Solid body
Encyclopedia
A solid-body instrument is a string instrument
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

 such as a guitar
Guitar
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, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 or violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 built without its normal sound box
Sound box
A sound box or sounding box is an open chamber in the body of a musical instrument which modifies the sound of the instrument, and helps transfer that sound to the surrounding air. Objects respond more strongly to vibrations at certain frequencies, known as resonances...

 and relying on an electric pickup system to directly receive the vibrations of the strings.

Solid-body instruments are preferred in situations where acoustic feedback may otherwise be a problem and are inherently both less expensive to build and more rugged than acoustic electric
Semi-acoustic guitar
A semi-acoustic guitar or hollow-body electric is a type of electric guitar with both a sound box and one or more electric pickups. This is not the same as an electric acoustic guitar, which is an acoustic guitar with the addition of pickups or other means of amplification, either added by the...

 instruments.

The most well-known solid body instruments are the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 and electric bass
Electric Bass
Electric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...

. These instruments were instrumental in creating new genres of music such as rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

.
Common materials used in the construction of solid body instruments are alder, maple, mahogany, korina, spruce, rosewood, and ebony. Some woods are used more in constructing certain solid bodies more than others. For instance, mahogany, maple, alder, spruce, and rosewood are commonly used in constructing the parts of electric guitars and bass guitars.

Solid body instruments have some of the same features as acoustic string instruments. Like a typical string instrument they have a tuner and a bridge and a fingerboard (or fretboard). Fretboards are a piece of wood that run from top of the neck to the body. Atop the fretboard are the strings. Some fingerboards have frets or bars which the strings are pressed against. This allows musicians to stop the string in the same place. Ebony, rosewood and maple are commonly used to make the fingerboard. All the solid bodies have variations in scale length or, the length of the strings from the nut to the bridge. The action, or the height of the strings from the fingerboard, is adjustable on solid body instruments.
Most solid bodies have a form of equalization controls such as a preamp, volume and tone controls. Some might also contain frequency adjustments such as low, middle, and high. These are used to shape the sound along with the aid of amplifier. Amplifiers allow solid body instruments to be heard at medium to high volumes.

Instruments

Solid-body instruments
  • Some electric guitar
    Electric guitar
    An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

    s
  • Most bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    s
  • Electric upright bass
    Electric upright bass
    The electric upright bass is an electronically amplified version of the double bass that has a minimal or 'skeleton' body, which greatly reduces the size and weight of the instrument. The EUB retains enough of the features of the double bass so that double bass players are comfortable performing...

  • A few electric mandolin
    Electric mandolin
    The electric mandolin is an instrument tuned and played as the mandolin and amplified in similar fashion to an electric guitar.As with electric guitars, electric mandolins take many forms:...

    s
  • Most electric violin
    Electric violin
    An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...

    s
  • Most electric sitar
    Electric sitar
    An electric sitar is a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional Indian instrument, the sitar. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional sitar...

    s
  • Most electric viola
    Viola
    The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

    s
  • Electric cello
    Electric cello
    The electric cello is a type of cello that relies on electronic amplification to produce sound. An acoustic cello can be fitted with a bridge or body mounted contact pickup providing an electric signal, or a built-in pickup can be installed...



Solid-body instruments do not include:
  • Semi-acoustic instruments.
  • Electric piano
    Electric piano
    An electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...

    s, even those with strings such as the electric grand piano
    Electric grand piano
    An electric grand piano is a particular type of piano manufactured and marketed by Yamaha, Kawai and Helpinstill during the 1970s and 1980s, although experimental instruments of similar type were made as early as the late 1920s...

    .
  • Pedal steel guitar
    Pedal steel guitar
    The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...

    .


Electric lap steel guitar
Lap steel guitar
The lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....

s without sounding boards are considered to be solid-body instruments by some authorities, and not by others. This has a major effect on some claims of historical priority, as they predate the first models of solid-body electric guitar, which may otherwise be claimed to be the first commercially successful solid-body instruments. While noting this, it will be assumed that electric lap steels without sounding boards are solid-body instruments for the purposes of this article.

