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Contents 1 Java guitar 2 Removed some unnecessary text 3 Bad picture redux 4 Rosa Hurricane 5 Removed list 6 String numbering 7 Digital guitar 8 Bad picture 9 Destroying guitars 10 Odd or even harmonics? 11 Hollow-body 11.1 Rem text 12 Re-Organized Links 13 The Physics 14 Uses 15 Rem text 16 solid body electric guitar strings 17 Types of guitars 18 Proposal: Break out Guitar-dedicated articles 19 Gotta Say 19.1 Star body shape 20 origin 20.1 Reference in Variety, June 17 1937 21 Number of strings 22 12.207.149.107 (aka Brian Engstrom) 23 Junior Barnard before Charlie Christian? 24 common brands 25 revised stuff 26 Yuri Landman 27 Hollow Body correction 28 Addition 29 Removed guitar.ch link 30 originally used in 1970? 31 Dodô & Osmar and the "pau-elétrico" 32 Photo caption is Wrong 33 Vox 34 Merger prosposal 35 Multiple vandals 36 "tremolo bar" incorrect?

[edit] Java guitar

fuckis got information about it can edit it. Thanks.rencin24

[edit] Removed some unnecessary text

Kevin Flinn is a sexy beast.

I Wanna have buttsex with myself —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.235.187.61 (talk) 14:29, 27 October 2009 (UTC) The first three paragraphs or so seemed more like a joke than actual information. Putting an unfunctioning picture link up and writing about the joys of "poop guitars" is not the best way to start an article. Please put a better intro in or just leave it like it is.

Please sign your posts on talk pages. But wow, that's certainly an improvement! Poop guitar indeed! Thank you.

Agree it reads like a joke, but we might also take account of Hanlon's razor. Musicians in general, and we electric guitarists in particular, are a fairly hot-blooded lot, and as such we have an intrinsic problem in sorting out which are our opinions and which are facts. (;-> Andrewa 16:58, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bad picture redux

I don't think this is a very good picture. It's blurry, and it illustrates two no-name brand guitars. One looks strikingly like a Gibson Explorer and the other is not quite an ES-Whatever. I think the article should have a clear image of a Gibson or a Fender. I resent the comment below that a Stratocaster doesn't "excite" potential readers. There are hundreds of thousands of Stratocaster-lovers out there. Onsmelly 06:45, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, Strat rules!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ootmc 23:15, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I (POV) dislike (/POV) strats but I must concur. Tremspeed 21:54, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Agree that the Rosa is a no-name guitar, but the Maton is certainly not! Andrewa 03:21, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rosa Hurricane

Does this thing actually exist? The only mentions I seem to find of it online are on this page and pages that are verbatim copies of it. I am a Faggot

Yes, this thing actually exists, see the image description page. The body shape is also available as a strat replacement body shape from Warmoth Guitars, who call it a Star, but there are also other guitar body shapes called Star.

I'd love to know more about it myself! I bought it second-hand about ten years ago, cheapish ($100 AUD) and sadly neglected (you never buy a guitar with three strings missing, one broken and two too rusty to tune, however cheap... but I just kinda liked it), and set it up. I suspect Rosa may be an Australian importer's brand for MIJ student instruments, probably Rose Music, hence Rosa. Eston was their brand for Italian-made EKO guitars (I have one of those too), and some semi-acoustics were just branded RM, which stood for Rose Music. But, there's no evidence that Rosa or RM guitars are particularly common (unlike Eston ones), so I've no intention of starting articles on them.

It's a surprisingly good guitar. 01:25, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I quit that rosa hurricane photo because nobody knows that guitar, and looks very old and of bad quality, and the guitar sucks(sorry but its true it looks very cheap) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.157.111.236 (talk) 02:48, August 28, 2007 (UTC)

I would love to own a Rosa Hurricane, sadly I will never find it because of its rarity. Please reply back to give me info about this guitar. HAHA425

[edit] Removed list

The page as it existed was useless, full of misinformation and cliche, and displayed a total lack of NPOV regarding the instrument. This revision improved, I think, but it still needs a lot of work, particularly where the history is concerned. I deleted the "list of important electric guitarists" because there's no way that such a list could be inclusive of everyone that a small subgroup considers important. Important guitar players should be cited as necessary within the body of the article.

