An acorn grew …

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 guitars had to compete with large, loud brass sections. The first electric guitars used in jazz were hollow archtop acoustic guitar bodies with electromagnetic transducers.

Early electric guitar manufacturers include Rickenbacker in 1932; Dobro in 1933; National, AudioVox and Volu-tone in   1934;  Vega, Epiphone (Electrophone and Electar), and Gibson in 1935 and more followed by 1936.

·         The solid-body electric guitar is made of solid wood, without functionally resonating air spaces.

Another early, substantially solid Spanish electric guitar, called the Electro Spanish, was marketed by the Rickenbacker guitar company in 1935 and made of Bakelite. By 1936, the Slingerland company introduced a wooden solid-body electric model, the Slingerland Songster 401.

·         Gibson's first production electric guitar, marketed in 1936, was the ES-150 model ("ES" for "Electric Spanish", and "150" reflecting the $150 price, along with matching amplifier). The ES-150 guitar featured a single-coil, hexagonally shaped "bar" pickup, which was designed by Walt Fuller.

It became known as the "Charlie Christian" pickup (named after the great jazz guitarist who was among the first to perform with the ES-150 guitar). The ES-150 achieved some popularity but suffered from unequal loudness across the strings.

The electric guitar pick-ups:

·         A magnetic pickup consists of a permanent magnet with a core of material such as alnico or ferrite, wrapped with a coil of several thousand turns of fine enamelled copper wire.

Single coil pickups act like a directional antenna and are predisposed to to pick up mains hum (nuisance electromagnetic interference generated by electrical power cables, power transformers, etc.) along with the musical signal.

To overcome this effect, the humbucking pickup was invented by Joseph Raymond "Ray" Butts. Seth Lover of Gibson was also working with a similar concept.

Ray Butts initially developed one on his own and later worked with Gretch. Ray Butts was awarded the first patent (U.S. Patent 2,892,371).

·         A humbucking pickup, is composed of two coils. Each coil is wound reverse to one another. However, the six magnetic poles are opposite in polarity in each winding. The humbucker induces an equal voltage in each coil. Because the windings are reversed in each pickup coil, the induced voltages cancel each other out. However, the signal from the guitar string is doubled, due to the phase reversal caused by the out of phase magnets. Therefore, the voltage of the signal is approximately doubled, if the two coils are connected in series.

- Enough for tody, puuuuh …

 It’s now time to introduce: “Margarida” 

Margarida is an IBANEZ ARG 63-TLO-12-01, a Hollow Body Electric Guitar, in Twilight Orange, and my latest purchase (Singapore, 2015).

Equipped with:

·            Sure Grip Knobs - for precise control and a nice and classic look

·         Mini humbucker pickups – fitting well the AGR's compact body, the Art core pickups have warm and tight sound

·         VBF70 Vintage Vibrato (Bigsby type)- This old school vibrato adds nuances to the rich tone of this full-hollow guitar, and include roller saddles to eliminate tuning problems

·           Art core Mahogany set-in neck

·     Bound Rosewood fret board w/Pearl block inlay  

She’s a beauty, arced, slim curves nicely, pretty 
Inlay around body and “f’s”. The transparent,
clear pick guard adds discreet elegance. 
With regard to my playing stile, she’s a good fit 
and easy to master.

Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold.

The Hoshino Gakki company began in 1908 as the musical instrument sales division of the Hoshino Shoten, a bookstore company. 

The Ibanez brand name dates back to 1929 when Hoshino Gakki began importing Salvador Ibáñez guitars from Spain. After Telésforo Julve bought the company in 1933, Hoshino G  Salvador" brand name, and then later using the "Ibanez" brand name.

An acorn grew, branched and bloomed …

My simple illustration, not complete in any way. New influences are mushrooming.

However the illustration in many ways shows how the musical influences are closely interwoven and not static.

To revitalize, I constantly revert to my roots, revisit old “masters”, listen, reflect …, - in other words give nurture, feeding my musical tree.

Credits / references: Thanks to Wikipedia, and any music loving webpage whom inspired / contributing … 

To be continued ...