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Guitars By Brandon Juliano
The guitar is a plucked string instrument usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings are attached, generally six. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with either nylon or steel strings Acoustic Electric
Type of Wood Used • Koa Wood • Mahogany • Alder • Solid Alder • Spruce • Solid Spruce • Canadian Sitka Spruce • German Spruce • Maple • Cedar • Brazilian Rosewood
Mahogany • Mahogany's weight and density are similar to maple, however mahogany carries a more mellow soft and warm tone to it • Great sustain, but not well suited to clear finishes • Les Paul guitars are made with Honduran mahogany • Mahogany trees are native tropical or rain forest trees found mostly in Africa and Latin America • The mahogany tree can grow to 150 feet tall, with a trunk nearly 6 feet in diameter.
Alder • Comes from the Alder Tree • Usually small trees that belong to the birch family • Alder wood is generally light and soft. • Its structure is even with straight fibers. • It is not very susceptible to shrinkage and remains stable after drying.
Maple • Maples are mostly trees growing to 10-40 meters (30-130 ft) in height • Some of the larger maple trees have valuable timber, particularly Sugar Maple in North America, and Sycamore Maple in Europe • Maple is a very popular wood for necks and fret boards. • Easily identifiable because of its bright tone, characteristic grain patterns and moderate weight. • Very strong dense and durable
Walnut • Comes from the walnut tree • Walnut's tone is slightly warmer than maple, although it still has good sustain. • Walnut can look excellent with oil finishes, and is moderately heavy, but still lighter than maple
How Its Made Wood Selection • The first step in making a guitar is selecting the woods • The top of the body, or the sound board, is often made of spruce or cedar because of their unique tons • The back and sides of the guitar are usually made of mahogany, alder, ash or walnut • Necks are often made of maple, mahogany, koa or rosewood. • Although they have an effect on guitar tone woods in the body and neck have less of an effect than the wood in the sound board
Body Manufacture • guitars are manufactured by cutting the shape of the top and back in the traditional figure-eight guitar shape • The sound hole or holes are cut into the top, or sound board. • The sides are then steamed to soften the wood. • The wood is then dried in a mold so it retains the traditional curves of the guitar. • The top, bottom and sides are then glued to an internal bracing system to give the guitar strength.
Neck Manufacture • Necks are either carved by hand or created with a computer-controlled cutter • Once the shape of the neck has been created, a fingerboard is glued on and shaped • Frets are inserted into the fingerboard. • Most acoustic guitars then need to have a headstock attached for tuners • Once the headstock is joined and glued in place the neck is ready to be finished
Finishing • Different finishes allow for more or less resonance. • Traditional finishes include nitrocellulose polyurethane • Many modern guitars use multiple layers of polyurethane giving it good durability
Assembly • Once the guitar is finished its time to join in the neck to the body • This is sometimes done with bolts, sometimes with glue • Certain guitar makers will use both bolts and glue • When the guitar neck and body are joined, the guitar's nut, tuners and bridge are installed
Setup • Once the basic guitar is finished, strings are attached and the guitar is set up • Set-up involves filing the grooves in the nuts and filing the bridge to position the strings at the desired height
Where To Buy • You can find guitars at any music store or any online music store • Prices differ for which type of wood was used to make the guitar • There are all kinds of different guitars some priced very high and some cheap
Sources www.ultimateguitar.com www.ehow/guitars.com www.howitsmade.com