A short popular overview of classical guitar design with elements of technology.

Article from the series "How it's done." Especially for guitarists and those who are not yet in the know.

Instead of a short introduction

Concert guitar- this is a full-scale guitar (scale 650mm, and now there is a tendency to increase the scale to 660mm), made entirely of solid wood without any imitations. If the overlay is black, then it is ebony. That is, a concert guitar is not only the size of the guitar, but also the quality, class of components, and the regulated scheme for their assembly. And all this for the sake of appropriate sound in the concert hall.

Depending on the craftsman, the assembly order, shape, and color scheme may vary significantly. There are no hard and fast rules in guitar playing. The shape of the head, body, stand, type of edging, type of other decorations, varnish, color - all this can be chosen and combined by the guitar maker in his own way. Of course, there are some limits, but overall everything is quite liberal.

Solid guitar Made entirely from solid wood. To put it very roughly, but accurately, the guitar is made of thin plates of wood, about 2.5mm thick.

Wood harvesting. One way or another, the tree is harvested first. Today, a guitar maker does not have to participate in the entire preparation cycle himself. There are special enterprises that find wood, saw it correctly like a guitar, and dry it in a natural way, i.e. without any heating or steam treatment. The material is kept for several years, after which it goes on sale sawn in a special way.

What they look like guitar blanks, i.e. What type of sticks are there that will become a guitar after some time?

Guitar soundboard- these are two identical halves, implying not only identical overall dimensions, but also the pattern of layers and wood texture. .

The photo shows two halves of the deck blank. In this form they are sold at procurement factories.

To ensure that the workpieces are identical, when sawing, they are cut one after another from a larger workpiece. Also, with such sawing, the uniformity of the deck in terms of physical characteristics is naturally maintained. After all, even if you select visually identical halves of the deck cut from different blanks, they will not be identical in internal physical properties, close, but unequal. Yes, and why do this if you can combine the halves of the decks by stacking the sawn-off pieces one after another.

Typical soundboard materials include various types of spruce and cedar. There are other breeds, but they are not as common.

Of course, some craftsmen saw the workpieces themselves. Buying unsawn material is cheaper, but this is not the only reason and the subject of a separate discussion. Each master chooses the material independently.

The halves of the deck or bottom are glued together, the excess is cut off and brought to the required thickness. Sticks to the deck acoustic system. One of the most successful systems is the “fan” system, consisting of several thin springs - radial sticks made of spruce or cedar.

The springs converge towards the rosette, forming something like a fan.

An acoustic system is necessary to evenly distribute the load and vibrations transmitted by the strings across the soundboard.

Other Soundboard Speaker Designs

Thanks to the Internet, you can find many different and even bizarre acoustic systems for the soundboard of a guitar.

A lattice-type system has already become a common option. The material of the grille springs is as light as possible, but a strip of carbon fabric is glued to the top of them, which makes them quite rigid.

Or this option.

Double deck construction with Nomex

Today everyone has heard about double decks, a topic on the forum. The idea is that the deck is formed from three layers, two thin outer layers of regular deck material and an inner layer of a special honeycomb structure called Nomex. The deck is durable and very light.

Guitar rosette and edges

The guitar's rosette is made of multi-colored veneer, cut and glued in a special way. The essence is that a package is formed from veneer in such a way that at the end it has a pattern, an element of ornament. The package is cut like a sausage and the entire ornament is formed from these elements.

External itself edging, i.e. the strip of wood that runs along the corner of the guitar is made of dense wood. The edgings perform both a decorative function and cover the ends of the deck and bottom from harmful influences such as humidity and serve as additional components in the strength of the hull. Of course, edgings are also elements of guitar decoration and are often complicated by various stripes of ornaments. Uses a color contrast with the soundboard or body of the guitar.

Guitar bottom or the lower deck is made in the same way as the upper deck from two identical halves, glued along the axis of symmetry. On the inside, this seam is glued with a strip of wood for strength.

Rips are glued across the bottom, as well as on the soundboard, which are necessary to give the guitar body sufficient strength. Rips are stronger than springs and are also made from spruce.

There are also plenty of types of rip designs. For example: grooves are made in the rip like arches. Rips come in different sizes, and their number also varies.