Where'd you put the deleted list? Perhaps it could be moved elsewhere? Somebody went to the trouble of collecting and compiling those names (not to mention typing them in), and it's a bit discouraging to have it all disappear! In the future, it's a good idea to copy and paste a deleted list like that into the talk page, in case others deem it meritorious and wish to do something with it. Sara Parks Ricker

It's in the history if anyone feels like reviving it. Quite frankly though, it was heavily slanted towards a certain type of player, and didn't seem to me to add anything to the article. In any case, it was mostly an incomplete duplication of the list at guitarist which strikes me as a much more appropriate place for such a list. In an entry under "electric guitar", a list of different peoples favorite electric guitarists does not seem to have the same sort of relevancy. IMHO, it seems like the links to specific players should relate to their specific contributions to the instrument, and should be included in the body of the article rather than as a (highly incomplete) list tagged on to the end. JFQ

It's a good rule of thumb to not delete content, but to find it a good home. I took the list out of the history to merge it with guitarist (which I'll probably move to List of guitarists... later), but only George Harrison had to be added. Anyway, I agree with your reasoning for removing it from the article, JFQ. Whenever I come across some out of place content like that and I don't know what to do with it, I simply copy it to the talk page. It's easier for people to get at than the history logs. --Stephen Gilbert

I didn't notice that George Harrison wasn't on guitarist page, so deleted the list thinking it only contained duplicate content. Good thing you double checked. JFQ

[edit] String numbering

Does anyone know about how the strings are numbered? I keep telling my friends that they're numbered starting with the high, trebly strings. The deep, thumping "low" strings actually have "higher" numbers, which leads to confusion. --Ed Poor

I don't know how you number your strings, but when I was taught, 1 was the high E and 6 was the low E. Of course, string numbering is subjective. -- Gpietsch 16:22 Sep 27, 2002 (UTC)

Thats right. The 1st string is the high 'e', the 6th is the bass 'e' (etc) -- User:GWO

This is an example of something that might actually be useful to incorporate into the main article. If nothing else, it might help readers who are puzzled by the fact that the strings referred to as "high" are typically those physically lowest on the neck as the guitar is played (well, as it is played by most guitarists anyway). The string known as the "low E" is in fact the topmost string, as the guitar is usually played. C d h 05:27, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

As far as I can tell all US string manufacturers number the high E as the 1st string, the low E as the 6th. 98.30.49.10 (talk) 09:20, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Digital guitar

I added a paragraph about Gibson's new digital guitar, but I'm not a musician and don't know anything about it beyond the marketing information in Gibson's announcement. I'm sure someone who knows more can improve on what I wrote. For example, I'm not qualified to assess the extent to which guitarists and music buffs have embraced or rejected the notion of a digital guitar, but that's probably worth a sentence or two. -- Pat Berry 16:21, 6 May 2004 (UTC)

I added a token sentence to the end, similar to the effects pedal paragraph which states that few guitarists have thrown away their Fenders just yet. I've read some praise for the Variax, but truth be told guitar players steer clear of new technology for the most part. And to be honest, I'm not sure the Magic from Gibson has left the prototype stage and its been several years. Tremspeed 22:09, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bad picture

The picture of the boy playing a stratocaster-like guitar is way to big and in general a bad picture. It fills no obvious function as stratocaster-like guitars is most likely not interesting for people reading about electric guitars. It would make more sense to have a picture of one of the famous guitar players mentioned, than a crappy picture of a random kid.

