Guitar Making is Ancient and Thoroughly Modern

Guitar making today is in many ways a reflection of the history of a variety of wood working crafts and technologies. Many guitars today are not all rosewood and inlay but may have a composite top or back made with modern material. Additionally, with modern lathing techniques, and casting processes, the metal parts of the guitar such as tuners and bridges have progressed to a very high level of sophistication.

Early guitars were fairly simple affairs and possessed much of the basic design concepts we still see in use today. The basic acoustic instrument relied upon its resonating body to form tone, and this body has changed little over the decades. In guitar making, spruce, alder and ash are all used as viable woods for the construction of the body, and are still used today.

In guitar making today the neck of the guitar is most often made from maple, and this is for a very good reason. Early guitars did not use a truss rod (a metal rod running up through the length of the neck) to give it strength. Maple was used for its excellent strength and ability to maintain shape and form under stress. To this day, maple still remains the primary material used for guitar neck construction.

The fret board itself has changed little over the years, it has become more accurate yes, but the general construction techniques used and the materials from which it is constructed remain the same. Some things in guitar making never change. Almost every fret board will be made of maple, ebony or rosewood. All of these are particularly hard wearing woods.

Tuning mechanisms have evolved entirely, from the very early days of a simple peg, held by friction, which was turned to apply or subtract tension to a string. Metal tuning pegs, known as machine heads, provided far more accurate and sensitive string adjustments when they were introduced. Modern tuning mechanisms incorporate not only machine heads, but also fine tuning knobs at the bridge, along with intonation adjusters for each individual string.

Without a doubt, the major turning point in guitar making in the modern age came with the invention of electrical pickups. These were initially simple devices, made up of wire wound around a magnetic core, which were able to pick up (hence the name pickup) the vibrations of the strings above them, and convert it into an electrical current. This electrical current can then be amplified, using standard amplification circuits, to produce a steady tone. Initially these simple pickups were attached to existing acoustic guitars. However, in a very short period of time, the very first solid body electric guitars were being produced, and the face of guitar making and contemporary music was changed forever.

Although modern day guitar manufacturers now use a variety of advanced materials, such as carbon, and composites, to replace many of the traditional materials used in times past, nothing will ever replace the sound of an age- hardened and well loved guitar. Regardless of what materials are used in its construction, the guitar will remain a timeless instrument and guitar making an ancient tradition.
Learn Music Articles, tips and lessons on how to sing, play guitar, piano or band. Overcome stage fright. Write your own songs! Be a better musician.

http://www.simplemusicsecrets.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_Kernodle