inside reading 4, 4- guitars: the quest for volume

4- guitars: the quest for volume

Today, people tend to think of the guitar as a loud instrument. Yet, before the 1920s, projecting sound was a problem for the guitar. The volume was simply too low to compete with louder instruments, limiting its use to solo performance and vocal accompaniment. The versatility and portability of the guitar, however, were simply too appealing to allow it to drift into obscurity. Guitar makers began experimenting with new designs and materials that could increase its volume.

To understand the fundamental challenge facing guitar designers, first consider what a guitar is trying to do. A guitar operates on the principle that a tightly stretched string, when plucked, will vibrate rapidly and agitate the air enough to make a musical tone that people can hear. The shorter, tighter, and thinner the string, the more vibrations per second and the higher the pitch of the tone. The longer, looser, and thicker the string, the lower the pitch. So by plucking strings of various thicknesses, tensions, and lengths, a variety of musical notes can be created.

But there's a problem. A vibrating string does not make much sound. It needs to be made louder, or amplified, in some way. Try this grade-school experiment: Wrap a small, thin rubber band around your thumb and index finger. Stretch it tight and pluck it. It will make a sound but not a loud one, and the volume will diminish quickly. Now stretch the rubber band around a small, thin-walled box with one open side. Pluck the string where it crosses the opening. A much louder, longer sound should result. That is because the string vibrates the box, which in turn vibrates the air inside the box and creates a sound. Because the sound can echo a bit, it also sounds fuller—that is, it has a better tone. So, a thin box with an opening makes a rather good amplifier for strings.

A guitar takes advantage of box amplification by attaching a long piece of wood—the neck—to the hollow guitar body, or sound box. The strings run down the neck to the middle of the body to a piece of wood called the bridge. The bridge has two purposes. It anchors the strings to the guitar top (also called the soundboard). It also contains the saddle, a thin piece of hard material that lifts the strings slightly above the neck and top. When the strings are plucked, the saddle transmits the vibrations into the guitar body. The wooden sides of the body vibrate the air inside and create an echo that increases the volume of the original vibration. The sound exits through one or more sound holes cut into the top of the guitar.

The shape and dimensions of the guitar body are important in making sure that the vibrations from the different strings are amplified fully and equally. Guitar designers experimented with many different designs. After much refinement, they found that a figure-eight shape with a larger and a smaller chamber separated by a narrower waist works best. This shape best amplifies and smoothes the sound of all the tones that a guitar can make.

Even with this optimal design, a guitar made entirely of wood is not very loud. Guitar designers faced an intrinsic difficulty in the physical properties and design of a guitar. Heavier, tighter strings are louder. Thinner wood is also louder. But heavier, tighter strings place tremendous stress on the guitar, requiring thicker wood to strengthen the guitar and keep it from breaking. So the increase in volume gained by using heavier strings and greater tension is offset by the thicker wood needed to strengthen the guitar. Guitars, it seemed, would never be loud.

In the early 20th century, the search for a louder guitar intensified. Two solutions appeared. One design strengthened the guitar by running a metal rod through the neck of the guitar and by adding more support in the bridge area. This way, louder steel strings could be used without damaging the guitar. Today, these design improvements are incorporated into most hollow body, steel-string guitars. The second solution added metal resonator plates to the top of the guitar to take advantage of the "twangy" acoustic properties of metal. The twang not only made guitars louder, but the change in tone helped them stand out more when played along with other instruments.

With these modifications and added features, guitars could be heard more easily, but they still could not fill a large building with sound. Here is where advances in electronics play a role. One possibility, of course, is to put a microphone in front of the guitar. In theory, this works well enough. In practice, it can create several problems. The microphone limits a player's movements, and it often picks up other sounds, amplifying them along with the sound of the guitar. Even when everything works perfectly, the core problem remains: the guitar itself is not any louder.