Early prototypes

A solid-body electric violin was proposed by Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

.

Commercial models

The first commercially successful solid-body instrument was the Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...

 frying pan
Frying pan (guitar)
The "frying pan" was the first electric lap steel guitar ever produced. George Beauchamp created the instrument in 1931, and it was subsequently manufactured by Rickenbacker Electro...

 lap steel guitar, produced from 1931 to 1939.

The first commercially successful solid-body electric guitar was the Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...

 (The early Telecaster models had no model name on the head stock and are now referred to as 'No Casters") in 1950. It was followed by the Gibson Les Paul
Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...

 in 1952.

Impact on musical styles

Solid-body instruments have particularly influenced heavy rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 and surf music
Surf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...

. Without solid-body guitars, neither of these genres could have developed as they did.

Additional history

  • Solid Body Electric Guitars
    Electric guitar
    An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...


The solid body electric guitar is one of the most well-known solid body instruments. Instrumental in rock, metal, blues, and country music, the electric guitar has been responsible for creating various sounds.

There are some common characteristics of solid body electric guitars. They typically have six strings although there are some seven string and eight string models. Most have at least a tone and volume control. If they have more than one guitar pickup they have a switch that allows them to switch between the different pickups. There are various types of pickups that can be outfitted to a guitar. They can have single-coils, a P-90
P-90
The P-90 is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson since 1946. Having a more complex architecture and larger dimensions than Fender's single coils, it is occasionally mistaken for a humbucker.- History :...

, or a humbucker
Humbucker
A humbucker is a type of electric guitar pickup, first patented by Seth Lover and the Gibson company, that uses two coils, both generating string signal. Humbuckers have higher output than a single coil pickup since both coils are connected in series...

. These pickups can be either passive or active (require batteries).

Sometimes guitars are outfitted with pickguards which prevent the guitar from being scratched with a pick (a small device you use for strumming guitar).

The early beginnings of the solid body electric guitar are confusing. Les Paul, a guitarist, invented the first solidbody, but Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...

 was the first to commercially market a solid body electric guitar. In the 1940s, Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...

 created a guitar called the “Log,” which came “from the 4” by 4” solid block of pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

 which the guitarist had inserted between the sawed halves of the body that he’d just dismembered. He then carefully re-joined the neck to the pine log, using some metal brackets.” He then put some pickups that he designed on it. He soon went to companies asking if they would buy his guitar. They turned him down. However, after the Fender Telecaster electric guitar became popular, the Gibson
Gibson
Gibson may refer to:* Gibson Amphitheatre* Gibson Appliance* Gibson Girl* Gibson Guitar Corporation* Gibson * Gibson Generating Station-Places:In the United States:* Gibson, Arkansas* Gibson, Georgia* Gibson, Iowa* Gibson, Louisiana...

 company contacted him and had him endorse a model named after him, The Les Paul guitar. It came out in 1952.

While Les Paul was looking for a manufacture for his log, Leo Fender
Leo Fender
Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender was an American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, or "Fender" for short...

 was working on the Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...

. It came out in 1950. The telecaster had a “basic, single-cutaway solid slab of ash for a body and separate screwed-on maple neck was geared to mass production. It had a slanted pickup mounted into a steel bridge-plate carrying three adjustable bridge-saddles.” Its color was blond. It is considered “the world’s first commercially marketed solidbody electric guitar.” . The Telecaster continues to be manufactured today.

The follow-up to the Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...

, the Stratocaster, came out in 1954. It had three pickups instead of two. It had a tremolo bar on the bridge. This allowed players to bend notes. “The contoured body with its beveled corners reduced the chafing on the player’s body.” It also had cutaway above and below the fretboard to allow players easy access to the top frets.

In 1958, Gibson introduced the Explorer and the Flying V. “only about 100 of the” Explorer were produced. Very few of the Flying V were produced also. Both were discontinued shortly after. The Flying V did manage to find a few followers and “Gibson reintroduced the guitar in 1967.”
The Explorer was also ”reintroduced in the mid-1970s.” Both guitars are still in production today.

