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We left off discussing the beautiful instrument created when Gibson and Les Paul joined together in the 1950s. However I would be remiss if I failed to narrate the story any further. Leo Fender is the next big name that we must discuss. He developed an excellent solid body guitar in the 40s and took it to market by 1954. This first guitar by Fender was called the Fender Stratocaster. Some of you might know it as a fender strat. This development was very important because it was a different body design from the les paul. This new guitar was very light and used alternative hardware to the Gibson Les Paul. It used a single magnetic pickup that became popular among country singers in California. Leo Fender believed that an instruments design should be modular so that the products could stay cost effective. There was something of a trademark issue between Gibson and Fender with the Telecaster guitar. However we will not delve into that. I will comment that because of trademark problems, some of the fender telecasters were produced without decals of the fender logo. Interestingly these guitars are now quite valuable in collector circles. They are called nocasters.

Our last stop is to look at Vox and the pentagonal phantom guitar. Initially this was constructed in England but was then made by Alter EKO in Italy. Next came the Mark VI model, which was used by Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones. Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls also used this guitar. Vox also came out with some 12 string guitars in the 60s which were quite popular.

Labels: alter eko, fender, gibson, Leo Fender, les paul, vox

Obviously the beloved Electric Guitar which we have today came from the acoustic guitar. Musical instruments resembling the acoustic guitar can be found as far back as 1800BC. There is an odd sense of satisfaction knowing that the guitar has been around for so long.

Anyway to the point of the article – the electric guitar was invented by a man named Adolph Rickenbacker in the 1930s. I must admit that I was surprised that it was not more recently that the electric guitar had been invented. Rickenbacker used tungsten pickups to take the vibrations from guitar strings and transform them into electrical currents that go through the amp making that beloved sound. He moved this design into production in the 1930s. Since Rickenbacker's first design, the electric guitar has gone through some dramatic changes that have shaped it into the excellent instrument that it is today. After Rickenbacker's design came the semi hollow guitar design. This was the standard until 1941 when Les Paul came on the scene and invented the solid body guitar. The way a solid body works is that it is constructed by one piece of wood and does not use any holes like a semi hollow guitar.

Then in the 1950's Gibson and Les Paul joined forces to make the Gibson Les Paul which you might be familiar with today. The Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar is one of the best selling guitars out there.

Labels: acoustic guitars, Adolph-Rickenbacker, electric guitars, gibson, les paul, The History of the Electric Guitar

I can't help but recognize that everyone likes to get a deal. Furthermore people tend to be ecstatic when they can find a quality product at a favorable price. Today I wanted to begin blogging by discussing the cheapest possible way to procure musical equipment, or anything else for that matter. The medium that I speak of is Ebay.com. Surely you have heard of the online sales giant but if your knowledge of Ebay is similar to most peoples, you might not realize that Ebay is a great place to get both new and used musical equipment alike. If you were in the market for a used Les Paul guitar you would probably go to Ebay right away. However people tend to forget about Ebay when they are considering purchasing something brand new. When I typed into the search on Ebay.com "new Les Paul" I was astonished to find 355 results from the search engine. This is where most people give up on Ebay and go to a brick and mortar storefront. With Ebay you will have to do a little more legwork yourself - you will have to comb through several auctions to find the best possible price. However if you can do so, you will pay significantly less than you would at prominent music supply shops and online venders.

For those of you reading, I urge you to take the Ebay test. If you have a musical item of interest, go browsing on Ebay. You will likely find that there are some great deals to be found on new and used equipment alike.

Labels: ebay, guitars, les paul, shopping, thrifty

For the beginning guitarist, a guitar package is a wise investment. Guitar packages come with everything one could need when learning to play the guitar. The main choice when looking for one of these packages is between an electric and an acoustic package. When making this decision, consider what type of music you want to learn. The future rock-and-roll star may want to focus on an electric guitar package because of the included amplifier, making it easier to play along with a band or add effects such as overdrive. If you are striving to become the next singer/songwriter or play traditional tunes, an acoustic guitar package maybe what you are looking for.

You may notice that there are many electric guitar packages to choose from and the differences tend to be personal preference. The guitars themselves really depend on the look of the guitar and the pickup configuration. Two of the most popular styles of electric guitar would be the Squier Stratocaster (Fender) and the Epiphone Les Paul (Gibson). The Stratocaster displays three single coil pickups that provide a smooth mid-range type of sound and the Les Paul features two humbucker pickups that exhibit a hotter, edgier sound. It is really hard to go wrong with any electric guitar package choice.

Acoustic guitar packages tend to be a little easier to decipher because of their what you see is what you get contents. The acoustic guitar usually comes in two choices: Acoustic and Acoustic Electric. The acoustic electric guitar is just like the standard acoustic guitar but includes an electronic pickup system that allows you to plug the guitar into an amplifier.

Both of these package types usually include a wealth of accessories including picks, straps, cables, amplifiers (with electric packages), tuners and more. Some great online stores provide quality choices of each type of package including American Musical Supply and Electricguitar.com.

Labels: acoustic, acoustic electric guitars, electric guitars, Ephiphone Les Paul Gibson, fender, gibson, guitar packages, guitars, humbucker pickups, les paul, shopping, single coil pickup, Squier Stratocaster Fender, wish list