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Guitar Pickup Electronics

Classical,Acoustic and Electric Guitar

A guitar is a stringed instrument that produces sounds through the string's vibration resonating within the guitar's body.

Guitars can be classified into 3 kinds: the classical guitar, the acoustic guitar and finally the electric guitar.

The classical guitar (also referred to as the Spanish guitar) is the most common between the three kinds of guitar. This kind of guitar has a hollow body with a hole that acts as a resonator of the sound produced by plucking and strumming the strings. It normally has six strings made of nylon. These nylon strings have less tension when compared to steel strings thus making this kind of guitar easy to pluck or strum. It is assumed that it is to be played only with a person's fingers and not with a pick. It is also normally used without amplifiers but classical guitar owners can equip one or just play the guitar in front of a microphone. This kind of guitar is used mainly for classical, Latin and Flamenco music.

The acoustic guitar looks like a classical guitar in terms of shape and appearance. Like a classical guitar, an acoustic one does not normally use amplifiers. Their similarities stop there, though, as an acoustic guitar uses steel strings to produce a louder and brighter sound. Heavier woods (such as spruce, maple and mahogany) are used for the body and neck of the guitar. This is to withstand the tension brought on by the steel strings. This kind of guitar caters to blues, country and folk music. It can also be used in different genres of rock.

The electric guitar uses electronic pickups to convert the sound of vibrating the strings into electric current. These signals will then be electrically altered to produce the desired sound before being fed to the amplifiers. Since the electric guitar uses these pickups, there is no need for the body to be shaped in a way that it would act as a resonator. This type of guitar is used for different kinds of music such as rock and roll, country, pop, jazz and heavy metal.

Classical and acoustic guitars are normally used by one man or in accompaniment of other guitars. This is because, unlike electric guitars, classical and acoustic guitars are not loud instruments and they will not be able to compete with other instruments such as percussion and wind instruments. Acoustic guitars today, though, may have built-in electronics to allow amplification of the sound.

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Acustic Guitar
by Ian Williamson please visit http://www.real-articles.com/Category/Guitar/96

Why make acoustic guitars with no electronics?

Okay, I'm a big Martin guitar fan, and one of my FAVORITE Martins is the MMV.

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/-MMV-Solid-Top-Dreadnought-RosewoodSitka-Acoustic-Guitar-?sku=512096

Thing is, I have a strict rule against buying guitars without electronics cause I plug into amps and PAs very often. So my question is, what is the point in making guitars without electronics? And also, is there a version of the MMV, or a very similar one with electronics?

Oh, and I don't like the little portable pickups that you put in your soundhole. I like built-in, and nothing but.

You know, that's in fact a good question. One reason is probably that a lot of (I would tend to think most of) players take to acoustic guitars without ever considering going amplified. And adding a pick-up system does add a cost...

One benefit of having a pick-up built in at the production line, is that this would be cheaper than adding one at a later date.

The cost factor gets more prominent with the better guitars. You just don't slam any old pick-up in - the better the guitar, the better the pick-up system will be needed to do the instrument justice. Also, the better the guitar, the more likely it is to feed back when amplified (a good guitar with better woods usually resonates more freely). So again you will need a good system to counter act that tendency.

My guess is that the higher end manufacturers are aware of the fact that different players tend to prefer a broad variety of systems. By adding one or two options on their factory line models, they would effectively risk leaving out players who would opt for something else.

If I were you I'd get the guitar I wanted and then add a good built in system. There's an avalanche of great retrofit pick-up systems ot there. The most natural sounding ones (in my opinion) combines an under saddle transducer with a built in dynamic (or condenser) miniature microphone. Great but expensive stuff...

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The Guitar Pickups Handbook $15.07 For every electric guitarist, a book that goes right to the source of the sound! The pick-up may be a humble piece of technology, yet without it there would be no electric guitars. In The Guitar Pick-Ups Handbook, guitarist and author Dave Hunter explores the history of the transducer that captures mechanical vibrations, from its beginnings in the early 20th-century through to the present day. He ...