Guitar shells- these are also symmetrical halves. The material of the bottom and shells is usually the same. This rule must be strictly observed for professional guitars. Moreover, the texture of the material of the shells and bottom, not just the name, must also match. The appearance of the same type of wood differs significantly from piece to piece, both in saturation from light to dark, and in color and texture.

How do the shells bend? Wood has the property of bending when heated with a certain amount of moisture, and if the shape is fixed, cooled and dried, the wood will retain this shape. The material is soaked, heated and bent to the shape of the guitar, then cooled and dried.

When we talk about the material used to make a classical guitar, we mean the material used to make the bottom and sides, since the soundboard is mainly made of spruce or cedar. If you hear that a guitar is rosewood, that means its body is made of rosewood, but not the soundboard.

Vulture consists of several parts. In the classic version, it is customary to glue the headstock separately, rather than cutting a club-like shape from a single piece. The heel is also glued separately. The body of the fingerboard itself, where the thumb rests, is called the neck of the fingerboard.

The function of the neck is not only to hold the strings, but also to be a convenient intermediary for a person. In order for the neck of your guitar to be comfortable to play, in addition to its ergonomic shape, it is also necessary to have normal heights of the strings above the pickguard, or rather above the tops of the frets. String heights may vary depending on their tension and the guitarist's picking technique.

The neck itself should have some, if not noticeable, deflection. A flat neck is also allowed, but a bent neck allows you to lower the strings a little lower and not crackle on the bass in the first positions.

Brief diagram of making the neck. A blank is taken and the future neck is sawn in half lengthwise. One side is turned over and the halves are glued together through the vein. The role of the vein is both decorative and to ensure strength.

The future head is glued at certain angles (15 degrees).

A board of rosewood or ebony is glued to the top, and often below, of the head in order to hide the neck-to-head gluing seam; this also strengthens this neck assembly and decorates it.

Grooves and holes for tuning mechanics are made. The head is given its final shape.

At the other end of the future neck, the heel is glued and cut out.

Neck by Nikolai Ivanovich Yeshchenko in his studio

The heel of the guitar can be Spanish or dovetail. There are two options for the sequence of assembly of the entire guitar.

Anticipating your question, I will answer that the best method is the one that the master does better.

Spanish way

The Spanish design of the guitar is based on the fact that the top ring and the heel of the neck are one whole, i.e. the ring is a continuation of the neck and heel. In place of the imaginary boundary between the neck and the pseudo-ring, a groove is made into which the shells are inserted.

This design feature requires a special sequence for gluing the guitar. The Spanish assembly is performed in the following sequence:

• A deck with springs and rips is formed; installed on a special desktop - solera.
• The neck is glued to the soundboard, which is also fixed behind the solera.
• Guitar-shaped shells are glued on.
• Counter shells are glued to the shells.
• Finish assembling the body with the bottom. In the very first photo of the article, a guitarjustJust waiting to glue the bottom.
• Next, the fingerboard, neck treatment, bridge and finish.

European way

The design of the guitar is such that the neck is glued into a ready-made closed body, i.e. the soundboard, bottom, sides - everything is already together. The neck is glued into the ring using a dovetail groove. Other methods are also possible.

It also often happens that the guitar body is finally closed by gluing the finished soundboard to the finished half body. In the photo you see the finished half-body and deck.

The inner surfaces of the body and body are coated with a thin layer of varnish to protect the guitar from sudden changes in humidity.

Dumplings- lower and upper. The upper ringlet is a wooden form that is visible through the hole if you look into it at an angle towards the base of the fingerboard; the lower ringlet is not visible without a mirror. The neck is glued into the upper ring according to the European assembly. The ring is needed to give rigidity to the body. The Spanish design of the guitar, as you understand, also has an upper ring, but it is integral with the neck itself.

Counter-beams- this is a strip of wood that runs along the gluing of the soundboard and shell, the bottom and shell to strengthen the gluing and the entire body of the guitar as a whole. They can be solid, have cuts, and sometimes they are even assembled from separate chops.

Fretboard made from heavy-duty wood to strengthen the fingerboard, but also to ensure that the outer surface of the fingerboard is highly durable and will not fray under your fingers. An absolutely aesthetic moment - any dirt is less visible on black.

Frets must be processed in a special way, hold tightly in the cut without hesitation, do not protrude at the ends, the tops of the frets must be in the same plane.

Guitar stand made of dense material, rosewood or wood similar in density. The stand itself must be rigid so that under the tension of the strings it does not bend unnecessarily. Gluing the stand is the most important gluing on the guitar. The load on the stand is very large.

