Acoustic Guitar

The acoustic guitar is that which makes use of acoustic methods to project the sound. The difference between an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar is that the later uses electronic amplification. Sound projection is necessary because the volume produced by the sound, which created by the vibration of strings, is low and need to be increased for larger audiences.

In an acoustic guitar, this sound projection is achieved by using a soundboard and a resonant cavity, the sound box. The soundboard is the one that vibrates, and the sound waves are produced by the front and back faces. Actually, no amplification occurs since there is no external energy added to the process in order to increase loudness. What happens is that it maximizes the intensity of the sound. However, as a result of using a soundboard, the vibration of the string does not last as long as if a soundboard was not used. But this is not the only way the sound can be projected in an acoustic guitar. It can also be done using different types of pickups or microphones, such as a Piezo or other magnetic pickups. The most commonly used microphones are the dynamic and the condenser microphones.

An important aspect that determines the way the soundboard vibrates is its shape. The thinner and lighter the soundboard is the louder is the sound. Of course it cannot be so thin that the tension would break it. It is common knowledge that the material and the shape of a guitar are responsible for producing complex series of cancelling or reinforcing effects of the following types: damping, resonating, and phase. The overall acoustic qualities are influenced by several factors, such as different timbers which have different tones, and even glue can be a factor that affects the sound.

Design and construction is another interesting aspect. Historical and modern acoustic guitar varies significantly in these two aspects. The classical guitar (nylon-stringed) is one of the most important variety of acoustic guitar. The others are the steel-string acoustic guitar and the lap steel guitar.

The acoustic guitar can be classified in the following way: nylon/gut-stringed, which includes the Renaissance guitar, the Baroque guitar (gut-stringed, and of a smaller and lighter construction), Romantic guitar (such as the mandolin), Classical guitar (also called Spanish guitar due to its origins), and Flamenco guitar (lighter and smaller in order to have better percussion, and also featuring a tap plate); steel-stringed, which includes the Steel-stringed Acoustic Guitar (also called country, folk, or western guitar, and featuring a brighter and louder sound), Twelve-string guitar (which has a natural chorus effect), Resonator guitar (the sound is produced by one or more metal cones called resonators), Archtop guitar (full body and distinctive arched top which is popular with blues and jazz players), Battente guitar (very important in the Italian popular music), Lap steel guitar (in which the strings are raised at the nut and the bridge ends), and Lyre guitar; Acoustic bass guitar; and Russian guitar (which are generally 7-string guitars), among others such, including the new models (harp guitar, banjo guitar - a 6-string banjo with a guitar neck, and Guitar lute).