Solid body
Solid body (German: "Massivkorpus") is an English-language technical term for those types of plucked instruments, electric guitar and electric bass , whose body , unlike acoustic guitars, does not have a resonance body , but consists mainly of solid wood or other materials. One advantage of this design is the suppression of acoustic feedback , since a solid body reacts to a far lesser degree to sound vibrations than a hollow body. Further advantages of the massive construction are a clear, electrically amplified sound and a longer decay time of the guitar strings played (English: Sustain ). A disadvantage of the massive body construction is the extensive loss of the acoustic sound of the instruments. In addition, solid body guitars are usually heavier than guitars with a sound box.
history
The solid body design was developed after problems with acoustic feedback arose due to the increased power of guitar amplifiers and the higher volume that can be achieved. The first electrically amplified guitars that came onto the market in the 1930s were acoustic instruments that were additionally equipped with electromagnetic pickups . These instruments pick up the sound waves from the amplifier, which causes unwanted feedback from a certain volume.
The first solidly built guitars were electric lap steel guitars made by the American musical instrument manufacturers Rickenbacker and Gibson, which went on sale in 1932. In the 1940s, various manufacturers began to transfer the design to other types of guitars. One of the first electric guitars with a partially solid body was the Bigsby / Travis guitar introduced by Paul Bigsby in 1948 , which he developed in collaboration with country musician Merle Travis . The Fender Telecaster (1950) and the Gibson Les Paul (1952) followed shortly afterwards . One of the first solid body electric bass models was the Fender Precision Bass, introduced in 1951 .
The introduction of the solid body construction enabled design advances in guitar construction, as this construction method significantly increased the possibilities of shaping the instrument body. Because the outline of the body only has a subordinate influence on the sound of the instrument, theoretically any shape is possible that is stable and can be played with reasonably comfortably.
Construction and materials
Different types of wood are used to produce a solid body. Commonly used are ash and alder (an important musical instruments manufacturer is the US company Fender ) and mahogany and koa (an important manufacturer: Gibson ). Combinations of different woods can often be found - for example a mahogany body with a top made of maple wood for the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar model or a multi-striped neck / body construction made of maple, walnut and other woods, for example for the Alembic electric bass model Series I . Depending on the type of wood used and the weight or shape of the body, this has a greater or lesser effect on the sound of the instruments.
Attempts to construct solid bodies from materials other than wood have been less frequent . The different approaches ranged from plastic (National), Plexiglas ( Dan Armstrong ) to carbon fibers and aluminum ( Travis Bean ). Inexpensive electric guitars often have inferior plywood as the body material. However, none of these materials prevailed over traditional wooden construction.
literature
- Tony Bacon, Dave Hunter: Totally Guitar - the Definitive Guide (Guitar Encyclopedia, English). Backbeat Books, London 2004. ISBN 1-871547-81-4
Web links
- Bigsby / Travis guitar on bigsbyguitars.com (accessed September 23, 2012)
Individual evidence
- ^ Bacon: Totally Guitar, p. 311