The Guitar and Music Aficionado

- Need to be an engineer ? Continuation from “the old man”: Know thy tools (No. 5) In my experience there is little doubt that technology and innovations to a large degree revitalize and energize musicians to explore and push the envelope in new, sometimes unforeseen directions. – My father never understood what went on from the early 60’s, he was a “craftsman” and master of his instrument, and in this  he felt comfort.  As discussed in the previous article, the development of the amplification / loudspeakers for the electric guitar is in many ways the 1 st  important technological step. - From this, a large array peripherals have been developed since the early 60’s, which is so closed interlinked to our music today … Effects units  are available in a variety of formats or types.  Stompboxes  are usually the smallest,  least expensive , and most rugged effects units.  Rackmount devices  are generally more expensive and offe...

Aurora Borealis, new video released (TNN) https://youtu.be/m5kJcLxTAxY

New video posted (TNN) ... Ultramarine Regards TNN

Good or Bad Music ! ? Continuation from “the old man”: Know thy tools (No. 4) We stopped with the early “development” of the “modern” electrical guitar, more or less as the instrument is today.  Of cause there are technical improvements, but the basic principles are the same. An electric guitar without any peripherals serves little purpose. Hence let’s spend some time on how the loudspeaker developed. In the 1920s, it was very hard for a musicia n playing a pickup-equipped guitar to find an amplifier and speakers to make their guitar sound louder. Often they were stuck with “simple” speakers, sort of radio type equipment of limited frequency range and low acoustic output. The first amplifiers and speakers could only be powered with large batteries, which made them heavy and hard to carry around, hence unpractical. When engineers developed the first   AC mains -powered amplifiers, they were soon used to make musical instruments louder. Engineers invented the ...

Branches divide  Know thy instrument (No. 3) Last we stopped about the crossroad between to “classical” and the “modern” guitar … Many experiments at electrically amplifying the vibrations of a string instrument were made dating back to the early part of the 20th century. Patents from the 1910s show telephone transmitters were adapted and placed inside violins and   banjos   to amplify the sound. ·          The first electrically amplified guitar was designed in 1931 by   George Beauchamp , the general manager of the   National Guitar Corporation , with Paul Barth, who was vice president.   The maple body prototype for the one-piece cast aluminium   " frying pan "   was built by Harry Watson , factory superintendent of the National Guitar Corporation. The need for the amplified guitar became apparent during the   big band   era as orchestras increased in size, particularly when acoustic...