Peivind

---

Sorry for the mistaken reverts. The edits I labeled vandalism actually seem to have been reverting vandalism. I'll be more careful in the future. Badagnani 06:43, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

Looks like the "GAY PRONO" reference that has caused such trouble was added by 203.10.110.142 on August 1 and Mshecket's revert at that time failed to catch it. Thus, it's shown up in most recent edits, including reverts, and caused WP contributors such as myself to blame innocent reverters as vandals. Thankfully this is resolved (for the time being). Badagnani 07:07, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Destroying guitars

I think this mat fit better in an article on pop/rock groups Guitars are often theatrically destroyed during live performances, see The Who. Guitarist-bowhunter-activist Ted Nugent has ended many of his concerts by setting up a guitar on stage and shooting a flaming arrow into it. --Light current 23:24, 15 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Odd or even harmonics?

The article currently reads, under "electric guitar sound and effects",

... The most dramatic innovation was the generation of distortion by increasing the gain, or volume, of the preamplifier in order to clip the electronic signal. This form of distortion generates harmonics, particularly in even multiples of the input frequency, which are considered pleasing to the ear.

Until very recently that boldfaced "even" was "odd" -- it was changed in the most recent article edit that isn't obviously vandalism, by an anonymous editor, whose IP has made no other edits. I'm worried that this is a subtle insertion of misinformation. I don't know whether odd or even harmonics are considered more pleasing to the ear. Does anyone know which is right?

Zack 07:45, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

Both even and odd harmonics are required for that overdriven/distorted tone. The person who claims that only even harmonics are pleasgin to ears reeks ignorance. Pleasing to ear concept is very subjective + it is the odd harmonics that are actualy responsible for that distorted sound. Even harmonics add color to the tone (by making the wave form asymmetrical)

   Hi! While your gut feeling about a misinformation insert was correct, the facts stated are a bit confused. I suspect this is from the plethora of urban myths that have been around for years regarding electric guitars and audio science. The facts are thus: Distortion is a misused term referring to overdrive, or clipping, which occurs when the signal voltage of a stage of amplification is increased past the point of linear reproduction by its amplifying devices(tubes, transistors, or semiconductors), usually due to the signal peaks attempting to exceed the supply voltage. This causes the peaks of the audio sinewave to be "cut off" at a relatively low level, while the level of much weaker elements, such as harmonics and string noise, is brought up to the same level.(When this is done without clipping, it is called audio compression) This gives the percieved effect of shifting the balance of tonal elements away from the fundamental tone and towards the harmonics. This affects ALL harmonics relative to the fundamental. While it is true that asymmetrical waveforms of clipped signals favor odd harmonics, percieved harmonic content is a result of the waveform, not the other way around. Also the term 'harmonics' means one things to musicians and quite another to audiofiles. The subject of odd vs. even mathematical harmonic content in audio signals and the psychoacoustic benefits of each is still a relatively subjective and speculative field of study, and can get audio nuts riled up faster than "Ford vs. Chevy" at a tractor pull!   -Splinterhead  11/22/09  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.151.159.2 (talk) 15:21, 23 November 2009 (UTC)  

---

Hi, I think the term 'reeks of ignorance' is possible a little harsh. I was led to believe the modern 12 note musical scale was based on the arabic model scale and even frequencies were determined to be 'more pleasing' for most of the classical composers and thus most western musical sensibilities. Just my two cents worth. Anyway can anyone please explain the concept of odd or even harmonics? . I thought by definition a harmonic was a multiple (higher or lower) of the original or base note's frequency. ? ? Does anyone have a list of the frequencies for the western worlds 12 note scale ?

An "odd" harmonic is like 3rd harmonic, 5th harmonic, etc.; an "even" harmonic is like 2nd harmonic, 4th harmonic, etc. Distortion definitely generates more odd harmonics than even harmonics. A pure square wave has only odd harmonics, and distortion makes a waveform more squarish. I don't know if even harmonics really sound more pleasing to the ear than odd harmonics. Anyway, I changed the article to say "odd", as this is certainly correct. - furrykef (Talk at me) 04:15, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Looks like its an argument of semantics here. "Odd" harmonics, like the 3rd, 5th and 7th etc are the "even" harmonics when viewed in terms of frequency. --LiamE 09:02, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