Upper and lower sills Guitars are usually made from bone. But today there are many new synthetic substitutes.

An important technological process in guitar making is varnishing Each master chooses the application method and varnish for his guitars. There are quite a lot of varnishes. Synthetic varnishes and organic varnishes, and today you can also find guitars coated with special drying oils, for example, tung oil.

Please read the review if you decide.

Let's figure out what a guitar consists of, what its parts and components are correctly called, and what functional tasks certain elements perform. The article is for informational purposes only, but may be useful not only for beginners; the article details and correctly names the main design details. Often, even professionals name these parts not entirely correctly; perhaps the information given in the article will help to correctly understand the meaning of the names. For a guitar master, the article can also serve as a navigator through the catalog of our store. By clicking on the link, you can open a page with the product in the next window.

The main parts of the guitar are the neck, which is crowned by the head, and the body of the guitar.

There is a mechanism built into the head of the guitar that allows you to regulate the tension of the strings. The upper or lower surface of the head is most often decorated with overlays - made of dark wooden mosaics; sometimes the overlay may include elements of mother-of-pearl and other materials. Along with aesthetic purposes, the pad strengthens the head.

The head is firmly glued to the neck, called the part of the neck from head to heel. The same material is used for the neck and head; cedar, mahogany or maple are often used; the heel of the neck is glued from the same material at the bottom. The part of the heel that is visible from the outside is called the heel.

The neck of a guitar is called both a whole and its individual elements. To be more precise, let's figure out what elements the neck consists of. The upper part of the neck is made of a hard material - ebony, rosewood, mahogany, modern guitar makers sometimes use hydrocarbon composite resins.

At the top of the neck there is a bone, which is called a bone; it can be made of natural bone or plastic. The bone can be easily dismantled if necessary; it is either held under the pressure of the strings or glued so that it can be easily peeled off. Through the bone, the vibrating string imparts energy to other elements of the guitar's structure; its position can significantly affect the sound of the guitar.

The fretboard is divided into frets, which define positions for producing a certain pitch of sound, limited by the fret nuts. As the tone increases, the distance between the frets decreases. The length of the frets is calculated mathematically precisely. Depending on the scale of the guitar, the fret sizes change proportionally. To mark frets, you can use scales corresponding to the lengths of the frets. Each fret is limited by a fret threshold.

The body of a guitar consists of three main parts - the top, back and sides between them. The middle part of the guitar's body is called the waist.

The futor of the lower deck is located above the seam where the parts of the soundboard are glued together. There is a special one on the inside, and it is also glued into the upper part of the deck.

In addition to the footers, the decks are glued on the inside. In addition to transverse springs, they glue to the top deck. Springs provide rigidity to the guitar body structure. An equally important task of springs is harmonic tuning; it is not for nothing that in Spain springs are called harmonic.

Guitar springs serve as an important tuning tool when building an instrument. The vibration energy of the string is transferred to the structure at nodal points from the bone through the stand and. The task of the springs is to compensate and distribute the energy of vibrations so that we can hear the sound of the desired intonation and timbre. Adjustment is carried out by positioning the springs, selecting the material, changing the thickness and height of the springs. The springs, like other internal parts of the guitar, are made of spruce and cedar with good resonant properties.

At the junction of the decks and shells they are glued. The rail is specially bent to the shape of the shell. Often, between the top deck and the shell, the role of a counter shell is played by crackers - special small wedges.

In the figure at the bottom of the guitar body it is indicated; usually, a button is not installed on a classical guitar, since the performer plays while seated; on Western and other folk guitars, a button is installed so that the strap can be secured.

For guitars with steel strings, it protects the neck from deformation under the tension of the strings.

