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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. A good instrument needs good wood. Its resonant properties determine the sound in a hollow body guitar. In a solid body guitar, it determines the quality of sustain. Wood grows and changes. Old instruments might sound better than new ones. Choice, storage and preparation of the various kinds of wood used for electric guitars is an exacting profession. Fine-tuning of body, neck, strings, fixtures, wiring, and pickups take a lot of experience. Up to the mid seventies many guitars had also been built in Germany. Today, they are mostly manufactured in North- and South America and Asia. » Next: The guitar shop |