No, the normal and well-established usage is as stated by Furrykef above, that the odd multiples of the fundamental frequency (3f, 5f, 7f, etc) are referred to as the 'odd' harmonics and even multiples of the fundamental (2f, 4f, 6f, etc) are the 'even' harmonics. For an example of this usage, see [1]. (Of course, the overtones are not actually exact multiples of the fundamental, due to the physics of the strings, but they're close.) -- The Anome 09:08, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Not quite so simple. Yes, a physicist will generally regard unison is the first harmonic, but musicians have traditionally called the note an octave up the first harmonic, and they stay one out from there on, physicists referring to three times the frequency as the third harmonic, musicians calling it the second. This may be changing, which is why I call the musicians' usage traditional. Andrewa 03:04, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

The frequencies are listed under scientific pitch notation. Andrewa 03:08, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

There are no doubt some musicians who confuse the terms harmonic and overtone (the first overtone is the second harmonic), but it's a bit much on that basis to say that this is "traditional" "musician's usage". It's confused-person's usage, and that's all it's ever been. TheScotch (talk) 07:46, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Hollow-body

Shouldn't this article have more on hollow-body and semi-hollow guitars? I mean, jazz musicians used these years before solid-body guitars existed and they are still used today.TheKid 15:18, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rem text

Removed text

with a solid or semi-solid body

from the intro. My Maton Freshman is every bit an electric guitar. See Talk:Gibson ES-335 for a little more on the solid body vs arch top wars. They don't belong here of course. Andrewa 20:20, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

hate to be a pedant, but semi-hollow body does not necessarily mean acoustic. hollow bodies are also every bit electric guitar. Joeyramoney 22:23, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Um, agree sort of. IMO semi-hollow body includes guitars such as some Fender Telecaster models which have tone cavities in an otherwise solid body. These aren't acoustic guitars in any sense at all.

But your point escapes me. Andrewa 03:04, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

String harmonics are present in stringed acoustic instruments. Violinists make use of them and it is possible create them on an acoustic guitar. If you try to tap them along the strings entire length you will get 3d's, 4th's and others to include even D for the E string. To state that overdriving a circuit will create overtones is misleading. Since the basic tone is clipped and now has a lower volume relative to the overtones, it's easy to think that they are created. The observation on acoustic string harmonics bears this out. You can then conclude that the harmonics are there even though you can't hear them. the way to prove this is to use an equalizer or a low/high pass filter. The description of an electronic pickup is not that accurate. The electromagnetic pickup was already in use before the introduction of the first electronic circuit in the late 40's. Probably the best way to settle the debate on odd/even harmonics is to have physicist/guitar player put in his 2 cents. Before passing judgement on the physics of the vibrating, keep in mind that all science depends on observations. If a scientist can't explain an observation, he has to come up with a theory that will explain it. If a scientist does not include a practitioner's observation, he's speculating like the rest of us. Solenoids move because of current. The magnets in a guitar pickup do not move. The theories on string harmonics should be able to explain the role of harmonics. I've noticed that if I can't get harmonics on the first three frets, the instrument's tone is inferior. This implies that harmonics sustain the note. A dead instrument's string usually goes thunk...Radical man 7 23:56, 19 January 2007 (UTC) In case you're wondering, These comments in this area is not my doing.... it's a software glitch. Radical man 7 00:01, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re-Organized Links

Hey Everyone, I re-organized the links in the same format as the Guitar Page.

If you see anything that was miscatagorized, or anything that doesn't belong - please remove it.