Electric guitars differ from each other and appearance, And internal structure, but still they contain a number of basic elements, without which musical instrument cannot be called a guitar, be it a Yamaha, Fender or any other guitar. Let's take a closer look at these components:

1. The neck is a long block of wood on which there is a flat fingerboard, and metal saddles are applied to it. It may vary in length and shape in each electric guitar depending on the model.
2. An anchor rod is used to prevent the bar from breaking, since it is subjected to extreme pressure.
3. Pegs - used to regulate the tension of the strings (tighten them or relax them). They are located on the headstock and can be single, paired, closed or open.
4. The zero fret is located between the fingerboard itself and its head, made of high-strength plastic.
5. Frets are made of steel and differ in wear resistance and color. If the strings in a guitar deteriorate faster than anything else, then the frets take second place in terms of wear. Therefore, when choosing an electric guitar, you should pay special attention to the quality of the frets.
6. Markers are intended for the convenience of the musician’s orientation on the fretboard. They can be applied to it either with dots or with other unique symbols.
7. Pickups are devices that help modify the vibrations of metal strings into electrical signals.
8. Pickup switch - designed to switch from one pickup to another (as if combining sounds), thereby creating a unique new sound of an electric guitar.
9. Controls – used to adjust the volume and timbre of the sound.
10. Bridge or tailpiece - designed to attach strings directly to the body of an electric guitar. Helps change the pitch of the sound and create a tremolo sound.
11. A socket for connecting an electric cable is required on any electric guitar.
12. Guitar body. Most often it is solid, but in rare cases it can be glued together from several parts. Of course, a solid body is considered to be of higher quality, since it produces a better sound, but it all also depends on what kind of music you are going to play on your electric guitar. For example, if the body consists of several components, the sound will be sharp and aggressive, which is why such instruments are often used to create heavier music. From the body acoustic guitar it differs in that it can be either hollow or solid inside. A cover plate is attached to the body itself to hide the guitar’s electrical components and for a more attractive appearance.
13. Each guitar also comes with strap holders. They are located on the back of the case. They will be especially useful for musicians when performing on stage.

An important part of any electric guitar is the electrical component. As a rule, it is hidden from prying eyes inside its body.

These components of the guitar are quite enough to make it comfortable to play. But do not forget that for each style of music it is necessary to purchase additional equipment that will make the sound more pleasant for both the performer and the listeners. Therefore, choose a guitar based on the main parts, but at the same time pay attention to additional components.

It is very important to know the names of guitar parts by heart. Most guitarists encounter these words and concepts quite rarely, but, of course, there are cases when it is necessary. This article will serve as a cheat sheet dedicated to guitar parts. There will also be a short description of each part or part of the guitar. Acoustic guitar and electric guitar will be considered.

Acoustic guitar:

1) String stand. Often made of wood. Acts as a stand.

2) Lower threshold. Usually made of plastic. The strings rest on it, sometimes it has grooves for the strings.

3) Upper threshold. Similar to the nut, only narrower and located at the other end of the neck.

4) Grif. One of the main parts of the guitar. Made of wood, the back is usually varnished. Many acoustic and electric guitars have a metal truss rod in the neck that allows you to adjust the neck's deflection.

5) Shell. Side of the guitar body.

6) Top deck. Front side of the guitar body.

7) Heel of the neck. The place where the neck is attached to the body of the guitar.

8) Strings. Usually metal, but on classical guitars they are nylon.

9) Frets. Metal saddles that divide the fingerboard into segments. These segments themselves are also called frets.

10) Headstock. The part of the guitar that is located after the neck.

11) Pegs mechanics, pegs. Usually made of metal. They are used for tuning the guitar, as well as for attaching strings.

Electric guitar:

1) Belt button. A special metal bolt to which the belt is attached.

2) Jack socket. The hole into which the wire must be connected. (Jack)

3) Volume control. Adjusts the volume.

4) Tone control. Adjusts the high frequency output.

5) Pickup switch. Allows you to switch pickup operating modes.

6) Bridge, machine, tailpiece. All three names are used depending on the situation.

7) Tremolo lever. A lever that can be used to lower or raise the pitch of the sound by loosening or tightening the strings.

8) Humbucker pickup. Consists of two connected coils.

9) Single pickups. Single coil pickups.

10) Guitar body. Made of wood, varnished or oiled.

11) Grif. Compared to an acoustic guitar, the neck of an electric guitar is more accessible for playing on the upper frets. (you can clamp all 21-24 frets)

12) Threshold, fret. Convex metal strips that separate the frets.

13) Label. Special marks that help you navigate when playing the guitar.

14) Pegs. Used to tune the guitar and also to hold the strings.

These are not general recommendations that any "classical" guitarist can make, but rather an overview of the design features of various electric guitars. If when choosing a classical (Spanish) guitar you should pay attention to the technical condition and type of wood, then choosing an electric guitar is more complicated. Over its relatively short history, the electric guitar has developed many varieties, often fundamentally different from each other. But everything is in order.