Achieving a true electric guitar required a complete rethinking of how a guitar could work. Rather than have the guitar body amplify the sound, the body would merely be a platform that holds vibrating strings—similar to those on an acoustic guitar—and electronics. The body could even be solid, not hollow. With a solid body, the strings make a very soft sound— softer than the sound achieved in the rubber- band-around-the-box experiment, and not nearly enough to amplify successfully through a typical microphone. Instead of a hollow sound box, the strings are placed just above tiny magnets, or pickups. When the strings vibrate, they create a weak but precise disturbance in the pickup's magnetic field. That disturbance (the audio signal) is transmitted as a weak electrical current through wires and cables to an electrical device that amplifies the signal through a speaker, sometimes to ear-splitting levels. By the 1950s, electrics were revolutionizing popular music.

Meanwhile, efforts were being made to electrify what were now called acoustic guitars—the steel string guitar made of wood. Amplification is achieved by placing pickups inside the guitar body. These pickups contain a mechanism (a piezo-electric transducer) that is sensitive to vibration. They transmit an electrical version of the vibration through wires to an amplifier. The thinking here is that by capturing body vibration, the amplified sound will have a more natural tone, and it does. There are many competing designs, and the technology is constantly changing, but whatever their form, internal pickups allow traditional acoustic guitars to achieve greater amplification while maintaining the acoustic guitar sound.

Electronic amplification opened the door for musicians to experiment with sound in other ways. Before sound can be amplified electronically, it must be converted into an electronic signal, and this signal can be modified to achieve different effects. Think of it this way: the volume and tone of an acoustic guitar are mainly the result of its materials and design. A well-designed acoustic guitar made of good materials sounds better than a less carefully constructed one. With a solid body electric guitar, however, the electronics build and shape the instrument's naturally thin tone by enriching the audio signal before it is transmitted to speakers.

After decades of research and development, guitar players can now manipulate and modify the audio signal in the most astounding ways. Just consider the colorful vocabulary they use to describe the sounds of an electric guitar— crunch, punch, fuzz, Hange, wah wah, chorus, screaming, delay, gated. Some of the possibilities are quite unpleasant. Others add to the library of wonderful sounds that are used to make music. These acoustic gifts are the unexpected but natural consequence of the long effort to do one simple thing—to make a very mellow instrument a little bit, or a whole lot, louder.

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4- guitars: the quest for volume 4- Gitarren: Die Suche nach dem Volumen 4- guitarras: la búsqueda del volumen 4-гитары: поиск объема 4 гітари: пошуки гучності

Today, people tend to think of the guitar as a loud instrument. Hoy en día, la gente tiende a pensar en la guitarra como un instrumento ruidoso. Yet, before the 1920s, projecting sound was a problem for the guitar. Sin embargo, antes de los años veinte, proyectar el sonido era un problema para la guitarra. The volume was simply too low to compete with louder instruments, limiting its use to solo performance and vocal accompaniment. El volumen era demasiado bajo para competir con instrumentos más potentes, lo que limitaba su uso a la interpretación solista y el acompañamiento vocal. The versatility and portability of the guitar, however, were simply too appealing to allow it to drift into obscurity. Sin embargo, la versatilidad y portabilidad de la guitarra eran demasiado atractivas como para dejarla caer en el olvido. Guitar makers began experimenting with new designs and materials that could increase its volume. Los fabricantes de guitarras empezaron a experimentar con nuevos diseños y materiales que pudieran aumentar su volumen.

To understand the fundamental challenge facing guitar designers, first consider what a guitar is trying to do. Para entender el reto fundamental al que se enfrentan los diseñadores de guitarras, primero hay que considerar qué intenta hacer una guitarra. A guitar operates on the principle that a tightly stretched string, when plucked, will vibrate rapidly and agitate the air enough to make a musical tone that people can hear. Una guitarra funciona según el principio de que una cuerda tensada, al ser pulsada, vibra rápidamente y agita el aire lo suficiente como para producir un tono musical que la gente pueda oír. The shorter, tighter, and thinner the string, the more vibrations per second and the higher the pitch of the tone. Cuanto más corta, tensa y fina sea la cuerda, más vibraciones por segundo y más agudo será el tono. The longer, looser, and thicker the string, the lower the pitch. Cuanto más larga, floja y gruesa sea la cuerda, más grave será el tono. So by plucking strings of various thicknesses, tensions, and lengths, a variety of musical notes can be created. Así, pulsando cuerdas de distintos grosores, tensiones y longitudes, se puede crear una gran variedad de notas musicales.

