Talk:Guitar/Anatomy of a Guitar

I am new to Wikipedia so bear with me, can we mention specific brand names to illustrate a mechanical point , this is essential when discussing the design of guitars and due to common knowledge one wouldn't need to copy or plagiarise any work on the subject. If this is allowed, would a simple credit to the manufacturer suffice ?

I can't say for sure, but I think that a simple mention of manufacturers and company trademarks, when needed, would suffice.

Whoever designed the picture did a great job but in Britain the pick guard is more commonly known as the scratchplate. Could the designer change it?

--Michael Campbell 15:32, 5 January 2007 (UTC)Michael Campbell

My Interactive Guitar Guide
The - I-IV-V Know Your Guitar Guide - built to combine my love (music) with my work (web programming)...



Includes: Play Along Chord Chart, Guitar Anatomy, I-IV-V Song Builder, Metronome, One-way tuner, I-IV-V Song Samples, and instructional videos. All instructional text kept to a minimum (for minimal reading).

Some ideas on this section
I think this part of the book is actually very good but the way it is laid out and the vast amount of information may be not suitable for the beginning of this book. As the 2nd section of this book it actually is too lengthy - you want people to play the guitar not spend all their time reading about different woods. You will not find any book on playing the guitar that makes the reader wade through 5 or 6 chapters of extensive text before they come to actual exercises.

I'm going to thin out any duplicate material from this section and maybe try to improve the formatting.

After scanning through this section I must say that whoever wrote the "woods" part did an excellent job with no duplication. So I'm going to concentrate on formatting and maybe as a 2nd section it is ok in its length and my initial belief that its length would deter readers may be wrong. I am a guitarist who insists on "playing" rather than "supreme knowledge" - nothing worse than jamming with a jazz guitarist whose learnt all the chords and their usage but never followed Segovia's advice of two hours of technical exercises followed by two hours of scales (I would do an hour) to a metronome - basically I followed that advice and the first three hours of any study practice for me would be technical exercises to a metronome and then scales. I've got nothing against "string buzzers" but its not for me.

Offcourse the most important thing for any guitarist is to do what makes you happy but please don't expect congratulations for that out-of-time and string buzzing version of "Yesterday" by The Beatles that you just played. False praise is just that, "false", and is usually given by audiences to performers as a tonic for the ego that didn't care about them.

Sluffs (discuss • contribs) 13:40, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Removed a block of text dealing with Amps
I removed the text on Amps. This section is about the "Anatomy of a Guitar" and amps and effects should go in their appropiate section. Because the part I removed is relevant to this book I've pasted it here - I'll add it to the correct section at a later date. Feel free to reverse my edit or add the section to where it belongs.

Amplifier and effects

The amplifier is absolutely necessary when playing the electric guitar. Acoustic guitars with no internal pickup may be amplified with a microphone and a specifically built acoustic amp or PA. Different amplifiers will give the same guitar a different sound and some amps are more appropriate for certain genres of music. Many amplifiers have effects built in. The most common being distortion; often called overdrive. If the amplifier has a "lead" channel then this can be turned up to produce distortion. This is possible because the pre-amplifier (pre-amp) will overdrive the amplifier's tubes or transistors therefore causing the amplification not to be linear. The more the tubes and transistors are driven, the greater the distortion.

Turning up the pre-amplifier will increase the volume. To compensate amps also have a "gain" knob which can be turned down to reduce the volume after overdrive. Overdriving an amp can result in sounds loud enough to cause damage especially blown speakers. This can happen to small 25w amps as well as large rigs. If you have just bought an amp or have use of unfamiliar equipment then always turn down the gain when plugging in and slowly and carefully adjust to the appropriate level. Distortion can also be provided by effects pedals. Other on-board effects you may find on an amp are chorus, reverb, wah-wah, compression and delay.

Sluffs (discuss • contribs) 17:53, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

String length and the octave in the Fretboard section
I've added a bit about frequency. Though I've described the action of producing the octave as "halving" the string; in reality its a doubling of the frequency of vibrations.

I'm not too sure if its useful to the paragraph but I'll leave as is. If for any reason you think that it shouldn't be included (esp. since it is a "side note") or that it can be explained better or placed elsewhere; then go ahead and edit the paragraph as you see fit.

Sluffs (discuss • contribs) 01:24, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Material removed from Tremolo section to be placed in a new section at a later date.
This is the material I removed. I felt as though it was quite advanced in some descriptions. I've placed it here for later integration into the book. Feel free to revert my edits or to paste this material into a new chapter.

Removed

The only way to rarely go out of tune is to either use the Floyd Rose tremolo or a hardtail (no tremolo). If you prefer to ease of setup while staying in tune with a tremolo, you can also try Yamaha's "finger clamp" locking tremolo, which requires no tools when setting up, or use locking tuners and roller nuts, as in Fender's locking tremolo.

A hardtail (no tremolo) bridge is great at staying in tune. However, it also has additional benefits, in that it also improved sound and sustain. The fixed bridge also makes it easier to perform string bends, and gives an altogether warmer and rounder sound than one with tremolo.

Despite such simple concept, there are at least three versions of ending the string:
 * 1) The first kind is the stop bar method, used from cheap budget types to expensive archtop and PRS guitars, where a stop bar that's mounted on top of the body holds the string's end. Sometimes it is also integrated to the bridge.
 * 2) The second kind is known as thru-body, where the string goes into the body; this enhanced sustain, but typically more expensive. the bridge, however, is a separate piece of hardware. Example would be Gibson's tune-o-matic. Despite this, strings still slide over the nut and saddles when playing/bending strings, just not as much as they do on a normal synchronized tremolo.
 * 3) The third kind of tail bridge is the fixed locking bridge, based upon the Floyd Rose tremolo except it is fixed; in this configuration, the string is clamped down, which ensure the string is stay in tune. Due to the fact that it's a fixed bridge, there are no spring cavity in the back; instead, the bridge is more or less mounted directly above the tail piece, which is usually thru-body. This is the best method to stay in tune. Currently, only Ibanez makes fixed locking bridge.

Sluffs (discuss • contribs) 14:03, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

Set thru neck material removed - to be placed in different section
I've removed this material. It is relevant but I thought it didn't allow the article to end smoothly - it read like a "variation" (which it is) on the other main ways of attaching a neck. Will add it to a newly created section maybe "Advanced Topics" or "Advanced Variations, Customizing and Features".

Removed text

Set through can be seen as a modification of a thru-body neck, which is done by the following The result is usually told to have combined advantages of all these methods, mostly eliminating their disadvantages. Luthiers frequently cite: The main disadvantage is a relatively complex construction method that leads to higher manufacturing and servicing costs. Another cited disadvantage is the inability or difficulty of adding a double-locking tremolo to the guitar, as the routing for cavities would interfere with deeply set neck.
 * A pocket in the instrument's body for insertion of neck, as in bolt-on method. However, the pocket is much deeper than usual one.
 * Long neck plank, comparable to the scale length, as in the neck-through method.
 * Glueing (setting) the long neck inside the deep pocket, as in the set-in method.
 * improved tone and sustain (due to deep insertion and body made of single piece of wood, not laminated as in neck-through),
 * "warmer" tone (due to set joint)
 * comfortable access to top frets (due to lack of hard heel and bolt plate),
 * better wood stability.

Sluffs (discuss • contribs) 00:05, 27 October 2012 (UTC)