of the pre-eminent guitarists of his day, and his endorsement gave Gretsch greater visibility in competition with Gibson and Fender. Gretsch ultimately sold thousands of guitars with Chets name on the pickguard, most notably the 6120 Chet Atkins model, the worldwide success of Eddys twangy instrumental records, television appearances, and extensive touring, helped expose the Gretsch guitar to the teenage rock and roll market. George Harrison, years later, would refer to model as the Eddie Cochran/Duane Eddy guitar. Other Chet Atkins models were the Country Gentleman and the Tennessean, many rockabilly players had followed in the footsteps of Eddie Cochran, who also wielded a 6120 and Gene Vincents guitarist Cliff Gallup, who played a Duo Jet. Elvis Presley later owned a Gretsch Country Gentleman—, playing it briefly both on stage and in the studio, Gretsch quickly became a legitimate competitor to both Gibson and its main rivals, Fender and Rickenbacker. Gretsch fortunes rose yet again in the sixties when George Harrison played a Gretsch Country Gentleman on The Ed Sullivan Show. Despite popular belief, he acquired two Country Gentleman guitars, his first was destroyed when it fell out of the trunk of a car on the roadway. He would later switch to a Gretsch Tennessean and his Country Gentleman made its last appearance in the video of Youre Going to Lose That Girl in the movie Help
31.
Fender Telecaster
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The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele /ˈtɛli/, is the worlds first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing, the Fender Telecaster was developed by Leo Fender in Fullerton, California in 1950. In the period roughly between 1932 and 1949, several craftsmen and companies experimented with electric guitars, but none had made a significant impact on the market. Leo Fenders Telecaster was the design that made bolt-on neck, solid body guitars viable in the marketplace, players had been wiring up their instruments in search of greater volume and projection since the late 1920s, and electric semi-acoustics had long been widely available. That hand-built prototype, a white guitar, had most of the features of what would become the Telecaster. The initial single-pickup production model appeared in 1950, and was called the Esquire, fewer than fifty guitars were originally produced under that name, and most were replaced under warranty because of early manufacturing problems. In particular, the Esquire necks had no truss rod and many were replaced due to bent necks, later in 1950, this single-pickup model was discontinued, and a two-pickup model was renamed the Broadcaster. From this point onwards all Fender necks incorporated truss rods, the Esquire was reintroduced in 1951 as a single pickup Telecaster, at a lower price. The so-called Nocaster was a variant of Telecaster. Produced in early to mid-1951, it was the result of action from the Gretsch company over the guitars previous name. By the summer of 1951 the guitar was officially renamed as the Telecaster and has known as such ever since. The term Nocaster was originally coined by collectors to denote these transitional guitars that appeared without a name on the headstock. Since they were manufactured in this form for only a few very early in the Broadcaster/Telecasters history, original Nocasters are highly prized. There are no official numbers, but experts estimate that fewer than 500 Nocasters were produced. Fender has since registered Nocaster as a trademark to denote its modern replicas of this famous rarity, in 1951, Fender released the innovative and musically influential Precision Bass as a similar looking stable-mate to the Telecaster. This body style was released as the Fender Telecaster Bass in 1968 after the Precision Bass had been changed in 1957 to make it more closely resemble the Stratocaster guitar. Leo Fenders simple and modular design was geared to mass production, Guitars were not constructed individually, as in traditional luthiery. Rather, components were produced quickly and inexpensively in quantity and assembled into a guitar on an assembly line, the bodies were bandsawn and routed from slabs, rather than hand-carved individually, as with other guitars made at the time, such as Gibsons
32.
Gibson Les Paul
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The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The Les Paul was designed by Gibson president Ted McCarty, factory manager John Huis and their team, the Les Paul was originally offered with a gold finish and two P-90 pickups. In 1957, humbucking pickups were added, along with sunburst finishes in 1958, the sunburst 1958–1960 Les Paul – today one of the best-known electric guitar types in the world – was considered a failure, with low production and sales. For 1961, the Les Paul was redesigned into what is now known as the Gibson SG and this design continued as a separate guitar when the traditional single cutaway, carved top bodystyle was re-introduced in 1963. The Les Paul has been produced in countless versions and editions since. Along with Fenders Telecaster and Stratocaster, it was one of the first mass-produced electric solid-body guitars, Les Pauls have been used in many genres, including rock, country, pop, soul, rhythm and blues, blues, jazz, reggae, punk, and heavy metal. In 1950, the ancestors of Fender Telecaster were introduced to the musical market, in reaction to market demand, Gibson Guitar president Ted McCarty brought guitarist Les Paul into the company as a consultant. Les Paul was an innovator who had been experimenting with guitar design for years. He hand-built a solid-body prototype called The Log, often suggested as the first solid-body Spanish guitar ever built, in 1951, Paul, McCarty, and his team at the Gibson Guitar Corporation began work on what would eventually become the Les Paul Model. Early prototypes are very similar to the final version, the new Les Paul guitar was to be an expensive, well-made instrument in accordance with Gibsons reputation at the time. Although recollections differ regarding who contributed what to the Les Paul design, however, this reversal would have caused the guitar to become too heavy, and Pauls request was refused. Paul states that the original Custom should have had the maple cap, Les Pauls contributions to the guitar line bearing his name were more than cosmetic, but certainly included them. For example, Paul specified that the guitar be offered in a finish, not only for flashiness. The later-issue Les Paul models included flame maple and quilted maple tops, the 1952 Les Pauls featured two P-90 single coil pickups, and a one-piece, trapeze-style bridge/tailpiece with strings fitted under a steel stop-bar. The guitar made its debut when Paul used it onstage in June,1952. On July 24,1952, at a special musicians clinic at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, it was previewed by prominent guitarists such as Tiger Haynes, George Barnes, Mundell Lowe, Tony Mottola, and Billy Mure. The clinic preceded the annual NAMM Show held at the New Yorker hotel starting July 27, a second Les Paul model was introduced in 1953. Called the Les Paul Custom, this guitar with gold-plated hardware was dubbed the Black Beauty
33.
