Acoustic-electric Guitar
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An acoustic-electric guitar is an
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
fitted with a microphone or a
magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particle ...
or piezoelectric pickup. They are used in a variety of music genres where the sound of an acoustic guitar is desired but more volume is required, especially during live performances. The design is distinct from a semi-acoustic guitar, which is an electric guitar with the addition of sound chambers within the guitar body. Usually, acoustic-electric guitars are fitted with piezoelectric pickups, requiring a preamplifier incorporated into the guitar body to amplify the signal before it travels to the main guitar amplifier. These preamps may also come with an integrated tuner and tone controls of varying types; equalizers with up to six frequency bands may be used.


History

In the 1920s, guitarists like Eddie Lang transitioned the
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
from a primarily solo instrument to use in big bands. However, in a big band, the guitar was outplayed by the horn section and drums, and the need for amplification became apparent quickly. Various experiments at electrically amplifying the vibrations of a string instrument date back to the early part of the twentieth century; patents from the 1910s show telephone transmitters adapted and placed inside violins and
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
s to amplify the sound. Hobbyists in the 1920s used carbon button microphones attached to the bridge, but these detected vibrations from the bridge on top of the instrument, so the resulting signal was weak. The first person to create the modern electric pickup for the acoustic guitar was
Lloyd Loar Lloyd Allayre Loar (1886ā€“1943) was an American musician, instrument designer and sound engineer. He is best known for his design work with the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co. Ltd. in the early 20th century, including the F-5 model mandolin an ...
, with his company
Vivi-tone Vivi-Tone was a musical instrument company formed in partnership by former instrument designer for Gibson Guitar Corporation, Lloyd Loar, Lewis A. Williams, and Walter Moon. The company was incorporated in Kalamazoo, Michigan on November 1, 1933, wi ...
. In the early 1930s, Loar split from
Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...
and founded Vivitone, where he created an early electric pickup for the acoustic guitar. Electronics were mounted in a removable drawer that slid out of the bass rim of the guitar. The signal was then transferred from a wooden bridge to a metal plate which allowed for an electric output and thus amplification. The first commercially available electric pickup however were
Harry DeArmond Rowe Industries was a manufacturer of guitar pickups and other music-related devices, as well as electrical components utilized in the aerospace industry into the 1980s. Owner Horace "Bud" Rowe established a working relationship with budding el ...
's FHC pickups, released in the 1930s. They were widely adopted because they didn't require any modification of the guitar. In 1954, Gibson released the first commercially successful flattop Acoustic-Electric Guitars, the Jā€“160E and CF-100E.


See also

* Electric guitar * Semi-acoustic guitar *
String instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acoustic-electric Guitar Acoustic guitars