A guitar is a fretted and stringed musical instrument. There are numerous different types and styles of guitar used for a wide range of musical styles. In popular culture the guitar is most commonly recognised as the primary instrument in rock, blues, pop, country and flamenco. Types of guitar are electric guitar , acoustic guitar , classical guitar , electro-acoustic guitar Jumbo Guitar and bass guitar .
Acoustic or Electro-Acoustic
First step is to decide whether you want a guitar fitted with a pickup so that you can play through an acoustic amplifier Many players like to plug in their guitar so that they can use effects units, or to play with a band,
Size and Shape - Most guitars can be categorised as one of 4 basic shapes.
Dreadnought
This is the classic acoustic guitar shape developed in the 1920's by the Martin Guitar company, and even today, probably 75% of acoustic guitars are derived from this design. Square in shape, the large body gives plenty of volume and projection, but the wide 'waist' tends to make dreadnought guitars feel relatively bulky when rested on the knee, and some smaller players (particularly women) find them uncomfortable to play.
Grand Auditorium
Rapidly becoming the best selling guitar shape. The larger body is good for depth of tone, the narrow waist makes it very comfortable. This shape gives great balance between bass and treble, making it a good choice for an Electro Acoustic, and adapts well to Fingerstyle as well as Strumming styles. The Grand Auditorium is very versatile, and is often the perfect shape for a player who wants one guitar to fulfill all their requirements.
Grand Concert (small bodied Folk size)
As well as having a small body size, these guitars are often fairly shallow in depth. They are often still surprisingly loud, but unless they are in the higher price range, usually do not have such a warm tone as their larger cousins. Preferred by some smaller players, who find them more comfortable, the tone of small bodied guitars - often described as "tight", "springy", "lively" or "bright" - also makes them a popular choice for ragtime and fingerstyle blues players.
Jumbo
The largest of the standard shapes, with a big, deep open sound favoured by many for country styles. Made famous by Gibson, whose model J200 was used in the 50's and 60's by some of the greats, including Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers.
The following are other body shapes:
Parlour Guitars
Popular with some ragtime / blues player. A small, narrow body, but with a standard depth. Usually combined with a 12-fret neck.
Travel Guitars
Small guitars designed to be easy to carry around. They come in different shapes and sizes, from scaled down dreadnoughts to the tiny Martin Backpacker. They tend to have a short scale length , some are even small enough to be taken on an aeroplane as hand luggage.
12-Fret Necks
Some dreadnought, grand auditorium and grand concert size guitars have an elongated body that joins on to the guitar's neck at the 12th fret (the neck of most modern guitars
guitars joins at the 14th fret) Some fingerstyle players prefer the tone of these guitars.
Slim-Bodied Guitars
Many Electro Acoustics are made with a shallower body depth. Although they generally don't have the volume or richness of tone of a full-bodied acoustic when unplugged, they tend to be more comfortable to play standing up, and are particularly popular with electric guitarist.
Bowl-Back Guitars
Originally made popular by Ovation, these guitars have a rounded back and sides normally made from fibreglass or plastic.
Choosing an Electric Guitar
Most electric guitars built today are based around the shapes and stules from 1950s and ླྀs classic designs by the pioneering guitar makers Fender and Gibson. The most famous of these designs are;Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG and the Gibson semi acoustic 335.
There are also many guitars by other manufacturers that 'borrow' from their designs, with looks, features and sounds that resemble the originals Cruser Guitar packages by Crafter is a good starting level Guitar and recommended by many teachers.
All of our guitars are fully set up and checked to professional standards by Our repair man Mike Warmsley before they go on sale.