P-90
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The P-90 is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson since 1946. Gibson is still producing P-90s, and there are companies that manufacture replacement versions. Around 1940 Gibson offered a new bridge pickup for ES-100/125 series, as an alternative to the classic Charlie Christian, officially P-90 pickups were introduced in 1946, when Gibson resumed guitar production after World War II. They were initially used to replace Gibsons original bar or blade pickup on models such as the ES-150, the P-90s reign as the Gibson standard pickup was short-lived, however, as a new design of pickup, the humbucker, was introduced in 1957. Equipped with double coils, the new pickup boasted greater output and less hum and this trend continued throughout the 1960s and particularly in the early 1970s, where the pickup all but disappeared from the entire Gibson range. By the 1970s, smaller single-coil pickups, mini-humbucking pickups, and uncovered humbucking pickups began replacing the P-90 pickups on Gibsons budget, in 1968, however, Gibson re-issued the original, single-cutaway Les Paul - one version of which was a Goldtop with P-90 pickups. In 1974, Gibson put the P-90 pickup in their Les Paul 55 and it was followed in 1976 by the Les Paul Special Double-cutaway model and in 1978 by the Les Paul Pro. Since the 1970s the P-90 pickup has seen success in various models in the Gibson line, mostly through reissues. Currently it is featured most prominently on the Les Paul Faded Doublecut, in both The Dolls and The Heartbreakers, Thunders had a big influence on younger punk rock guitarists who adopted his look and choice of guitar. Mick Jones of The Clash and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols both owned Les Paul Juniors, and the double cutaway Junior became the first choice for punk rock guitarists. The P-90 was also marketed by Gibson in the 1970s as the Laid Back pickup, for the 2014 model year, the new version of the Les Paul Melody Maker features a variant of the P-90 pickup called the P-90S. This variant, inspired by the pickup of the Gibson ES-125. Occasionally they are mistaken for pole pieces, thus sometimes the P-90 is erroneously said to have eight pole pieces. The soap bar nickname most probably comes from its rectangular shape and proportions, and the fact. A variant of the Soap-Bar P-90 is one, which uses the dog ear mounting plate, or frame, the reason for the variation was to mount the pickup from a flat overlaying pickguard, such as is found on the Gibson SG Special. The dog ear mounting plate is fitted with screws and springs, the soap bar cover is used, and the soap bar mounting screws are used to affix the cover to the dog ear plate. Dog ear is a type with extensions at both sides of pickup, that somewhat resemble dogs ears. These are extensions of the predominantly rectangular cover, that encompass the outlying mounting screws, dog-ear P-90 pickups were commonly mounted on Gibsons hollow body guitars like the ES-330 and occasionally on solid body models like the Les Paul Junior
34.
Humbucker
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A humbucking pickup, humbucker, or double coil, is a type of electric guitar pickup that uses two coils to buck the hum picked up by coil pickups. Most pickups use magnets to produce a field around the strings. Humbuckers work by pairing a coil with the poles of its magnets oriented up. By connecting the coils together out of phase, the interference is reduced via phase cancellation. The string signals from both coils add up instead of canceling, because the magnets are placed in opposite polarity. The coils can be connected in series or in parallel in order to achieve this hum-cancellation effect, in addition to electric guitar pickups, humbucking coils are sometimes used to cancel hum in dynamic microphones. Hum is caused by the magnetic fields created by transformers. While playing a guitar without humbuckers, a musician would hear a hum through the pickups during quiet sections of music, sources of studio and stage hum include high-power amps, processors, mixers, motors, power lines, and other equipment. Compared to unshielded single coil pickups, humbuckers dramatically reduce hum, the twin coiled guitar pickup invented by Arnold Lesti in 1935 is arranged as a humbucker, and the patent USRE20070 describes the noise cancelation and current summation principles of such a design. This Electric Translating Device employed the solenoid windings of the pickup to magnetize the steel strings by means of switching on a short D. C. charge before switching over to amplification, in 1938 A. F. Knoblaugh invented a pickup for stringed instruments involving 2 stacked coils. This pickup was to be used in pianos, since he was working for Baldwin Piano at the time, the iron cores of these pickups were magnetized to have their north-south poles at the opposite ends of the core, rather than the now more common top-bottom orientation. To overcome the hum problem for guitars, a humbucking pickup was invented by Seth Lover of Gibson under instruction of then president Ted McCarty, about the same time Ray Butts developed a similar pickup that was taken up by Gretsch guitars. Although Gibsons patent was filed almost 2 years before Gretschs, Gibsons patent was issued 4 weeks after Gretschs, both patents describe a reverse wound and reverse polarity pair of coils. A successful early humbucking pickup was the so-called PAF invented by Seth Lover in 1955, humbuckers are also known as dual-coil, double-coil, or hum-canceling pickups. In any magnetic pickup, a guitar string, magnetized by a fixed magnet within the pickup induces an alternating voltage across its coil. Guitar pickups reproduce this noise, which can be quite audible, the direction of voltage induced across a coil by the moving string depends on both the coil winding direction and the polarity of the fixed magnet. On the other hand, the direction of current induced by external fields is only dependent on the direction of winding, therefore a humbucker has two coils wound in such a way to cancel hum and maximize signal when they are connected. By convention humbucker coils are both wound counterclockwise, however typically the outside ends of the coils are connected together so that the starts are out of phase
35.
