Electric Guitar Research Paper

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General Description
The Electric Guitar is a stringed musical instrument that consist of 6 to 12 strings. The electric guitar produces a variety of sounds ranging from sweet soft melodies to aggressive anger filled music. The strings of the guitar are plucked, and pressed into the fret board to produce a sound which is then transferred to an amplifier. The amplifier amplifies the sound of the guitar, and can even distort it.
Major Parts
As figure one indicates, the major parts of an electric guitar are the headstock, tuning pegs, nut, fret board, pickups, bridge, body, pickup selector, tremolo arm (vibrato arm), volume control, tone control, and output jack. Each part is described.

Figure 1: Electric Guitar Parts
Source: "The Electric
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The strings are plucked, and then vibrate a frequency that can be heard. Most guitars have 6 but some guitars have up to 12 strings.
Fretboard
The fretboard otherwise known as the neck of the guitar is made of many different types of wood, and is connected to the body as a whole or bolted to the body. The fretboard consists of 21-24 frets which are separated by fret wires. The player presses the string down on the desired fret, and plucks the string. Pressing a lower fret allows the string to vibrate at a higher frequency which in turn is a higher note. The fretboard is responsible for the change in pitch on all strings.
Bridge
There are two types of bridges a Tremolo, and a non-tremolo (Hard Tail). The Hard Tail has no tremolo so the strings are tied into the body, and can’t move. The tremolo bridge is either floating, or fixed. The floating tremolo can be pushed down, or pulled back. The fixed tremolo can only be pushed down. Pushing or pulling the tremolo relieves or stresses the tension in the guitar strings causing a vibrato sound.
Vibrato
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Tuning Pegs
Tuning pegs are the part of the guitar that hold the strings to the head of the guitar. Most guitars have 6 tuning pegs; they can range from 6 all the way up to 12. The player pulls one string through a tuning peg, and starts to turn the tuning peg. The string will wrap around the peg, and tighten. The player then does this to all the pegs, and tunes the guitar accordingly to his/her style of playing.
Nut
The nut leads the strings from the fretboard to the tuning pegs. The nut is made from many different materials, and some professional players say the type of materiel effects the sound of the guitar. Most electric guitars with a floating tremolo use a locking nut on the guitar. The locking nut locks the strings in place where the nut is to prevent the strings from falling out of there positions in the nut.

Pickups
The pickup is the device in the center of the body of the guitar. There are usually 1 to 3 pickups in a guitar. There are two types of pickups a single coil, and a humbucker which is a double coil. Normally two single coils placed side by side. The pickups are magnets that pick up the magnetic vibrations from the string, and convert them into an electrical

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