Let's start with the material from which electric guitars are made. As a rule, this is tree, with rare exceptions. It is the tree that has the greatest influence on sound. Of course, mechanical vibrations of the strings produce an induction current in the pickups, but the nature of the vibrations depends on the type of wood from which the instrument is made. For electric guitars, mahogany (mahogany), alder, linden, ash, maple, rosewood, ebony are most often used, less often walnut and African varieties - bubinga and ovangkol. Each tree has its own characteristic timbre. Mahogany, for example, is loved for its “warm” sound - well-developed low and mid frequencies, few highs, good sustain. Gibson has a strong preference for mahogany. Alder, maple and rosewood, on the contrary, have a well-developed high-frequency spectrum and a sharp attack of sound, often characterized as a “broken glass timbre.” Stratocasters, in particular, are made from such varieties. Ebony is mainly used as a fingerboard. Basswood (it is argued that basswood must definitely be American) has a “cutting top”, which is not always liked by guitarists, however, Steve Vai managed to make this sound “signature”. Sometimes different types of wood are combined to give a certain color to the sound. Often the bodies of solid body guitars are made of transparent plastic. This does not degrade the sound quality, and it looks impressive. There are also guitars whose body is made of aluminum, and the vulture is from carbon fiber. These guitars have one big advantage - they are not afraid of temperature changes and high humidity. You can throw it into water; nothing will be damaged except the electronics (I don’t recommend trying it).

Steve Vai with his signature guitarIbanezJEM with transparent plastic housing.

Dimamirror – guitarItalian companyThreeGuitars withaluminum body and carbon fiber neck

Well, if you read the article “,” then you already know that electric guitars come in hollow (resonating) and solid bodies. Guitars with a resonant body have a softer sound, so such guitars are most often used in classical jazz, swing, and sometimes in other directions where a soft sound is required. Hence the frequently used name in everyday life – jazz model. Solid body guitars have a sharper sound and longer sustain.

Unlike classical guitars, most electric guitars have a metal rod built into the neck that runs along the entire neck - anchor. The anchor first began to be used with the transition to metal strings. It prevents the neck from bending under significantly higher string tension, and also allows you to adjust the neck deflection by rotating the bolt on one end of the truss rod. It is not advisable to bring the neck to a perfectly flat state - a slight deflection is usually recommended. If you hold the string at the 1st and 12th fret, then in the area of ​​the seventh fret the distance between the string and the nut should not exceed 1-2 mm. Generally neck deflection– this is an individual matter; each manufacturer recommends its own parameters, which in turn are not always the absolute truth.

Bolt for adjusting the deflection of the neck. Sometimes the adjustment bolt is on the body side of the guitar.

The next design feature that you need to pay attention to when choosing an electric guitar is type of connection between body and neck. The design should be as rigid as possible, eliminating the damping of mechanical vibrations. As is the case with classical guitars, many electric guitars the neck is glued to the body(set neck). These are mainly jazz models and some solid body models. The most common set-neck guitars come from Gibson, Paul Reed Smith and Rickenbacker. The most common are solid-body screw-neck guitars(bolt on neck). The best design is considered to be an electric guitar made from a single piece of wood, in which the neck is a continuation of the body - neck-through(neck through). Theoretically, such guitars dampen the mechanical vibrations of the strings less than others, and therefore often have better sustain, but it is believed that they do not always have a good attack (accentuated sound at the moment of picking) compared to guitars with a screwed neck. In practice, I would not focus on this. Based on my own experience, I can say that I really like the attack of ESP Horison neck-through guitars, and the Ibanez RG 1570 Prestige with a screw-on neck was as good as the ESP Horison in sustain. Therefore, I evaluate each guitar based on the total result (sound + ease of play).

Electric guitar designs with screwed, glued and through necks

Now let's look separately stand and bridge on an electric guitar. Due to the fact that many English terms are included in the everyday life of guitarists, you can quite often come across the word bridge (stand). There are two main options for attaching strings - a rigid bridge fit and a vibrato system. Let's talk about each one separately.