Guitar pick
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A guitar pick is a plectrum used for guitars. Picks are generally made of one uniform material—such as some kind of plastic, rubber, felt, tortoiseshell, wood, metal, glass, tagua and they are often shaped in an acute isosceles triangle with the two equal corners rounded and the third corner less rounded. They are used to strum chords or to individual notes on a guitar. In British English, guitar picks are referred to as plectrums reserving the term pick to identify the difference between this and finger picks, musicians have used plectrums to play stringed instruments for thousands of years. Feather quills were likely the first standardized plectra and became widely used until the late 19th century, other alternatives had come and gone, but tortoiseshell provided the best combination of tonal sound and physical flexibility for plucking a taut string. There have been innovations in the design of the guitar pick. Most of these were out of the issue of guitar picks slipping and flying out of the hand of the player. In 1896, a Cincinnati man affixed two rubber disks to either side of a pick, which made it the first popular solution to the problem. Over the next two decades more innovations were made, such as corrugating the rounded surface of the pick or drilling a hole through the center to fit the pad of a players thumb. A more notable improvement was attaching cork to the part of the pick. Some of these new designs made picks undesirably expensive, eventually, pickers realized that all they needed was something to sink their fingerprints into so the pick wouldnt slip, such as a high relief imprinted logo. Celluloid was a material on which this could easily be done, tony DAndrea was the one of the first people to use celluloid to produce and sell guitar picks. From the 1920s through the 1950s, DAndrea Manufacturing would dominate the worlds international pick market, providing to major businesses such as Gibson, Fender, and Martin. One of the main reasons celluloid was so popular as guitar pick material was that it very closely imitated the sound and flexibility of a tortoise shell guitar pick. Musicians had been partial to shell picks, and when DAndrea provided an alternative, DAndrea Manufacturing became very successful, Celluloid provided a good alternative in many ways. Tortoise shell was rare, expensive, and had a tendency to break, Celluloid was made from cellulose, one of the most abundant raw materials in the world, and nitrocellulose combined with camphor under heat and pressure produced celluloid. Later, other materials, such as nylon and less popularly wood, glass, or metal would become popular for making guitar picks for their increased grip, flexibility, or tonal qualities. Pick shapes started with guitarists shaping bone, shell, wood, cuttlebone, metal, amber, most of todays guitar pick shapes were created by the company that made the first plastic pick in 1922, DAndrea Picks
36.
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
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Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to simply as Fender, is an American manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers. It is known for its electric guitars and bass guitars, such as the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Precision Bass. Its headquarters are in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company, previously named the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, was founded in Fullerton, California, by Clarence Leonidas Leo Fender in 1946. The company is a privately held corporation with Andy Mooney serving as the Chief Executive Officer, the company filed for an initial public offering in March 2012, but this was withdrawn five months later. In addition to its Scottsdale headquarters, Fender has manufacturing facilities in Corona, California and Ensenada, Baja California. The company also makes and / or distributes acoustic guitars, electric basses, mandolins, banjos, and electric violins, as well as amplifiers, bass amplifiers. Other Fender brands include Squier, Jackson, Charvel, EVH guitars and amplifiers in collaboration with Eddie Van Halen, in 1950, Fender introduced the first mass-produced solid-body Spanish-style electric guitar, the Telecaster. Following its success, Fender created the first mass-produced electric bass, in 1954, Fender unveiled the Stratocaster guitar. With the Telecaster and Precision Bass on the market for some time, the Strats comfortable contoured edges and in-built vibrato system led to its soaring popularity. The solid wood bodies of Fenders instruments allowed for minimal feedback with high-gain amplification, the Fender guitars were popular with musicians in a variety of genres and are now revered for their build quality and tonal excellence. The company began as Fenders Radio Service in late 1938 in Fullerton and it got its name from the surname of its founder Leo Fender. All designs were based on research developed and released to the domain by Western Electric in the 1930s. The business also sidelined in carrying records for sale and the in rental of company-designed PA systems, Leo became intrigued by design flaws in contemporary musical instrument amplifiers and began building amplifiers based on his own designs or modifications to designs. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars and amplifiers sold as sets, by the end of the year Fender became convinced that manufacturing was more profitable than repair and he decided to concentrate on that business instead. Kauffman remained, however, unconvinced and he and Fender amicably parted ways by early 1946, at that point Leo renamed the company the Fender Electric Instrument Company. The service shop remained open until 1951, although Leo Fender did not personally supervise it after 1947, a custom lap steel guitar made in 1946 for his friend Noel Boggs was probably the very first product of the new company, already sporting the familiar Big F logo. In the late 1940s, Leo Fender began to experiment with more conventional guitar designs, as early as 1949, the familiar shape of the Telecaster can be made out in some of Fenders prototypes. Early Telecasters were plagued with issues, Leo Fender boasted the strength of the Telecasters one-piece pine neck while early adopters lamented its tendency to bow in humid weather
37.