Please sign your posts on talk pages. Andrewa 00:53, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Physics

Shouldn't there be some information on how an electric guitar actually works, just something brief about the string vibrating in a magnetic field creates a changing field which induces a current into a coil wich goes to the amp (i think) etc? --130.95.109.73 10:56, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

I added a bit about this (as did others). One problem seems to be how to incorporate the material. The intro paragraph starts out on a technical note, but it isn't until later that the actual discussion of the pickups etc begins. To some extent, this may be difficult to avoid. Perhaps the article could stress that the guitar is more than an instrument, it is as much a social statement (as Dylan reportedly found out when he showed up for a gig with an electric), and even a cultural icon (witness the use of the guitar in the Hard Rock Cafe's logo). Beyond that, an electric guitar is just a device with fairly simple electronics components (including magnets, wires, resistors, and usually at least one capacitor). So there might be some difficulty in knowing which type of description best captures what an electric guitar "is." C d h 05:32, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Uses

the uses section seems a little pointless to me.. and the section on classical usage seems a little bit too much of a niche bit of information also? Bungalowbill 02:27, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rem text

In contrast to the acoustic guitar and most other acoustic string instruments, the solid-body electric guitar does not rely as extensively on the acoustic properties of its construction to amplify the sound produced by the vibrating strings; as such, the electric guitar does not need to be naturally loud, and its body can be virtually any shape. Since all the sound produced by the amplifier comes from string vibrations detected by the electronic pickups, an electric guitar that produces minimal acoustic sound may have maximal sustain, since less of the energy from the string oscillations is radiated as sound energy. For this reason, electric versions of almost all other similar string instruments have also been produced.

That information belongs in the solid body article, as it's not really about guitars as such. It's also arguably POV regarding sustain. Andrewa 01:26, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree that the portion that discusses sustain probably doesn't add much to this article, the contrast that the author was trying to make seems a relevant one, since a natural question would be for the reader to ask, "ok, what distinguishes an electric from an acoustic?" The point about the theoretical prospect of acheiving maximal sustain by not "wasting" the vibration as audible sound is an interesting one, though you could be right that it is more germane to an article devoted solely to the solid-body guitar. More properly, it would go in a discussion that compared the various builds of guitars, since the theoretical relationship between sustain and audible sound would apply to semi-hollows and even kitchen-tabletops. C d h 05:36, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] solid body electric guitar strings

there is different types of strings that is spesified about sertain types of music deppending on the thikness of the string ... i don't know much about that , since i am not proffesional , and i don't know yet how shoul i upgrate my guitar. so i need to know some about this staff

It would be really good to get a summary of common string gauges, not just for electric guitar but for mandolin, banjo and twelve string guitar, all steel string instruments in fact. Maybe an article on string gauges would be a good place. Ideally, we'd include historical gauges as well as current trends, and such things as Ernie Ball's light top and heavy bottom innovation (slinky he called it), the difference between jazz and rock gauges, Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower and the extra light era, the impact of Pink Floyd using heavier gauges to produce extreme bends without losing tuning, the various folk trends. There's lots of stuff to cover. Andrewa 09:49, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Types of guitars

I suggest that the types of guitars section be reorganised and the bit about types of guitars at the top be added

[edit] Proposal: Break out Guitar-dedicated articles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Distortion#Proposed_Article_Titles_and_Changes The refactoring is in-progress. It will have negligible effect on the present article. MichaelSHoffman 03:35, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

The refactoring is done. MichaelSHoffman 08:45, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gotta Say

of all the guitars to have as the representative picture on the top of the page- a Washburn copy and some skiffle reject? the humanity. Tremspeed 21:53, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

I chose this particular combination because it shows some of the enormous variety of electric guitars... hollow and solid body, single and double pole pickups, trad style and rad style, handmade and mass produced, double sided head and single, locally made and imported, professional quality instrument and entry level student model.

No doubt it could be improved upon. The electrics of both are very simple (that's what I play and therefore tend to own), neither is made in America which is the home of the EG (the closest to MIA that I currently own is an MIJ Fender), and both are similar age, late 60s and I guess early 90s.

If we went to only one guitar in the lead photo, we've got a problem... the obvious choices are MIA Fenders and Gibsons, and there's a strong POV problem in choosing either!

And, I think we should probably stick to six-string standard tuning models in the lead photo.

I'm fascinated that you call the star body a Washburn copy. It's not in the current Washburn Guitars catalog AFAIK, although it is available as a blank from Warmoth Guitars. I'd be very interested in any information about the history of this body shape.