But there's a problem. Pero hay un problema. A vibrating string does not make much sound. Una cuerda que vibra no hace mucho ruido. It needs to be made louder, or amplified, in some way. Hay que hacerlo más fuerte, o amplificarlo, de alguna manera. Try this grade-school experiment: Wrap a small, thin rubber band around your thumb and index finger. Prueba este experimento escolar: Enrolla una goma elástica pequeña y fina alrededor de los dedos pulgar e índice. Stretch it tight and pluck it. Estíralo bien y desplúmalo. It will make a sound but not a loud one, and the volume will diminish quickly. Emitirá un sonido, pero no muy fuerte, y el volumen disminuirá rápidamente. Now stretch the rubber band around a small, thin-walled box with one open side. Ahora estira la goma elástica alrededor de una caja pequeña de paredes finas con un lado abierto. Pluck the string where it crosses the opening. Desplaza el cordel donde cruza la abertura. A much louder, longer sound should result. El resultado debería ser un sonido mucho más fuerte y prolongado. That is because the string vibrates the box, which in turn vibrates the air inside the box and creates a sound. Esto se debe a que la cuerda hace vibrar la caja, que a su vez hace vibrar el aire de su interior y crea un sonido. Because the sound can echo a bit, it also sounds fuller—that is, it has a better tone. Como el sonido puede resonar un poco, también suena más lleno, es decir, tiene mejor tono. So, a thin box with an opening makes a rather good amplifier for strings. Así pues, una caja delgada con una abertura constituye un amplificador bastante bueno para las cuerdas.

A guitar takes advantage of box amplification by attaching a long piece of wood—the neck—to the hollow guitar body, or sound box. Una guitarra aprovecha la amplificación de la caja acoplando una larga pieza de madera -el mástil- al cuerpo hueco de la guitarra, o caja de resonancia. The strings run down the neck to the middle of the body to a piece of wood called the bridge. Las cuerdas descienden por el mástil hasta la mitad del cuerpo y llegan a una pieza de madera llamada puente. The bridge has two purposes. El puente tiene dos finalidades. It anchors the strings to the guitar top (also called the soundboard). Ancla las cuerdas a la tapa de la guitarra (también llamada caja de resonancia). It also contains the saddle, a thin piece of hard material that lifts the strings slightly above the neck and top. También contiene la selleta, una fina pieza de material duro que eleva las cuerdas ligeramente por encima del mástil y la tapa. When the strings are plucked, the saddle transmits the vibrations into the guitar body. Cuando se pulsan las cuerdas, la selleta transmite las vibraciones al cuerpo de la guitarra. The wooden sides of the body vibrate the air inside and create an echo that increases the volume of the original vibration. Los laterales de madera del cuerpo hacen vibrar el aire de su interior y crean un eco que aumenta el volumen de la vibración original. The sound exits through one or more sound holes cut into the top of the guitar. El sonido sale por uno o varios orificios de la tapa de la guitarra.

The shape and dimensions of the guitar body are important in making sure that the vibrations from the different strings are amplified fully and equally. La forma y las dimensiones del cuerpo de la guitarra son importantes para que las vibraciones de las distintas cuerdas se amplifiquen por completo y por igual. Guitar designers experimented with many different designs. Los diseñadores de guitarras experimentaron con muchos diseños diferentes. After much refinement, they found that a figure-eight shape with a larger and a smaller chamber separated by a narrower waist works best. Después de mucho perfeccionamiento, descubrieron que la forma de ocho con una cámara más grande y otra más pequeña separadas por una cintura más estrecha es la que mejor funciona. This shape best amplifies and smoothes the sound of all the tones that a guitar can make. Esta forma es la que mejor amplifica y suaviza el sonido de todos los tonos que puede emitir una guitarra.