Les Paul
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Lester William Polsfuss, known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar. Paul taught himself how to play guitar and while he is known for jazz and popular music. He is credited with many recording innovations and he recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and they sold millions of records. Among his many honors, Paul is one of a handful of artists with a permanent, stand-alone exhibit in the Rock and he is prominently named by the music museum on its website as an architect and a key inductee with Sam Phillips and Alan Freed. Les Paul is the person to be included in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Les Paul was born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin, to George and his family was of German ancestry. Pauls mother was related to the founders of Milwaukees Valentin Blatz Brewing Company and his parents divorced when he was a child. His mother simplified their Prussian family name first to Polfuss, then to Polfus, before taking the stage name Les Paul, he also performed as Red Hot Red and Rhubarb Red. At the age of eight, Paul began playing the harmonica, after trying to learn the piano, he switched to the guitar. It was during this time that he invented a neck-worn harmonica holder and it is still manufactured using his basic design. By age thirteen, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a singer, guitarist. While playing at the Waukesha area drive-ins and roadhouses, Paul began his first experiment with sound. Wanting to make himself heard by people at the local venues, he wired a phonograph needle to his guitar and connected it to a radio speaker. As a teen Paul created his first solid body electric guitar using a 2-foot piece of rail from a train line. At age seventeen, Paul played with Rube Tronsons Texas Cowboys, Paul moved to Chicago in 1934, where he continued to perform on radio stations WBBM and WLS. He met pianist Art Tatum, whose playing influenced him to stick with the rather than original plans of taking on the piano. His first two records were released in 1936, credited to Rhubarb Red, Pauls hillbilly alter ego and he also served as an accompanist for a few other bands signed to Decca
38.
Pine
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A pine is any conifer in the genus Pinus, /ˈpiːnuːs/, of the family Pinaceae. Pinus is the genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The Plant List compiled by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts 126 species names of pines as current, together with 35 unresolved species, the modern English name pine derives from Latin pinus, which some have traced to the Indo-European base *pīt- ‘resin’. Before the 19th century, pines were often referred to as firs, the genus is divided into three subgenera, which can be distinguished by cone, seed, and leaf characters, Pinus subg. Pinus, the yellow, or hard pine group, generally harder wood. Ducampopinus, the foxtail or pinyon group Pinus subg, strobus, the white, or soft pine group, generally with softer wood and five needles per fascicle Most regions of the Northern Hemisphere host some native species of pines. One species crosses the equator in Sumatra to 2°S, in North America, various species occur in regions at latitudes from as far north as 66°N to as far south as 12°N. Various species have been introduced to temperate and subtropical regions of both hemispheres, where they are grown as timber or cultivated as ornamental plants in parks, a number of such introduced species have become invasive and threaten native ecosystems. Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous trees growing 3–80 m tall. The smallest are Siberian dwarf pine and Potosi pinyon, and the tallest is a 81.79 m tall ponderosa pine located in southern Oregons Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, the bark of most pines is thick and scaly, but some species have thin, flaky bark. The branches are produced in regular pseudo whorls, actually a very tight spiral, the spiral growth of branches, needles, and cone scales are arranged in Fibonacci number ratios. The new spring shoots are sometimes called candles, they are covered in brown or whitish bud scales and point upward at first, then turn green. These candles offer foresters a means to evaluate fertility of the soil, pines are long-lived, and typically reach ages of 100–1,000 years, some even more. The longest-lived is the Great Basin bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva, one individual of this species, dubbed Methuselah, is one of the worlds oldest living organisms at around 4,600 years old. This tree can be found in the White Mountains of California, an older tree, now cut down, was dated at 4,900 years old. It was discovered in a grove beneath Wheeler Peak and it is now known as Prometheus after the Greek immortal, pines have four types of leaf, Seed leaves on seedlings, born in a whorl of 4–24. Juvenile leaves, which follow immediately on seedlings and young plants, 2–6 cm long, single, green or often blue-green and these are produced for six months to five years, rarely longer. Scale leaves, similar to bud scales, small, brown and non-photosynthetic, needles, the adult leaves, are green and bundled in clusters called fascicles
39.
Gibson
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Gibson Brands, Inc. is an American manufacturer of guitars and other instruments, now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was known as Gibson Guitar Corp. and renamed Gibson Brands. Orville Gibson founded the company in 1902 as The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co. Ltd. in Kalamazoo, Gibson invented archtop guitars by constructing the same type of carved, arched tops used on violins. By the 1930s, the company was also making flattop acoustic guitars, as well as one of the first commercially available hollow-body electric guitars, Gibson sells guitars under a variety of brand names and builds one of the worlds most iconic guitars, the Gibson Les Paul. Many Gibson instruments are highly collectible, Gibson was at the forefront of innovation in acoustic guitars, especially in the big band era of the 1930s, the Gibson Super 400 was widely imitated. In 1952, Gibson introduced its first solid-body electric guitar, the Les Paul which became its most popular guitar to date— designed by Ted McCarty, Gibson was owned by the Norlin corporation from 1969 to 1986. In 1986, the company was acquired by its present owners, Gibson is a privately held corporation owned by its chief executive officer Henry Juszkiewicz and its president David H. Berryman. Orville Gibson patented a single-piece mandolin design in 1898 that was more durable than other mandolins, Orville Gibson began to sell his instruments in 1894 out of a one-room workshop in Kalamazoo Michigan. In 1902 Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. was incorporated to market the instruments, initially, the company produced only Orville Gibsons original designs. Orville died in 1918 of endocarditis, the following year the company hired designer Lloyd Loar to create newer instruments. Loar designed the flagship L-5 archtop guitar and the Gibson F5 mandolin that was introduced in 1922, in 1936 Gibson introduced their first Electric Spanish model, the ES-150 followed by other electric instruments like steel guitars, banjos and mandolins. During World War II, instrument manufacturing at Gibson slowed due to shortages of wood and metal, between 1942-1945, Gibson employed women to manufacture guitars. Women produced nearly 25,000 guitars during World War II yet Gibson denied ever building instruments over this period, Gibson folklore has also claimed its guitars were made by seasoned craftsmen who were too old for war. In 1944 Gibson was purchased by Chicago Musical Instruments, the ES-175 was introduced in 1949. Gibson hired Ted McCarty in 1948, who became President in 1950, the Les Paul was offered in Custom, Standard, Special, and Junior models. In the mid-50s, the Thinline series was produced, which included a line of thinner guitars like the Byrdland, the first Byrdlands were slim, custom built, L-5 models for guitarists Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. Later, a neck was added. Other models such as the ES-350T and the ES-225T were introduced as less costly alternatives, in 1958, Gibson introduced the ES-335T model
40.