On further research (see below), it appears the claim that it's a Washburn copy is just plain wrong... It's a Jackson shape originally, see Star (guitar). We can only guess that the writer doesn't like Washburns, or skiffle, or Maton guitars... and that they've never played a good Washburn, or any Maton. Andrewa 07:25, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

As for the Maton, it may not be as famous as the Gibson archtops on which it is based, but it's got a good and well-deserved reputation. Suggest you broaden your horizons a little, the more different sorts of music you learn to play well the better you play them all has been my experience. Andrewa 18:27, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Star body shape

The star body shape of the Rosa may be originally by Jackson Guitars rather than Washburn, see http://www.jcguitars.com/stardeath.htm and also of course our own article on Jackson Guitars which mentions this shape. Andrewa 06:26, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

It's probably not a Washburn Guitars body shape. Their star shape, as seen on the Dime 332B, has an extra horn in the lower tail position which the Jackson, Rosa and Warmoth designs don't have. See Dimebag Darrell for a picture of one of these in action. Hey, it was hard enough to get a case for the Rosa as is! Andrewa 07:03, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] origin

I'm not sure if or how this should be added to the article. My name is Rich Travis; my dad used to be a pretty popular studio musician, and played with atkins, maphis and our cousin Merle Travis. I remember sitting in Merle's RV at the Marion County, illinois fairgrounds talking about the first electric guitar; merle said he had an idea and just drew up a design for a guitar (he had notebooks full of drawings and cartoons he did), then had a friend who was a machinist (Who I now know was Paul Bigsby) make him up one; this intitial solidbody guitar had most of the features of a modern solidbody. What i'm not seeing written anywhere is what I clearly remember him saying, that Fender asked if he could make a guitar based off of his design, and merle agreed. Apparently Bigsby found out about it while fender was first coming out with the esquire and got all bent out of shape; I think he said something like "the machinist was going to sue me", I don't remember exactly but it was something on those lines. I had gotten the impression that Merle had been expecting to make a lot of money off of what became the esquire (and later the telecaster), but after Bigsby stated raising hell he got leo to say the idea was all his and deny Merles involvement. Since this was during a conversation about "almost-was" deals, I think that was the situation. --—Preceding unsigned comment added by Paganize (talk • contribs)

It would be really good to record this oral history ASAP, every passing week decreases its usefulness, and it is extremely important information. But Wikipedia is not the place for it. Andrewa 03:08, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

See http://source.pbwiki.com/travis. Andrewa 19:47, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reference in Variety, June 17 1937

Hello I just want to add a reference in relation to the origin of the electric guitar from Variety. This reference was found incidental to some other research. There's no technical detail to show how different this "recently invented" electric guitar is from the models mentioned being made by Rickenbacker in 1931, just this short news item, which carries the names of the people involved and the company. Maybe someone can work it into the introductory section on the origin of the guitar.

"A Robot Guitar" - Paul Martin planes east next week with his recently invented electric guitar which the Gibson co. of Kalamazoo will market. Tony Freeman is the inventor. (DAILY VARIETY June 17, 1937, p. 2)

GermanicusCaesar (talk) 23:25, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Number of strings

First off, Tiny Grimes plays 4-string "tenor" electric guitar, so that's one the article missed. If I were knowledgeable about the issue, I'd organize a number-of-strings section that discussed the general issue of extra strings, usually bass, sometimes doubled, and what goes into the decision, and a better discussion of how the 12-string is a totally different issue. Ortolan88 02:14, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Adding one-string and four-string sections. Ortolan88 18:06, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 12.207.149.107 (aka Brian Engstrom)

This bloke, it seems, remained, ahem, one of important innovators of the tonal palette of the electric guitar as modified by effects boxes, from 21:51 UTC, 7 October 2006 right up until about twenty minutes ago, UTC - see [2]. Despite, by my calculations - (~24 days x 24 hours x 60 minutes)/15 - robbing about 2 304 people of their 15 minutes of fame, I think he's done well. I'd certainly join his fan club, just as long as he changed his name to Brïän Ëngström. Best of luck with the basketball and discus throwing, Engsy.--Shirt58 12:13, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
ps: If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly or redistributed by others, do not submit it. Of course, this goes for me as well.

