Acoustic guitar

An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument[1] in the string family.[2] 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,
resonating through the air in the body, and producing sound from the sound hole.[3] The original, general term for this
stringed instrument is guitar, and the retronym 'acoustic guitar' distinguishes it from an electric guitar, which relies on
electronic amplification. Typically, a guitar's body is a sound box, of which the top side serves as a sound board that
enhances the vibration sounds of the strings. In standard tuning the guitar's six strings[4] are tuned (low to high) E2 A2 D3 G3
B3 E4.

Acoustic guitar

Auditorium shaped guitar by C.F. Martin

String instrument

Classification String instrument (plucked or strummed)

Hornbostel–Sachs classification 321.322

(Composite Chordophone)

Developed 13th century

Attack Fast

Related instruments

Gittern

Lute

Vihuela
Guitar strings may be plucked individually with a pick (plectrum) or fingertip, or strummed to play chords. Plucking a string
causes it to vibrate at a fundamental pitch determined by the string's length, mass, and tension. (Overtones are also present,
closely related to harmonics of the fundamental pitch.) The string causes the soundboard and the air enclosed by the sound
box to vibrate. As these have their own resonances, they amplify some overtones more strongly than others, affecting the
timbre of the resulting sound.

History

The guitar likely originated in Spain in the early 16th century, deriving from the guitarra Latina.[5]

Gitterns, (small, plucked guitars) were the first small, guitar-like instruments created during the Spanish Middle Ages with a
round back, like that of the lute.[6] Modern guitar-shaped instruments were not seen until the Renaissance era, when the body
and size began to take a guitar-like shape.

A reconstruction of a medieval gittern, the first guitar-like instrument

The earliest string instruments related to the guitar and its structure were broadly known as vihuelas within Spanish musical
culture. Vihuelas were string instruments that were commonly seen in the 16th century during the Renaissance. Later,
Spanish writers distinguished these instruments into two categories of vihuelas. The vihuela de arco was an instrument that
mimicked the violin, and the vihuela de Penola was played with a plectrum or by hand. When it was played by hand it was
known as the vihuela de mano. Vihuela de mano shared extreme similarities with the Renaissance guitar as it used hand
movement at the sound hole or sound chamber of the instrument to create music.[7]

By 1790 only six-course vihuela guitars (six unison-tuned pairs of strings) were being created and had become the main type
and model of guitar used in Spain. Most of the older 5-course guitars were still in use but were also being modified to a six-
coursed acoustical guitar. Fernando Ferandiere's[8] book Arte de tocar la Guitarra Espanola pop music (Madrid, 1799)
describes the standard Spanish guitar from his time as an instrument with seventeen frets and six courses with the first two
'gut' strings tuned in unison called the terceras and the tuning named to 'G' of the two strings. The acoustic guitar at this time
began to take the shape familiar in the modern acoustic guitar. The coursed pairs of strings eventually became less
common in favor of single strings.[9]

Finally, circa 1850, the form and structure of the modern guitar are credited to Spanish guitar maker Antonio Torres Jurado,
who increased the size of the guitar body, altered its proportions, and made use of fan bracing, which first appeared in
guitars made by Francisco Sanguino in the late 18th century. The bracing pattern, which refers to the internal pattern of
wood reinforcements used to secure the guitar's top and back to prevent the instrument from collapsing under tension,[10] is
an important factor in how the guitar sounds. Torres' design greatly improved the volume, tone, and projection of the
instrument, and it has remained essentially unchanged since.
 Acoustic properties

Basic anatomy of a steel-string acoustic guitar

The acoustic guitar's soundboard, or top, also has a strong effect on the loudness of the guitar. Woods that are good at
transmitting sound, like spruce, are commonly used for the soundboard.[11] No amplification occurs in this process, because
musicians add no external energy to increase the loudness of the sound (as would be the case with an electronic amplifier).
All the energy is provided by the plucking of the string. Without a soundboard, however, the string would just "cut" through
the air without moving it much. The soundboard increases the surface of the vibrating area in a process called mechanical
impedance matching. The soundboard can move the air much more easily than the string alone, because it is large and flat.
This increases the entire system's energy transfer efficiency, and musicians emit a much louder sound.