Leo Fender
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Clarence Leonidas Leo Fender was an American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, or Fender for short. In January 1965, he sold the company to CBS and later founded two other musical instrument companies, Music Man and G&L Musical Instruments. Leo Fender was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992—a unique achievement given that he never learned to play the instruments that he made a career of building. Clarence Leonidas Fender was born on August 10,1909, to Clarence Monte Fender and Harriet Elvira Wood, from an early age, Fender showed an interest in tinkering with electronics. When he was 13 years old, his uncle, who ran a shop, sent him a box filled with discarded car radio parts. The following year, Leo visited his uncles shop in Santa Maria, California, Leo later claimed that the loud music coming from the speaker of that radio made a lasting impression on him. Soon thereafter, Leo began repairing radios in a shop in his parents home. In the spring of 1928, Fender graduated from Fullerton Union High School, while he was studying to be an accountant, he continued to teach himself electronics, and tinker with radios and other electrical items but never took any kind of electronics course. After college, Fender took a job as a man for Consolidated Ice and Cold Storage Company in Anaheim. It was around this time that a band leader approached Leo. Fender was contracted to six of these PA systems. In 1933, Fender met Esther Klosky, and they were married in 1934, about that time, he took a job as an accountant for the California Highway Department in San Luis Obispo. In a depression government change, his job was eliminated, after working there for six months, Leo lost his job along with the other accountants in the company. In 1938, with a borrowed $600, Leo and Esther returned to Fullerton, soon, musicians and band leaders began coming to him for public address systems, which he built, rented, and sold. During World War II, Leo met Clayton Orr Doc Kauffman, an inventor and lap steel player who had worked for Rickenbacker, while with Rickenbacker, Kauffman had invented the Vibrola tailpiece, a precursor to the later vibrato tailpiece. Fender convinced him that they should team up, and they started the K & F Manufacturing Corporation to design, in 1944, Leo and Doc patented a lap steel guitar with an electric pickup already patented by Fender. In 1945, they began selling the guitar, in a kit with a designed by Fender. As the Big Bands fell out of vogue towards the end of World War II, small combos playing boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues, western swing, many of these outfits embraced the electric guitar because it could give a few players the power of an entire horn section
41.
Fender Stratocaster
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The Fender Stratocaster is a model of electric guitar designed in 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously manufactured the Stratocaster from 1954 to the present and it is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top horn shape for balance. Along with the Gibson Les Paul, it is one of the most often emulated electric guitar shapes, Stratocaster and Strat are trademark terms belonging to Fender. The Fender Stratocaster was the first guitar to feature three pickups and a spring tension tremolo system, as well as being the first Fender with a contoured body, the Stratocasters sleek, contoured body shape differed from the flat, slab-like design of the Telecaster. The Stratocasters double cutaways allowed players access to higher positions on the neck. Starting in 1954, the Stratocaster was offered with a solid, deeply contoured ash body, a 21-fret one-piece maple neck with black dot inlays, the color was originally a two color sunburst pattern, although custom color guitars were produced. In 1956, Fender began using alder for sunburst and most custom color Stratocaster bodies, in 1960, the available custom colors were standardized, many of which were automobile lacquer colors from DuPont available at an additional 5% cost. A unique single-ply, 8-screw hole white pickguard held all electronic components except the recessed jack plate—facilitating easy assembly, in this floating position, players could move the bridge-mounted tremolo arm up or down to modulate the pitch of the notes being played. Hank Marvin, Jeff Beck and Ike Turner used the Strats floating tremolo extensively in their playing, as string gauges have changed, players have experimented with the number of tremolo springs, and modern Stratocasters ship with three springs. Some Strats have a bridge in place of the tremolo assembly. There is considerable debate about the effects on tone and sustain of the used in the tremolo systems inertia bar. The Stratocaster features three single coil pickups, with the originally selected by a 3-way switch. In 1977 Fender introduced a 5-way selector making such pickup combinations more stable, dick Dale is a prominent Stratocaster player who also collaborated with Leo Fender in developing the Fender Showman amplifier. In the early 1960s, the instrument was also championed by Hank Marvin, guitarist for the Shadows, in 1965, George Harrison and John Lennon acquired Stratocasters and used them for Help. Rubber Soul and later recording sessions, the double unison guitar solo on Nowhere Man is played by Harrison and Lennon on their new Stratocasters, after the introduction of the Fender Stratocaster Ultra series in 1989, ebony was officially selected as a fretboard material on some models. In December 1965 the Stratocaster was given a broader headstock with altered decals to match the size of the Jazzmaster, during the CBS era, particularly the 1970s, the perceived quality of Fender instruments fell. During this time, vintage instruments from the era became popular. Dan Smith, with the help of John Page, proceeded to work on a reissue of the most popular guitars of Leo Fenders era
42.
