Introduction

Music has become a mass phenomenon. Whether you are at the supermarket or at the barbershop, it is impossible to escape from it. It entertains, relaxes, stimulates and numbs. Music is everywhere. This development owes essentially to the music of electric guitars... more

The Club

It is a mythical place in music history: It is small, hot, dark, and crowded. The tinkling sound of glasses and the thick smoke of countless cigarettes fill the air. Tension is omnipresent... more

At the Movies

In the fifties, the cinema played a major role in German youth culture. Adolescents were especially attracted by spectacular Hollywood productions in cinemascope or 3D technology.
Inside the movie theatre, the monotony of everyday life could be left behind. Here, among their own kind, they could share their problems and illusions... more

Wood and Electricity

Electric guitars live. They are individual and complex organisms. The elements of an electric guitar include wood for body and neck, metal for the hardware and electric circuitry for the pickups. Only those who master the interaction of material, forces, and electric signals will build good electric guitars... more

The guitar shop

A guitar shop is much more to a musician than just a place to buy instruments. It is place to trade information, to play guitar, to discover new equipment, and to have repairs done... more

The Laboratory

How do electric guitars work? What are the underlying laws of physics? How is the sound produced that comes out of the speakers? Out of how many parts does a guitar consist? What does a guitar look like on the inside... more

Rehearsal Room

The first guitar, a cool riff, and one's own band: Childhood dreams. Even the stars of past and present had to start from scratch. Long before the first gig was played and the first demo tape was passed around they had had to rehearse, rehearse and rehearse.... more

Live on stage

During the sixties, concerts grew dramatically in size and dimension. They turned into mass movements. In 1969, nearly 500,000 people came to a three-day open air festival near the town of Woodstock, USA. In spite of rain and mud, they saw performances by Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana, The Who, Joe Cocker, and many more... more

Guitar Bizarre

The electric guitar seems to inspire the imagination. Since its body does not need to fulfil any acoustic properties, almost any shape is possible. Thus, instruments are created which stand out visually from the multitude of competing guitars. Concerns about functionality and ergonomics are of secondary importance only... more