Wiser now: what a silly thing to add to an article talk page!; I also realise I forgot to en-dash en-dash tilde tilde tilde tilde the later comment.--Shirt58 11:46, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Junior Barnard before Charlie Christian?

Junior Barnard was playing electric guitar in Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys at about the same time as Charlie Christian's first efforts, in the mid-30s. He, Christian, Noel Boggs, and Eldon Shamblin were all working in Oklahoma radio stations at the same time. I'd have to check some sources to say whether he recorded earlier than Eddie Durham or not, but I know for a fact that he was playing "fuzz" 25 years before the Beatles, and deserves some credit for innovation here. 216.231.46.147 23:45, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

He needs an article! Badagnani 00:11, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Done. Badagnani 00:33, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Added By Sean Sweeney (microbus@charter.net):

The first use of electric amplification that I can verify would be a film from Roy Smeck from around 1932 playing Farewell Blues with an Hawaiian acoustic string band. He's playing a lap steel. The video is on Youtube. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.132.206.121 (talk) 00:42, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] common brands

The list of guitar brands are all linked. I have found some that link to the wrong pages, but I do not know much about guitars to fix them.Snowman 00:31, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] revised stuff

Someone put a lot of '-' in the article, really screwing it up. I just fixed it up and everything so it should look really good now. If there's any mistakes, feel free to fix it up.

Hope I helped!! 66.222.198.121 03:06, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Yuri Landman

How much of this text did Yuri Landman write? His name comes up twice on the page, despite his marginal, at best, significance in the history of the electric guitar. I'm just sayin'...

[edit] Hollow Body correction

the pickups convert a combination of string and body vibration into an electrical signal.

Can this be correct? How would a pickup convert the body vibration of the guitar into an electric signal. Based on my understanding of how a pickup works, this seems unlikely. As a simple test, if you removed the strings from a hollow body guitar and vibrated the body, would the pickup still generate a signal? I agree that a guitar's construction shape the sound that it produces, but I don't think the wood alone could generate a signal in its pickups. I'm not an expert so correct me if I'm wrong. --76.49.154.183 02:28, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

The article is right. Do a simple test... tap the belly of a hollow body guitar while it's plugged in to an amplifier. Hear the tapping in the amp? But in a way you're right too... without the strings you probably wouldn't hear anything. The pickups detect the relative movement of the pickups to the strings. The movement of the pickups is more significant in a hollow body than in a solid body.

Actually, I'd argue that the clean sounds (little or no distortion) of a solid body also have significant pickup movement in the tone, and that the body movement of a hollow body is insignificant when it's used with heavy distortion. But solid bodies tend to be played dirty, and hollow bodies clean. In each case, it's just what they do best. Horses for courses.

Thanks for the contribution! Andrewa 01:54, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Hollowbodies still retain a very distinctive character when distorted - George Thorogood's songs have many excellent examples of an overdriven hollowbody guitar. There just aren't many people looking for that particular tone these days. Of course, if by "heavily distorted" you mean fitted with EMGs, then pumped through a distortion pedal and a Mesa Triple Rectifier, then you are probably correct. Emoticon (talk) 21:24, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Maybe the point is that the pickup will detect any vibration, and that at least some of this will alter the string's own vibration/resonant frequency. You're right that tapping the body can generate current from the pickups (and worse if they've gone microphonic!). It's interesting to note that, Eric Johnson, for example, bangs on the back of his Strat (bangs, not taps) with his fist while standing directly in front of his amps, during some of his songs. C d h 05:44, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Addition

There is no mention of the little switch featured on the body of most electric guitars. It's name escapes me. 68.186.250.91 (talk) 21:00, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Removed guitar.ch link

That was a link to a site where you pay money for PDFs about music theory and such. I don't think its appropriate, but feel free to readd it if you disagree. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.144.95.34 (talk) 19:58, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

i was mistaken about guitar.ch. my apologies. it is an excellent free resource for guitar information. 76.22.167.123 (talk) 20:02, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] originally used in 1970?