Gibson Melody Maker
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The Gibson Melody Maker is an electric guitar made by Gibson Guitar Corporation. It has had many body shape variations since its conception in 1959, the Gibson Melody Maker was first launched in 1959 and discontinued in 1971. It had a thin slab-style mahogany body and a mahogany neck. All the electronics, from the small single-coil pickups to the jack, were assembled on the pickguard. The strings ran from a simplification of the traditional Gibson headstock at one end to a wraparound bridge/tailpiece unit at the other. From 1959 until 1961, the Melody Maker had a single cutaway body style similar to the early Les Paul Junior model. In 1961 the body style changed to a double cutaway, resembling a Gretsch 6122 or a Danelectro Shorthorn. The body style was changed in 1966 to a similar to the SG, with pointed horns, a large white scratchplate. Note, Melody Maker D refers to the pickup model of any vintage but is often mistakenly used for the double cutaway model. Options on the Melody Maker included two pickups, the D model and a short-scale 3/4 neck, in 1967 a twelve-string version and a three pickup version were introduced, the Melody Maker 12 and III respectively. A short length version of the Vibrola vibrato device was available as an option. Rare examples were made to order in other custom Gibson colors e. g. Inverness Green, the Melody Maker was discontinued and replaced by the SG100,200 and 250. The Melody Maker double-cutaway model was revived in 1977 and discontinued again in 1983, some minor changes were introduced into the design including single coil pickups embossed with the Gibson logo, all metal tuning pegs and a latter-day Gibson stop tail piece and Tune-O-Matic bridge. In 1986, Gibson issued a Melody Maker with a single-cutaway body and it had one humbucking pickup, Grover tuners, a Tune-O-Matic bridge, and a stop tailpiece. Two humbucking pickup models with two switches were also made but are hard to find. This rare model features a neck, Grover tuners, Kahler tremolo system. The body is standard single-cutaway Melody Maker, the finish is black with a perloid pick guard. The Gibson All American II was built in the mid-1990s as part of the companys All American line which also included The Hawk, the All American II featured two high output single coil pickups creating a tonality similar to a hotrodded telecaster than a typical Gibson instrument
43.
Gibson Firebird
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The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson from 1963 to the present. The Gibson Guitar Corporation released several new styles during the 1950s to compete with Fenders solid-body instruments, after success with the Les Paul in the 1950s, Gibsons popularity began to wane in the 1960s. Fenders colors, shapes and multiple pickups were endorsed by notable guitarists, Gibsons guitars, most of which were hollow or semi-hollow designs, seemed old-fashioned. Coupled with higher prices, this contributed to a decline in sales, Gibson had made forays into radical body shapes - the Flying V and Explorer in the 1950s - which met limited initial success. The president of Gibson, Ted McCarty, hired car designer Ray Dietrich to design a guitar that would have popular appeal, under Dietrich, the Firebird took on the lines of mid-50s car tailfins. Dietrich took the Explorer design and rounded the edges, the most unusual aspect is that the guitar is backward in that the right-hand horn of the body is longer than the other. Thus, the original Firebirds were unofficially referred to as reverse, the Firebird looks like an Explorer with softer points, or maybe a reverse Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster. The Firebird is the first Gibson solid-body to use neck-through construction, the neck itself is made up of five plies of mahogany interspersed with four narrow strips of walnut for added strength. Other features were reverse headstock and banjo-style planetary geared tuning keys, there are no screw poles on Firebird pickups. Some Firebirds from 1965 featured Gibsons single-coil P-90 pickup, the Firebird line went on sale in mid-1963 with four models distinguished by pickup and tailpiece configurations. Unlike the Les Paul and SG line, which used the terms Junior, Special, Standard and Custom, Gibsons line of Thunderbird basses is rooted in the design of the Firebird, and uses even Roman numerals to distinguish it. From 1965 to 1969, Gibson introduced non-reverse models after failing to achieve marketing success with the unusual reverse-body design, Gibson had also received complaints from Fender that the Firebird headstock mirrored the Stratocaster and that the body violated Fenders design patents, with Fender threatening a lawsuit. The non-reverse body is a more standard double-cutaway design, with the horn being longer than the treble horn. It also had a standard glued-in neck rather than construction, as well as other, less noticeable changes in design. Pickup and tailpiece configuration for the V and VII were the same as the earlier models, although the I-. After a few years of disappointing sales, the line was dropped. Reverse body Firebirds were first reissued in 1972, with a commemorative Bicentennial modelreleased in 1976, the bicentennial model was distinguished by a red-white-blue logo on the white pickguard. The logo on most other models is red, the reissue Firebirds are usually based on the original reverse body design, however Gibson reintroduced the non-reverse Firebird in 2002 as a Custom Shop guitar
44.
Jazzmaster
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The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling to the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was marketed to jazz guitarists. Its appearance is similar to the Jaguar, though it is tonally and physically different in many technical ways, the contoured offset-waist body was designed for comfort while playing the guitar in a seated position, as many jazz and blues artists prefer to do. A full 25½ scale length, lead and rhythm circuit switching with independent volume and tone controls, the tremolo lock can be manually activated to keep the entire guitar from going out of tune if one string breaks. The Jazzmaster also had a tremolo arm. The bridge and tremolo construction is very different from that of the Stratocaster and gives the Jazzmaster a different resonance, the body is larger than that of other Fender guitars, requiring a more spacious guitar case. The Jazzmaster had unique wide, white soapbar pickups that were any other single coil. Jazzmaster pickups are often confused with Gibsons P-90 pickups, although they look similar, they are constructed differently. Whereas the polepieces of the Jazzmaster pickups are magnets, the P-90 has its magnets placed underneath the coil, the JM coil is wound flat and wide, even more so than the P-90. This is in contrast to Fenders usual tall and thin coils and this pancake winding gives them a warmer thicker tone without losing their single coil clarity. The Jazzmaster has a mellower, jazzier tone than the Strat, instead, rock guitarists adopted it for surf rock. The Ventures, The Surfaris, and The Fireballs were prominent Jazzmaster users, one of the Jazzmasters notable features is the pickup circuit featuring the unusual roller thumbwheel controls and slide switch at the upper neck end of the pickguard. The slide switch selects between two different pickup circuits, the lead and rhythm circuits, when the switch is in the lead position, the guitars tone is controlled by the conventional tone and volume knobs and the pickup selector switch. The intention was that this circuit would allow the performer to switch to a preset volume. As a concession to its more conservative audience, the Jazzmaster was the first Fender guitar carrying a rosewood fingerboard instead of maple, the fingerboard had clay dot position inlays and was glued onto a two-piece maple neck. The Jazzmaster initially came with a brown tortoise shell pickguard. Some early pre-production/prototype examples came with a maple neck, others with an ebony fingerboard and/or a black painted aluminum pickguard. Rosewood became a standard material on other Fender models around 1959
45.
