Guitars: the History, Types, and Influence

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Ariana Kecskes
Mrs. Densmore
English 9/10
March 11, 2013

Guitars have been around since the Renaissance. In the late 1400’s, the classical guitar was created. This instrument was known as an “outcast”, never being played in concerts. Later on, the Spanish guitar was created; the early versions of this were known to have a unique sting layout because they had four sets of two strings. In the 1500’s a fifth set of strings were added to this guitar. Well into the 1500’s, the guitar began to be played in performances. This made guitars more famous, and caused better and improved designs to be made. Many people began to play the guitar, including Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Jackson. Finally, in the 1850’s the modern design for an acoustic guitar was made by C. F. Martin.

In the 1800’s, many modern design of guitars evolved from the Italian and French models. People invented new techniques of playing the guitar including, playing and tuning all at once. In the late 1800’s, Orville Gibson began building arch top guitars. Over 78 thousand guitars were made in the year, 1900. The 20th century was a very prosperous time for the guitar. Manufacturers began making steel-stringed guitars which are popular today. In 1931, the first electric guitar was created; they called it “The Frying Pan”, due to its round shape. However, electric guitars were not popular until 1936, when Gibson made a famous electric model, the ES-150. Later on, guitar crafters made the “Solid Body Guitar”, because of bad reports on their previous models. Fender created “The Broadcaster” in 1949, which was the first largely produced guitar. In 1952, Gibson created the popular “Les Paul”. Fender and Gibson both went on creating guitars almost as in a competition. By the 1960’s, the guitar was fully matured. Gibson produced another electric guitar model in 1961, the ES-335. This was a semi-hollow body guitar.. The Strat and the SG were very popular guitars, especially in the 1960’s....
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