In 1961, Gibson discontinued the Les Paul model and replaced it with a new design. The result was the SG
SG
SG or sg may stand for:In computing and internet:* Sega Genesis, a game console* .sg, the top-level domain of Singapore* SuicideGirls, a softcore pornographic website* Security Group, a group in Active Directory used for security purposes....

 (Solid Guitar). It weighed less and was less dense than the Les Paul. It had double cutaways to allow easier access to the top frets. Eventually the Les Paul came back into production in 1968 because Blues and Hard Rock guitarists liked the sound of the Les Pauls. The SG
SG
SG or sg may stand for:In computing and internet:* Sega Genesis, a game console* .sg, the top-level domain of Singapore* SuicideGirls, a softcore pornographic website* Security Group, a group in Active Directory used for security purposes....

 and the Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...

 are still in production today.

Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...

 and Gibson
Gibson
Gibson may refer to:* Gibson Amphitheatre* Gibson Appliance* Gibson Girl* Gibson Guitar Corporation* Gibson * Gibson Generating Station-Places:In the United States:* Gibson, Arkansas* Gibson, Georgia* Gibson, Iowa* Gibson, Louisiana...

 went on to make more well-known models. Gibson made the Melody Maker
Gibson Melody Maker
In 2007, the Melody Maker became a separate model. It now has a smaller single-coil pickup than the P-90, a wraparound bridge/tailpiece unit, a mahogany neck, and a pickguard similar to the original Melody Maker...

 and the Firebird
Gibson Firebird
The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson from 1963 to the present.-History:The Gibson Guitar Corporation released several new styles during the 1950s to compete with Fender's instruments, such as the Telecaster and Stratocaster. After success with the Les Paul in...

. Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...

 later created the Jazzmaster, and Jaguar
Fender Jaguar
The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar introduced in 1962. A descendant of the Jazzmaster, the Jaguar quickly caught on in the emerging Surf music scene...

.

Many of the designs that Gibson
Gibson
Gibson may refer to:* Gibson Amphitheatre* Gibson Appliance* Gibson Girl* Gibson Guitar Corporation* Gibson * Gibson Generating Station-Places:In the United States:* Gibson, Arkansas* Gibson, Georgia* Gibson, Iowa* Gibson, Louisiana...

 and Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...

 both created provide the basis for many guitars made by various manufacturers today.
  • Solid Body Electric Bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....



A typical solid body bass guitar has specific characteristics. It consists of four strings (some have been made with more), a 34” scale neck, at least one pickup, sometimes a pickguard, frets, and a bridge. It also has a volume and tone control. Some solid body basses have a 3 band equalizer to stabilize the low frequency of the bass. Woods typically used to make the body of the bass are alder, maple, or mahogany. Rosewood or ebony are used for to make the fingerboard. The pickups are of the same style as guitar except they are designed for basses.

The double bass guitar was very heavy and not as easy to carry as other string instruments. Paul Tutmarc built an electronic bass that was played the same way as a guitar. This bass was called the Audiovox Model 736 Electronic Bass. “About 100 Audiovox 736 basses were made, and their distribution was apparently limited to the Seattle area.” The idea did not catch on and the company folded.

Later in the late-1940s when “dance bands downsized” guitar players who lost their positions playing guitar were told they could play double bass. However, “they did not want to take the time to learn upright technique. They needed a bass they could play like a guitar-a fretted bass.” Leo Fender
Leo Fender
Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender was an American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, or "Fender" for short...

  heard these criticisms and took his telecaster model and adopted it to a bass guitar. The result was the Fender Precision Bass
Fender Precision Bass
The Fender Precision Bass is an electric bass.Designed by Leo Fender as a prototype in 1950 and brought to market in 1951, the Precision was the first electric bass to earn widespread attention and use. A revolutionary instrument for the time, the Precision Bass has made an immeasurable impact on...