Fender Jaguar
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Owing some roots to the Jazzmaster, it was introduced in 1962 as Fenders feature-laden top-of-the-line model, designed to lure players from Gibson. During its initial 13-year production run, the Jaguar did not sell as well as the less expensive Stratocaster and Telecaster, Fender began making a version in Japan in the mid-1980s, and then introduced a USA-made reissue in 1999. Since then, Fender has made a variety of Jaguars in America, Mexico, original vintage Jaguars sell for many times their original price. Both the Fender company and vintage guitar authorities date the introduction of the Jaguar to 1962, one writer states that the model was introduced in December 1960, but a 1962 ad featuring a Jaguar automobile in the background referred to the new Fender Jaguar. 1960s advertising for the Jaguar often had themes, underscoring the guitars appeal to surf musicians. Photographs for the campaign, done by Bob Perine, included photographs of girls on sandy beaches holding Jaguars—many of these featured Perines daughter and her friends. The guitar was not, however, heavily publicized by surf players themselves, the Jaguar never enjoyed the popularity of its Stratocaster and Telecaster siblings. Despite this, Jaguars still fetch considerably less than Telecasters and Stratocasters of similar vintage, one of the reasons why the Jaguar was used by indie rock artists is the sonic possibilities offered by the bridge construction. The bridge and vibrato unit of the Jaguar and the Jazzmaster help produce sympathetic resonance there is a considerable length of string between the bridge and the tailpiece. On top of that, when the strings are strummed behind the bridge, a chiming sound is created. Fender reissued the 1962 version of the Jaguar in 1999 as part of its American Vintage Series, several other variations have been released within the last decade, including several humbucker versions and a Jaguar bass guitar in 2006. Fender Japan produced Jaguars for its own market with numerous special editions including an accurate version of Kurt Cobains modified model until its closure in 2015. No standard US made AVRI Jaguars sport matching headstocks unlike their counterparts, however many Japanese models do. In the past, a Kurt Cobain replica Jaguar was made for the Japanese domestic market, in May 2008 Fender introduced the Classic Player Series Jaguar and Jaguar HH with dual Enforcer humbuckers, which are made in Mexico and sold for under $1000. This Classic Player guitar is available as a 1966 limited-edition version with a bound neck featuring rectangular block inlays. In September 2010 the Black Top Jaguar HH was introduced as part of the Mexico-made Black Top series, features include a solid alder body with gloss polyester finish, chrome hardware, dual Hot Vintage AlNiCo humbucking pickups with chrome metal covers and black skirted amp knobs. Other refinements include a neck with a 9. 5”-radius rosewood fingerboard,22 medium-jumbo frets, 24-scale length, a stop tailpiece. The Jaguar was built from ideas first incorporated in the Jazzmaster, with a similar offset waist body, the rhythm circuit, set into operation when the upper bout switch is flicked upwards, had individual volume and tone rollers but no option to choose between pickups
46.
Fender Precision Bass
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The Precision Bass is a bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The Standard P-Bass is sanded, painted and assembled in Ensenada, Baja California, Fender also produces Precision and Precision/Jazz basses in its Squier line of products. The double bass is physically cumbersome and difficult to transport and it was also becoming hard to hear in large bands or those that used amplified instruments and it requires skill to play such that it can not be readily picked up by any guitarist. The Precision Bass overcame these problems, the name Precision came from the use of frets to play in tune more easily than upon the fretless fingerboard of the double bass. The electric bass lacks the distinctive qualities of the double bass, offering a more solid. The bass guitar became more dominant and transformed the beat and rhythm of pop music from blues and swing to rhythm and blues, rock, soul. Acceptance of the bass was helped by the endorsement of Elvis Presleys bass-player Bill Black. Black was beginning to use a Precision Bass during the filming of Jailhouse Rock, Fender also delivered an early Precision to LA session bassist and arranger Shifty Henry. Monk Montgomery became the first jazz player to popularize the Fender Bass while playing with his brother, the original Precision Bass of 1951 shared several of its design features with the six-string Telecaster guitar, the main difference being its double cutaway body. In 1954 the Precision Bass received contoured edges for comfort while otherwise retaining the existing Telecaster-like styling, in 1957 the headstock and pickguard were redesigned to resemble Fenders recently introduced Stratocaster guitar, a rounder neck heel replacing the original square shape. A redesigned pickguard was made of a layer of gold-anodized aluminum with 10 screwholes. Rosewood fingerboards were then made of a veneered, round-laminated piece of wood, in 1960 the aluminum pickguard was replaced with a 13-screw celluloid design having 3 or 4 layers of black, white, mint green, aged white pearloid or brown tortoise-shell). In that same year the newly designed Fender Jazz Bass was released, the original Telecaster-derived design, with a few updates, was reintroduced in 1968 as the Telecaster Bass. Within a few years, however, it had evolved into a distinctly different from the contemporary Precision Bass. Since 1969 the 1-piece maple neck option has been fitted to many Fender basses, some Precision Basses made in the 1970s were also available with an unlined fretless rosewood, ebony or maple fingerboard, popularized by endorsees Sting and Tony Franklin. Fender briefly offered a fretless P Bass in the mid-1990s as a part of the first-generation American Standard line, from 1980 to 1984 the Precision Bass was given new active pickups and a high-mass brass bridge. The Special featured a pickup with white covers, gold hardware, a 2-band EQ. The Elite had one or two humbucking pickups, TBX tone circuit and a Schaller fine-tune bridge later used on the Plus Series models of the early 1990s
47.