come on are you serious? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.217.73.55 (talk) 05:02, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Dodô & Osmar and the "pau-elétrico"

These two "baianos" (from Bahia, Brazil), Dodô and Osmar, invented in 1948 the first electric guitar of the world that was diferent of the previous jazzistic electric guitar. The "pau-elétrico" can be considered the first electric guitar with the rock characterist (at the later time). This sound had its typical acute color characteristic and sustained sound, without microphonic feedback. It's a pity that the world doesn't see this truth.

• If you do have reliable sources for your claim, why don't you add these informations to the article? Malfacteur (talk) 09:29, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Photo caption is Wrong

It looks to me like the guitar on the left is a Godin with P-90 pickups. These are in fact single coil pickups, and not humbuckers. 208.124.32.205 (talk) 15:11, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

EDIT: I was wrong, I expanded the photo and they are indeed humbuckers. 208.124.32.205 (talk) 15:13, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Vox

Do we really need a section about Vox? A section about Gibson seems to me much better use of space. --Merijn2 (talk) 20:32, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Merger prosposal

I am proposing that string-through body, an article that I found on new page patrol, be merged into this article. Talk amongst yourselves.

Edit mercilessly, critique mercifully. --I dream of horses (T) @ 22:07, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't think that they should merge, just because if someone searches for 'string-through body' and all they get is the page for 'guitar', it might not be very helpful. But, the string'through article could stand some expanding. 64.228.198.183 (talk) 21:51, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

I created the String-through body article because I thought it was a worthy topic. Anyone is welcome to merge it or to expand it; however, I'm not sure what else there is to say about it. It's not a very complicated subject. 68.197.72.206 (talk) 22:08, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

me be bold!!!Gzuckier (talk) 01:45, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I am not sure where the writer of string-through body got their information from, but let us put a stop to the proliferation of an "urban myth" about guitars right here. The FACTS of the matter are thus: The tension of a guitar string is determined by 3 things; The length of the string, the mass of the string cross section(guage or thickness), and the pitch it is tuned to. NOTHING else affects string tension or the pull against the neck. Running the strings through the body may affect the angle of the bend that the string makes over the bridge saddle, but the tension between bridge and nut is ONLY determined by those 3 factors. It is simple physics. I'm not talking about sustain, tonality, or loudness, only tension and the effect it has on the neck, truss rod, etc. This applies to all guitars, all types of guitars, and actually, to all stringed instruments. Unfortunately, many such myths exist about electric guitars, and some have been around so long that they are generally believed to be true, even by 'experts' who should really know better! -SplinterHead 11-22-09 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.151.159.2 (talk) 14:09, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Multiple vandals

Page has been under attack my multiple vandals today. Working to repair. Jusdafax 15:56, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

OK, I think it's all put back. Suggest an admin deal with the two vandals in question. Jusdafax 16:03, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

[edit] "tremolo bar" incorrect?

The page states:

Some electric guitars have a vibrato arm (sometimes called a "whammy bar" or incorrectly "tremolo bar"[11]

Reference 11 is simply the paragraph:

The word Tremolo properly describes variation of volume, not pitch (vibrato); however, the misnaming (likely originating with Leo Fender printing "Synchronized Tremolo" on the headstock of his original 1954 Stratocaster) is too well-established to be easily reversed. Thus the correct name for it is "Vibrato bar".

This seems like OR to me; especially the phrase "likely originating with".

I looked it up in a dictionary and one of the definitions was "A vibrato in singing, often excessive or poorly controlled.", so I think "Tremolo properly describes variation of volume, not pitch (vibrato)" is bunk.

Edit:

I tracked the change down to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Electric_guitar&oldid=182785154
Note: (→Tremolo arms: add detail into a footnote)

SubtractM (talk) 07:03, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I have removed the offending reference for now, and replaced it with "citation needed"

SubtractM (talk) 21:51, 28 October 2009 (UTC)