. It consisted of an ash bolt-on maple neck. The scale for the bass was 34.” “It also had “cutaways for better balance.” Now guitarists could double on bass, and the bass player of the band would not have to carry around a huge upright bass. It entered the market in 1951.

Fender’s second bass model, the Jazz Bass
Fender Jazz Bass
The Jazz Bass was the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic...

, was introduced in 1959. It had a slimmer neck at the nut, a different two pickup combination, and an offset body shape. While it did not become extremely popular among jazz players, it was well received in rock music.

Many companies today produced models based on the body shapes first started by Fender.

Gibson created the Gibson Electric Bass to be introduced in the 1953. The scale, 30 ½” was shorter than the Fender basses. Its body was designed to look like a violin. It had a single pickup. It also had an endpin which allowed the bass player to play it vertically. In 1959 Gibson created the EB-0 which was designed to compliment the Les Paul Junior. In 1961 it was redesigned to match the SG guitar and called the EB-3.

Gibson also created the Thunderbird
Thunderbird
-Creatures:* Thunderbird , a legendary creature in Native American culture* Dromornithidae, an extinct Australian family of birds* Thunderbird , a term used in cryptozoology to describe large, bird-like creatures-Computing:...

 in 1963, which complimented the Firebird. It had the 34” scale for the neck. This was the same scale as the Fender basses.

Other companies have created designs that are different from the Fender and Gibson models.
  • Solid Body Electric Mandolins

Electric Mandolins are similar to electric violins because they traditionally have one pickup. Some manufacturers produce electric violins because they also have a single pickup.

Epiphone currently produces and electric mandolin called the Mandobird IV and VIII. IV and VIII standing for four and eight strings respectively.

They usually have a bolt on neck and a rosewood inlay. Both Mandobird models have a single coil pickup.
  • Solid Body Electric Violin
    Electric violin
    An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...


The solid body violin is different from the traditional violin because it does not have a hollow body and has a “Piezo Pickup with Passive Volume and Tone Controls.” These features allow it to be amplified. The body is made out of wood, usually maple. The fingerboard is made out of ebony. The top of the violin might be made out of flame maple or solid spruce. The body of the electric violin compared to an acoustic violin has cutaways that allow for weight reduction and a not as heavy body. This is also known as a cutaway
  • Solid Body Electric Sitar
    Electric sitar
    An electric sitar is a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional Indian instrument, the sitar. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional sitar...


While a regular sitar has 21, 22, or 23 strings an Electric sitar is designed similar to a guitar. It first appeared in 1967 when “Vinnie Bell invented the Coral electric sitar, a small six-string guitar-like instrument producing a twangy sound that reminded people of its Indian namesake.” It is played like a regular guitar. An electric sitar’s electronics consist of “Three pickups with individual volume and tone controls are standard, including one pickup over the sympathetic strings.” The bridge of the electric sitar is creates the sound of a sitar. Like electric guitars, made by Fender especially, the neck of a sitar is usually “made of bolt-on, hard maple wood with an optional mini-harp.” The sitar also has 13 drone strings to located above the six strings that reach from the fretboard to the bridge.
  • Solid Body Electric Viola

Electric Violas are designed similar to electric violins. They usually have the same features.
  • Solid Body Electric Cello
    Electric cello
    The electric cello is a type of cello that relies on electronic amplification to produce sound. An acoustic cello can be fitted with a bridge or body mounted contact pickup providing an electric signal, or a built-in pickup can be installed...


Electric Cellos are similar to regular cellos, but they have a smaller body. Some electric cellos have no body branching out from the middle where the strings are. Some electric cellos have the out line of the traditional body around middle creating the feel of a traditional cello. It is played like a traditional cello.

The electric cello
Electric cello
The electric cello is a type of cello that relies on electronic amplification to produce sound. An acoustic cello can be fitted with a bridge or body mounted contact pickup providing an electric signal, or a built-in pickup can be installed...

 contains a volume control. Some have eq controls also. The fingerboard is made out of ebony. A piezo pickup is mounted at the bridge for amplification.

The body can be made out of alder.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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