Fender Jazz Bass
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The Jazz Bass is the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. It is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and it has a more focused tone than the Precision Bass, with less low end and low midrange. Because of these characteristics, the Jazz Bass is often preferred by bass players who seek a more noticeable sound. The sound of the Jazz Bass has been fundamental in the development of sounds in certain musical genres, such as funk, disco, reggae, blues, progressive rock, heavy metal. First introduced in 1960 as the Deluxe Model, it was marketed as a stablemate to the Jazzmaster guitar which was marketed as a Deluxe Model in its own right. It was renamed the Jazz Bass as Fender felt that its redesigned neck—narrower, the Jazz Bass has two single coil pickups with two pole pieces per string. This gave the bass a stronger treble sound to compete with the Rickenbacker bass, as well as having a slightly different, less symmetrical and more contoured body shape, the Jazz Bass neck is noticeably narrower at the nut than that of the Fender Precision Bass. The original intention of the instrument was to appeal to upright bass players, the original Jazz Bass had two stacked knob pots with volume and tone control for each pickup. Original instruments with this configuration are highly valued in the vintage guitar market. In late 1961 it received three control knobs, two controlling the volume of each pickup and one the overall tone, despite this new feature, many stacked knob models were made until about 1962. Another feature the initial models had were the Spring Felt Mutes, the purpose of those mutes was to dampen the overtones and the sustain, and were screwed in place between the bridge and aft pickup. Those felt mutes were not a success, and were replaced by a cheaper. Over the following years as the use of mutes gradually declined both the Precision and Jazz Bass models eventually began to be produced without bridge/tailpiece covers, a number of cosmetic changes were made to the instrument when CBS purchased the Fender companies in 1965. During 1965/66 the Jazz Bass received bound rosewood fingerboards with pearloid dot position inlays, block-shaped fingerboard inlays and an optional maple fingerboard were introduced after 1966/67. At first necks with rosewood fretboards received pearloid blocks/binding and maple fretboard necks received black, Fender switched to pearloid blocks/binding on all necks in mid-to-late 1973. White pickup covers and a pickguard/control plate were introduced the same year, unlike the Fender Precision Bass Plus, which had an optional maple neck, the Boner Jazz Bass was offered only with a rosewood fingerboard. The Jazz Plus debuted in 1989, discontinued in 1994 and replaced by the USA Deluxe Series Jazz Bass the following year, a fourth push button control is available on American-made Jazz Basses produced between mid-2003 until 2008. Known as the S-1 Switch, this allows the pickups to operate in standard, parallel wiring
48.
Gibson Les Paul Junior
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The Gibson Les Paul Jr. is a solid body electric guitar introduced in 1954 as an affordable, entry-level Les Paul. It was first released with a single cut body style, models with a double cut body style were introduced in 1958. The Jr. continued through the first three years of the Les Paul/SG body redesign and it was discontinued in 1963, and was not re-released until 2001. The goal for the Les Paul Jr. was to have a high-quality guitar that was still affordable and this was achieved by stripping the Gibson Les Paul down to the basics, no binding, no carved top, one pickup, one volume knob and tone knob. The Junior was equipped with one P-90 dog ear pickup in the bridge, in the 1960s and 1970s the Les Paul Jr. became very popular because of its simplicity and distinguishable tone when played through a high gain amplifier. A Les Paul Junior also became John Lennons main guitar during his post-Beatles years, the Les Paul Junior was originally introduced in 1954 as a single cutaway model, with its double cutaway counterpart arriving to the market in early 1958. Color schemes most commonly placed on Juniors were vintage sunburst, cherry red, in 1961, the body style of the Junior was shifted, and after conflict between Gibson and Les Paul, these models were later renamed the SG Junior. The Les Paul Junior is still offered today in several different variations, Gibson offers U. S. A. made Les Paul Juniors which has been given modern touches including a more slim-tapered neck. These particular Juniors have been seen in different incarnations since the mid-1980s in both single and double cut. The Gibson Custom shop has also offered a period correct Junior over the years through both its Historic and VOS branches and these models feature the more notorious large neck or baseball bat neck as it is often referred to among players. Several artists have had Juniors produced in the Gibson product line including John Lennon, Mick Jones, Peter Frampton, Armstrongs second signature model is a double-cutaway in TV Yellow which also includes an H-90 pickup. However, according to Armstrongs guitar tech, he not use the H-90 in his guitars. He uses a Seymour Duncan Antiquity P-90 pickup, the Les Paul Special has a similar body shape, but is equipped with two P-90 pickups and Gibsons standard four-knob, three-way switch electronics. Ace Frehley and Gibson created a model of this guitar. It is a variation of a Les Paul Jr. with a DiMarzio Superdistortion pickup added by Ace and they installed 20 cells for rechargeable batteries C, circuits and new lamps. In 2015, Gibson announced the rerelease of the Gibson Les Paul Junior into their 2015 USA range, Epiphone Japan has also released Juniors including the LPJ-70 and the Ltd edition Lacquer Series Jr. These Juniors were pretty much dead-on regarding the original 1954 Gibson specifications but they were manufactured for the Japanese market only, Epiphone manufactured the Invader as part of a starter pack which was marketed mostly in mainland Europe. In essence, the Invader is a guitar to the Epiphone Junior, with a single generic humbucker and single volume
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