Classical nylon-string sample (2:30)

0:00 / 0:00

Spanish Romance

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Steel-string acoustic sample (0:49)

0:00 / 0:00

An example of the sounds an acoustic guitar can create through vibration of its strings. This guitar uses steel strings.

Problems playing this file? See media help.

In addition, the acoustic guitar has a hollow body, and an additional coupling and resonance effect increases the efficiency
of energy transmission in lower frequencies. The air in a guitar's cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string
and soundboard. At low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator,
increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound again depending on whether the air in the box moves in phase or out of
phase with the strings. When in phase, the sound increases by about 3 decibels. In opposing phase, it decreases about 3
decibels.[12] As a Helmholtz resonator, the air at the opening is vibrating in or out of phase with the air in the box and in or out
of phase with the strings. These resonance interactions attenuate or amplify the sound at different frequencies, boosting or
damping various harmonic tones. Ultimately, the cavity air vibrations couple to the outside air through the sound hole,[13]
though some variants of the acoustic guitar omit this hole, or have holes, like a violin family instrument (a trait found in
some electric guitars such as the ES-335 and ES-175 models from Gibson). This coupling is most efficient because here the
impedance matching is perfect: it is air pushing air.

A guitar has several sound coupling modes: string to soundboard, soundboard to cavity air, and both soundboard and cavity
air to outside air. The back of the guitar also vibrates to some degree, driven by air in the cavity and mechanical coupling to
the rest of the guitar. The guitar—as an acoustic system—colors the sound by the way it generates and emphasizes
harmonics, and how it couples this energy to the surrounding air (which ultimately is what we perceive as loudness).
Improved coupling, however, comes costing decay time, since the string's energy is more efficiently transmitted. Solid body
electric guitars (with no soundboard at all) produce very low volume, but tend to have long sustain.

All these complex air coupling interactions, and the resonant properties of the panels themselves, are a key reason that
different guitars have different tonal qualities. The sound is a complex mixture of harmonics that give the guitar its
distinctive sound.

Amplification

An Ovation Adamas,[14] whose parabolic shape reduces feedback

Classical gut-string guitars lacked adequate projection, and were unable to displace banjos until innovations introduced
helped to increase their volume. Two important innovations were introduced by United States firm C.F. Martin: steel strings
and the increasing of the guitar top area; the popularity of Martin's larger "dreadnought" body size among acoustic
performers is related to the greater sound volume produced. These innovations allowed guitars to compete with and often
displace the banjos that had previously dominated jazz bands. The steel-strings increased tension on the neck; for stability,
Martin reinforced the neck with a steel truss rod, which became standard in later steel-string guitars.[15]
Many acoustic guitars incorporate rosettes around the sound hole.

An acoustic guitar can be amplified by using various types of pickups or microphones. However, amplification of acoustic
guitars had many problems with audio feedback. In the 1960s, Ovation's parabolic bowls dramatically reduced feedback,
allowing greater amplification of acoustic guitars.[16] In the 1970s, Ovation developed thinner sound-boards with carbon-
based composites laminating a thin layer of birch, in its Adamas model, which has been viewed as one of the most radical
designs in the history of acoustic guitars. The Adamas model dissipated the sound-hole of the traditional soundboard
among 22 small sound-holes in the upper chamber of the guitar, yielding greater volume and further reducing feedback
during amplification.[16] Another method for reducing feedback is to fit a rubber or plastic disc into the sound hole.