As on an acoustic guitar, the stand is used to fasten the strings, but on electric guitars, using the stand, you can adjust the height of the strings above the neck, as well as the scale length of the guitar. To do this, there are tabs under each string, usually moved by turning the bolts. Ideally, each string can be adjusted separately; on some older Telecasters, one tab was designed for two strings, and on some jazz models there is a non-adjustable nut. The latter may be a minor feature, but I personally appreciate a large number of adjustment possibilities.

Using the screws on the edges of the stand, you can adjust the height of the strings; using the tabs, you can adjust the scale of each string individually.

We will pay special attention vibrato system. Even on the very first electric guitars, instead of a stand, a simple mechanical device was sometimes installed, consisting of a lever and a spring, which made it possible to lower the tension of the strings and then return to their original position in order to perform vibrato. More advanced models, developed by mechanic (and motorcycle designer) Paul Adelburt Bigsby, began to be used in the 40s. The story goes that Bigsby met country musician Merle Travis, who complained about the poor quality of the vibrato on his guitar. Realizing the problem, Bigsby designed his own version, which is still used on many guitars today.

Bigsby vibrato on Chet Atkins' signature Gretsch guitar.

The disadvantage of early vibrato models was their inability to keep the guitar in tune. This was explained by the friction of the strings against the lower sill. That is, the nut divides the string into two parts, the tension in which is the same (or proportional). When working with a lever, first of all, the tension becomes weaker in the area that is closer to the lever mechanism. The second part of the string after the nut “reacts” with a delay due to friction against the nut. The same thing happens exactly the opposite when the lever returns to its original position. After working with a lever, the tension of the string on the “working area” - the scale - is not always the same as it was before. Modern guitars use graphite lubricant, which reduces friction, or roller bridges, the inlays on which are replaced with rollers.

While developing the Stratocaster, Leo Fender decided to create his own vibrato system for it, eliminating the disadvantages of the systems (in particular, tuning instability) that existed in those years (according to one version, he did not want to install a Bigsby due to the large size of the mechanism, since the guitar with a solid body was narrow). He decided not to separate the vibrato mechanism and the bridge. He called the resulting product a “synchronized tremolo.” Synchronized was supposed to indicate that it was in tune well, and the tremolo... well, Leo was not a musician and did not understand the terminology. But after the appearance of Stratocasters on the market, this mechanism began to be commonly called a tremolo. Unlike the Bigsby, on the Fender model the springs that return the mechanism to its original position were not located at the front of the case, but at the back, covered with a plastic panel. Friction problems have now arisen on the upper sill, but they can be solved in the same way - lubrication and roller sills. In addition, to reduce friction, Leo Fender placed the tuners on the headstock in such a way that there was as little bending of the string before and after the nut as possible.

Modern vibrato system on a Stratocaster, front view.

Springs on the back of the Stratocaster. Usually covered with a plastic panel, but many guitarists remove this to gain access to adjustment bolts that allow them to change spring tension

Less bending means less friction

The next step was the development of locking tremolos, eliminating friction completely. After tuning the guitar, the strings on the top nut are pressed against metal plates using bolts. Fine adjustments are made on the vibrato mechanism itself, similar to the tuning of many bowed instruments. From a mechanical point of view, this is perhaps the most ideal option. Although the disadvantages include the heavy weight of the mechanism, which reacts to the position of the instrument in space. It is enough to tilt the guitar so that the body is parallel to the floor, and its tuning will change. The second disadvantage is that changing strings and tuning takes a lot of time. This system was developed by Floyd Rose and has been used on guitars since the mid-seventies. It is especially popular in hard rock.

Other vibrato systems are based to varying degrees on one of three main types. Each of the options for attaching strings has its own characteristics, its pros and cons, so it is impossible to say unequivocally which option is better. A rigid landing dampens vibrations less, resulting in higher sustain. Although I will not limit myself to the concept of sustain.

I once had a guitar with a loose neck. The chord struck fell into several separate sounds, which somehow harmonized weakly with each other. Each note sounded separately from the other; there was no “density” of sound that you would expect when playing a chord. This is how you can roughly describe the sound of a guitar with a rigid fit - it is somewhat denser compared to guitars that have a vibrato system (although, as with a neck-through design, it is better to consider each instrument individually). The advantages of this design also include the ability to quickly change strings, unlike the Floyd Rose system. A guitar with a rigid bridge can be recommended for musicians who do not include artistic elements obtained through vibrato, such as rhythm guitarists.

