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Buying Guides
Though it gained immense popularity during the rock ‘n’ roll days of the 1950s and 1960s, the electric guitar was invented in 1931. The need for the amplified guitar became apparent during the Big Band Era as orchestras increased in size, particularly when guitars had to compete with large brass sections. The first electric guitars used in jazz were hollow archtop acoustic guitar bodies with electromagnetic transducers. By 1932, an electrically amplified guitar was commercially available. Early electric guitar manufacturers include Rickenbacker in 1932, Dobro in 1933, National, Epiphone and Gibson in 1935, and many others by 1936.
Gibson's first production electric guitar, marketed in 1936, was the ES-150 model (“ES” for “Electric Spanish” and “150” reflecting the $150 price of the instrument). The ES-150 guitar featured a single-coil, hexagonally shaped pickup, which was designed by Walt Fuller. It became known as the “Charlie Christian” pickup, named for 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 six strings.
The electric guitar has since evolved into a stringed musical instrument that is capable of a multitude of sounds and styles, and it served as a major component in the development of rock ‘n’ roll and many other genres of music.
A solidbody guitar is a guitar that is made with a completely solid-wood body, with no hollowing or chambering of areas, other than those required for pickups and controls, such as volume, tone and pickup selector. Solidbody guitars are marked by increased sustain as compared to semi-hollow and hollowbody guitars. The most popular solidbody guitars are the Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG, Fender Stratocaster and Fender Telecaster.
One of the first solidbody guitars was invented by Les Paul, though Gibson did not present their Les Paul guitar prototypes to the public as they did not believe it would catch on. The first mass-produced solidbody guitar was Fender's Broadcaster (later renamed the Telecaster), introduced in 1948, five years after Les Paul made his prototype. The Gibson Les Paul appeared soon after to compete with the Broadcaster. Another notable solidbody design is the Fender Stratocaster, which was introduced in 1954 and became extremely popular among musicians in the 1960s and 1970s for its wide tonal capabilities and comfortable ergonomics.
These guitars work in a similar way to solidbody electric guitars except that, because the hollow body also vibrates, the pickups convert a combination of string and body vibration into an electrical signal. Semi-hollowbodies are noted for being able to provide a sweet, plaintive or funky tone. They are used in many genres, including blues, funk, ’60s pop and indie rock. They generally have cello-style f-shaped soundholes, though these can be blocked off to prevent feedback, as in B.B. King's famous Lucille.
Full hollow-body guitars have large, deep, fully hollow bodies and are often capable of being played at the same volume as an acoustic guitar, and therefore of being used unplugged at intimate gigs. The instrument originated during the jazz age of the 1920s and 1930s, and it's still considered the classic jazz guitar, nicknamed the “jazz box.” Like semi-hollow guitars, they often have f-shaped soundholes. Having humbucker pickups (sometimes just a neck pickup) and usually strung heavily, jazz boxes are noted for their warm, rich tone. A variation (popular in country and rockabilly) with single-coil pickups and sometimes a Bigsby tremolo has a distinctly more twangy, biting tone than the classic jazz box.
Squier, Epiphone and Ibanez are renown for having good electric guitars for beginners. To help choose the best starter guitar model for you, consider the type of music you want to play and features you need to have. It's also best to get hands-on and try many out to find the one that feels right to you. To assist, read our how to shop for electric guitar beginners guide and get some ideas from our electric guitars for beginners collection.
Electric guitars rely on a pickup, or multiple pickups, mounted on the body to generate a sound that can be amplified by a guitar amp and speakers. Pickups function as a magnetic field, and the vibration created from strumming or plucking the metal strings generates a current. This current is transmitted through the guitar’s preamp circuit and, by using a guitar cable to connect the guitar to an amp, creates an amplifiable signal.
Electric guitars have a broad range in price, from as little as one hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. There are several factors involved, such as brand, the quality of materials and features. Good entry-level electric guitars are commonly in the $200–$400 range, while intermediate guitars are often double that at $400–$800. High-end electric guitars for advanced players are typically from $800 to $2,000, while more premium handmade or limited-edition electric guitars, such as those made by Fender Custom Shop and Gibson Custom, frequently can cost much more.
Some of the most popular electric guitars are the Fender Telecaster, Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson ES-335 and Gibson SG Standard. For more details on the these models, read our Top 5 Most Popular Electric Guitars article from our blog.
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