The most common types of pickups used for acoustic guitar amplification are piezo and magnetic pickups. Piezo pickups
are generally mounted under the bridge saddle of the acoustic guitar and can be plugged into a mixer or amplifier. A Piezo
pickup made by Baldwin was incorporated in the body of Ovation guitars, rather than attached by drilling through the
body;[17] the combination of the Piezo pickup and parabolic ("roundback") body helped Ovation succeed in the market during
the 1970s.[16]

Magnetic pickups on acoustic guitars are generally mounted in the sound hole, and are similar to those in electric guitars. An
acoustic guitar with pickups for electrical amplification is called an acoustic-electric guitar.

In the 2000s, manufacturers introduced new types of pickups to try to amplify the full sound of these instruments. This
includes body sensors, and systems that include an internal microphone along with body sensors or under-the-saddle
pickups.

Types

Historical and modern acoustic guitars are extremely varied in their design and construction. Some of the most important
varieties are the classical guitar (Spanish Guitar/Nylon-stringed), steel-string acoustic guitar and lap steel guitar.
Baroque guitar, c. 1630

Gibson L-3 archtop

Nylon/gut stringed guitars:

Vihuela

Gittern

Baroque guitar

Romantic guitar

Classical guitar, the modern version of the original guitar, including additional strings models
Russian/Gypsy guitar

Flamenco guitar

Lute

Steel stringed guitars:

Steel-string acoustic guitar, also known as western, folk or country guitar

Twelve string guitar

Resonator guitar (such as the Dobro)

 Archtop guitar

Selmer/Maccaferri (Manouche) guitar

Battente guitar

Lap steel guitar

Lap slide guitar

Parlor guitar

Lyre-guitar

Other variants:
Harp guitar

Pikasso guitar (a variant of harp guitar)

Contraguitar (Viennese variant of harp guitar)

Acoustic bass guitar

Banjo guitar

Body shape
E…

Common body shapes for modern acoustic guitars, from smallest to largest:

Common guitar body shapes: A. Range – B. Parlor – C. Grand Concert – D. Auditorium – E. Dreadnought – F. Jumbo

Range – The smallest common body shape, sometimes called a mini jumbo, is three-quarters the size of a jumbo-shaped
guitar. A range shape typically has a rounded back to improve projection for the smaller body. The smaller body and scale
length make the range guitar an option for players who struggle with larger body guitars.

Parlor – Parlor guitars have small compact bodies and have been described as “punchy” sounding with a delicate tone.[18] It
normally has 12 open frets. The smaller body makes the parlor a more comfortable option for players who find large body
guitars uncomfortable.

Grand Concert – This mid-sized body shape is not as deep as other full-size guitars, but has a full waist. Because of the
smaller body, grand concert guitars have a more controlled overtone and are often used for their sound projection when
recording.

Auditorium – Similar in dimensions to the dreadnought body shape, but with a much more pronounced waist. This general
body shape is also sometimes referred to as an "Orchestra" style guitar depending on the manufacturer.[19] The shifting of
the waist provides different tones to stand out. The auditorium body shape is a newer body when compared to the other
shapes such as dreadnought.
Dreadnought – This is the classic guitar body shape. The style was designed by Martin Guitars to produce a deeper sound
than "classic"-style guitars, with very resonant bass. The body is large and the waist of the guitar is not as pronounced as the
auditorium and grand concert bodies. There are many Dreadnought variants produced, one of the most notable being the
Gibson J-45.

Jumbo – The largest standard guitar body shape found on acoustic guitars. Jumbo is bigger than an Auditorium but
similarly proportioned, and is generally designed to provide a deep tone similar to a dreadnought's. It was designed by
Gibson to compete with the dreadnought, but with maximum resonant space for greater volume and sustain. The foremost
example of the style is the Gibson J-200, but like the dreadnought, most guitar manufacturers have at least one jumbo
model.

