A silent guitar is a type of

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

with a

solid Solid is one of the State of matter#Four fundamental states, four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas, and Plasma (physics), plasma). The molecules in a solid are closely packed together and contain the least amount o ...

chambered body An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

that converts the vibration of the strings into

electric current An electric current is a stream of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is measured as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface or into a control volume. The moving pa ...

using a

piezoelectric pickup A pickup is a transducer that captures or senses mechanical vibrations produced by musical instruments, particularly stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, and converts these to an electrical signal that is amplified using an instru ...

. The body of the guitar does not amplify the vibration of the strings into audible sound. Thanks to this, musicians can practice with headphones without disturbing people around them, or obtain an acoustic tone under heavy amplification without feedback. Las Vegas Academy has used silent guitars in a classroom setting, with students wearing headphones to hear their instrument's sound.

Types

Full-size bodies

A successful early silent guitar with a full-sized body was the Gibson Chet Atkins SST. It appeared to have a

soundhole A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; * F-holes in instruments from the v ...

, but it was in fact a dummy. It was employed by

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

, among others.

Small bodies

Reducing the body size of a silent guitar has little effect on the sound. The portability of a small bodied guitar, as well as the ability to practice silently, is an advantage to travelers.

Skeleton guitars

Some silent guitars are small-bodied instruments with a knee-rest of outer frame in the dimensions of an acoustic guitar so that they can be played sitting. These can be detachable to allow conversion into a

travel guitar Travel guitars are small guitars with a full or nearly full scale-length. In contrast, a reduced scale-length is typical for guitars intended for children, which have scale-lengths of one-quarter (ukulele guitar, or guitalele), one-half, and th ...

. The most well known and popular model of this type is the Yamaha Silent Guitar series. The model in the photo above is the SLG130NW.

Strings and tuning

Silent guitars are usually tuned in the same manner as traditional guitars, from low to high: E - A - D - G - B - E. Various models are available with seven, eight, and even 14-string configurations, although those are rare.

Manufacturers

Several guitar manufacturers offer silent guitars, including

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

, Traveler Guitar and

Warr Guitars Warr or WARR may refer to: * Warr Glacier, in Antarctica * Warr Guitar * WARR (AM) (1520 AM), radio station in North Carolina, USA * Warr Acres, Oklahoma, a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States * WARR (TUM), a student group at the Te ...

References

Guitars {{electric-guitar-stub de:Gitarre#Silent/Traveller Guitar