The electric guitar. Instantly recognizable. Looks easy enough to play - pick up and play notes with your fingers, run down the neck, and look cool - but within its strings and frets lay the entire breadth and width of music produced ever since the record industry was invented. From the calm, groovy nature surf rock to nihilistic thrash metal talking about politics and everything in between, this instrument has been the one of choice for musicians to say what they want with the power of their fingers.
Indeed, one of the most iconic body styles of it, the Les Paul model, is the de facto brand ambassador of a small restaurant chain you may or may not have heard of : Hard Rock Cafe.
Despite the images of decadence, a chaotic, fast life and immense wealth that the word 'rockstar' conjures up along with an association with their guitars, the guitar as we know it today is a true synthesis of technology, heritage, a business idea and pure branding appeal.
Pictured below are some of the more well known guitar manufacturers. In addition to the instruments, most of these companies also make their own accessories, like guitar bags, straps and picks.
Arguably the most famous brands are Marshall, Fender and Gibson - almost everybody knows these brands, regardless of whether the music they listen to uses their products or not. They've outdone themselves as just companies, and now function as entities, almost a kind of word association, if you will. It is on their great heels that all the other brands have followed, and much like the car industry, there are a few originals everyone owes their success too, yet all companies are integral to the state of the markets right now.
Economics aside, however, this article covers the evolution of the guitar. The earliest known string instruments known to archaeologists are bowl harps and tanburs. Since prehistory people have made bowl harps using tortoise shells. Around 2500 - 2000 CE more advanced harps, such as the almost rudely opulently carved 11-stringed instrument with gold decoration found in Queen Shub-Ad's tomb, started to appear. Shortly after, the Moors took their 'oud' to Spain, to which the Europeans added frets and called it a lute, as pictured below with a photo of a bemused and confused looking gentleman to boot.
Or is to lute?
How did we go from that, to this?
(pictured here is Alex Skolnick, guitarist for thrash metal band Testament, who do not write Christian music, no matter what they named the band).
Tracing the evolution of that bloated egg with strings to the streamlined performance machine that the electric guitar is today can seem almost impossible going by just the photo above. The word guitar itself derives from Sanksrit, the ancient Indian language whose spiritual and grammatical successor is German. 'tar' means string, and 'chartar' as the Persians took to calling it, means four strings. The Spanish added their number in and made it 'quitarra' and with the ravages of time and globalization, it now comes to spell out 'guitar'. Think about the universality there - how music speaks across cultures and barriers, much like the instruments used to make it. Like the Disneyland ride tells us, it's a small world.
Another aspect of design and aesthetic to consider is convention versus gimmick. The guitar featured in the black and white is conventional - the fat lower end of the body below the neck and strings does bear an intrinsic resemblance to the even bulkier lute pictured above.
Consider the graph below :
In the guitar world, more straight lines implies a general overdose of craziness, not unlike how modern, streamlined cars look 'tame' in comparison to the old muscle cars of the 70s, which were basically parade floats with four wheels and an engine.
Notice that the most famous shapes (the Les Paul - named after jazz guitarist and guitar builder and innovator Les Paul - the Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster, and the Gibson ES series) employ cutaways - 'holes' in the otherwise figure 8 body they use - in different positions. While functionally the cutaways allow higher fret access and make it easier to play those strings, the cutaways add just a dash of crazy to the reliable sense of routine these guitars bring to the minds of the player.
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Whether you want a Dorito-looking guitar and something to poke somebody's shoulder with, or just channel your inner classic rock guitar player with a Les Paul guitar, there's something now available for every taste. You could even buy a lute if you're trying to be a true Renaissance man or woman.