Gallery

Gittern (1450)

Lute (17th century)

Romantic guitar (c. 1830)

Classical guitar

Ten-string
Steel-string acoustic guitar

Resonator guitar

Chitarra battente
Lyre-guitar

Pikasso

Steel guitar (c. 1920)

Harp guitar

Mexican vihuela

12-String acoustic guitar

References
 1. "The Structure of the Acoustic Guitar：How a guitar makes sound - Musical Instrument Guide - Yamaha Corporation" (https://www.ya
maha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/acoustic_guitar/mechanism/) .

2. "Guitar Facts" (https://www.softschools.com/facts/music_instruments/guitar_facts/3048/) .

3. "The Structure of the Acoustic Guitar：How a guitar makes sound - Musical Instrument Guide - Yamaha Corporation" (https://www.ya
maha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/acoustic_guitar/mechanism/) .

4. "The Structure of the Acoustic Guitar：Six strings, each with a higher pitch - Musical Instrument Guide - Yamaha Corporation" (https://
www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/acoustic_guitar/mechanism/mechanism002.html) .

5. "Guitar | History, Types, & Facts" (https://www.britannica.com/art/guitar) .

6. "Gittern" (http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-music/gittern.htm) . www.medieval-life-and-times.info. Retrieved

October 7, 2015.

7. Grunfeld, Frederic (1971). The Art and Times of the Guitar. New York City: Macmillan Company. pp. 61–63.

8. "Ferandiere, Fernando Archives - Tecla Editions" (http://www.tecla.com/authors/ferandiere.htm) . Tecla Editions.

9. Tyler, James (2002). The Guitar and its Music (https://archive.org/details/guitaritsmusicfr00tyle) . United Kingdom: Oxford
University Press. pp. 229 (https://archive.org/details/guitaritsmusicfr00tyle/page/n255) –231. ISBN 978-0-19-921477-8.

10. Mottola, R.M. (1 January 2020). Mottola's Cyclopedic Dictionary of Lutherie Terms (https://www.liutaiomottola.com/books/dictiona
ry.htm) . LiutaioMottola.com. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-7341256-0-3.

11. "The Physics of the Acoustic Guitar - Body" (http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211.web.stuff/billington/body.html) . Retrieved

September 27, 2017.

12. "Helmholtz Resonance" (http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/Helmholtz.html) . newt.phys.unsw.edu.au. Retrieved August 31, 2015.

13. "How does a guitar work?" (http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/guitar/guitarintro.html) . newt.phys.unsw.edu.au. Retrieved

August 11, 2015.

14. Carter (1996, p. 127)

15. Denyer (1992, pp. 44–45)

16. Denyer (1992, p. 48)

17. Carter (1996, pp. 48–52)

18. "Parlor Pickin': The 2015 Guide to Buying a Parlor Guitar" (http://acousticguitar.com/parlor-pickin-the-2015-guide-to-buying-a-parlor-
guitar/) . Acoustic Guitar. Retrieved February 16, 2016.

19. "9 Types of Acoustic Guitars (Most Common Styles)" (https://www.guitarlobby.com/types-of-acoustic-guitars/) . Guitarlobby.com.
15 August 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2021.

Further reading

Carter, Walter (1996). Eiche, Jon (ed.). The history of the Ovation guitar. Musical Instruments Series (first ed.). Milwaukee,
Wisconsin: Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 1–128. ISBN 978-0-7935-5876-6. HL00330187; ISBN 978-0-7935-5876-6; ISBN 0-
7935-5876-X (softcover); ISBN 0-7935-5948-0 (hardcover).

Denyer, Ralph (1992). The guitar handbook. Special contributors Isaac Guillory and Alastair M. Crawford; Foreword by
Robert Fripp (Fully revised and updated ed.). London and Sydney: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-32750-X.

Mottola, R.M. Building the Steel String Acoustic Guitar (https://liutaiomottola.com/books/steel.htm) . ISBN 978-1-
7341256-1-0.

External links

Media related to Acoustic guitars at Wikimedia Commons

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Last edited 10 days ago by KH-1