The process of tuning a guitar with vibrato is a little more complicated than on guitars with a rigid bridge position. The tension forces of the strings are counteracted by the tension force of the springs. Let's assume that the first string is tuned lower than expected. Let's try to tighten it up. The string will tighten the entire tremolo mechanism, while weakening the tension of the remaining strings. We tighten the rest - the first string weakens. The tuning process can be started all over again until a balance of all forces is found. It is recommended that the working surface of the vibrato be parallel to the body of the guitar (meaning a system whose springs are located with reverse side guitar, if in its original position it does not fit tightly on the body). This can be achieved by tensioning or loosening the springs. Although it is enough to adjust the spring tension once and for the rest of your life, the main thing is to change the strings to ones of equal thickness.

I can't make any recommendations regarding vibrato systems. You need to get used to each system; each has its own advantages, disadvantages and features of use. There are many guitarists who have successfully used completely different systems, many of whom have created their own unique sound. Ideally, it's better to try everything possible options and decide what is closer to you as a musician.

The principle of vibrato is the balance of tension forces.

Now let's talk about electronics. There are two main types of magnetic pickups - single coils and humbuckers. Singles- these are pickups that represent one single coil(hence the name) have two outputs - signal and ground (Hot and Ground). They handle high frequencies well and have a weak output signal compared to humbuckers. They are good to use on a clean sound or on a weak overload; on a strong overload, the sound has a too sharp top... although everything is possible in music, no one can prohibit anything. Yngwie Malmsteen works very successfully with this sound.

The disadvantage of single-coils is their tendency to pick up electromagnetic interference, which is unwanted noise (I once managed to pick up a radio broadcast with a guitar, albeit in poor quality). Of course, pickup manufacturers try to deal with excess noise as best they can, but it is not always possible to eliminate it, although it can be reduced to a slight minimum.

Even at the dawn of the development of electric guitars, they began to use dual pickups, consisting of two separate coils, the windings of which have opposite directions relative to each other, in addition, the poles of the magnets are directed in different directions relative to the adjacent coil. Electromagnetic interference operates in antiphase and cancels each other out; the useful signal, on the contrary, is summed up. This type of pickups is called humbucker(humbucker - noise canceling). It usually has a more powerful output signal compared to a single-coil, well-developed mids and lows, and a cut-off top. The sound of a humbucker is often referred to in everyday life as fat and warm. It performs well in overdriven sound because it is easier to bring the overdrive effects to a buzz with a powerful signal, and a loud roaring overdriven sound with a well-developed midrange seems more pleasant than high-frequency sound, which some people (especially older generations) may perceive as the sound of foam rubbing against glass . Sometimes humbuckers are available in single-coil format. This is great for Stratocaster enthusiasts who don't want to mess up a classic design with a milling machine to fit a more powerful, bulkier pickup. Most humbuckers have 4 terminals, two for each coil. By installing additional switches, the humbucker can be equipped with additional capabilities, for example, turning off one of the coils to get a single-coil sound, connecting the coils in parallel, and the sound will be higher frequency with a smaller output signal and with less interference. For single-coil sound lovers who want to get rid of noise, DiMarzio has released the Virtual Vintage series. These pickups operate similar to humbuckers, but have a very small signal and high frequency spectrum. Many guitarists experiment with changing pickups to find their tone.

Pickups are also divided into active and passive. Passive ones convert the vibrations of the strings into a signal that can immediately be applied to the input of the amplifier. Active pickups have a built-in pre-amplifier, which in turn requires additional power, most often from a Krona battery, which is installed on the guitar. The advantages of active electronics include a powerful output signal and a low signal-to-noise ratio. Disadvantages: high cost, additional power source. Many guitarists report a lower dynamic range, less transparent sound. Basically, active pickups are in demand among metalheads because they behave very well in heavily overloaded sound. On the contrary, lovers of pure sound most often prefer passive electronics. In fact, there are many varieties of pickups that have the above principles of operation, but differ from each other in output signal, resistance, frequency characteristics, so the choice of electronics is practically unlimited.

The character of the sound is affected by the position of the pickup. At the bridge (bridge position) the timbre is sharper, at the neck (neck position) it is softer. Often guitars come with more than one pickup. It is recommended to place a pickup with a more powerful output at the stand than at the neck, since the vibration amplitude of the strings at the neck is much higher.

JacksonSL1TSoloist with three pickups

(to be continued)

prepared the material Leonid Reingardt