Even with this optimal design, a guitar made entirely of wood is not very loud. Incluso con este diseño óptimo, una guitarra hecha totalmente de madera no es muy ruidosa. Guitar designers faced an intrinsic difficulty in the physical properties and design of a guitar. Los diseñadores de guitarras se enfrentaban a una dificultad intrínseca en las propiedades físicas y el diseño de una guitarra. Heavier, tighter strings are louder. Las cuerdas más pesadas y tensas hacen más ruido. Thinner wood is also louder. La madera más fina también es más ruidosa. But heavier, tighter strings place tremendous stress on the guitar, requiring thicker wood to strengthen the guitar and keep it from breaking. Pero las cuerdas más pesadas y tensas ejercen una enorme presión sobre la guitarra, lo que requiere una madera más gruesa para reforzarla y evitar que se rompa. So the increase in volume gained by using heavier strings and greater tension is offset by the thicker wood needed to strengthen the guitar. Así pues, el aumento de volumen que se obtiene al utilizar cuerdas más pesadas y de mayor tensión se ve compensado por el mayor grosor de la madera necesaria para reforzar la guitarra. Guitars, it seemed, would never be loud. Las guitarras, parecía, nunca serían ruidosas.

In the early 20th century, the search for a louder guitar intensified. A principios del siglo XX, se intensificó la búsqueda de una guitarra más ruidosa. Two solutions appeared. Aparecieron dos soluciones. One design strengthened the guitar by running a metal rod through the neck of the guitar and by adding more support in the bridge area. Un diseño reforzaba la guitarra pasando una varilla metálica por el mástil de la guitarra y añadiendo más soporte en la zona del puente. This way, louder steel strings could be used without damaging the guitar. De este modo, se podían utilizar cuerdas de acero más fuertes sin dañar la guitarra. Today, these design improvements are incorporated into most hollow body, steel-string guitars. Hoy en día, estas mejoras de diseño se incorporan a la mayoría de las guitarras de cuerpo hueco y cuerdas de acero. The second solution added metal resonator plates to the top of the guitar to take advantage of the "twangy" acoustic properties of metal. La segunda solución añadía placas resonadoras metálicas a la parte superior de la guitarra para aprovechar las propiedades acústicas "twangy" del metal. The twang not only made guitars louder, but the change in tone helped them stand out more when played along with other instruments. El twang no sólo aumentaba el volumen de las guitarras, sino que el cambio de tono las hacía destacar más cuando se tocaban junto con otros instrumentos.

With these modifications and added features, guitars could be heard more easily, but they still could not fill a large building with sound. Con estas modificaciones y características añadidas, las guitarras se oían con más facilidad, pero seguían sin poder llenar de sonido un gran edificio. Here is where advances in electronics play a role. Aquí es donde intervienen los avances de la electrónica. One possibility, of course, is to put a microphone in front of the guitar. Una posibilidad, por supuesto, es poner un micrófono delante de la guitarra. In theory, this works well enough. En teoría, esto funciona bastante bien. In practice, it can create several problems. En la práctica, puede crear varios problemas. The microphone limits a player's movements, and it often picks up other sounds, amplifying them along with the sound of the guitar. El micrófono limita los movimientos del guitarrista y a menudo capta otros sonidos, amplificándolos junto con el sonido de la guitarra. Even when everything works perfectly, the core problem remains: the guitar itself is not any louder. Incluso cuando todo funciona a la perfección, el problema principal persiste: la guitarra no suena más.

Achieving a true electric guitar required a complete rethinking of how a guitar could work. Conseguir una verdadera guitarra eléctrica exigía replantearse por completo el funcionamiento de una guitarra. Rather than have the guitar body amplify the sound, the body would merely be a platform that holds vibrating strings—similar to those on an acoustic guitar—and electronics. En lugar de que el cuerpo de la guitarra amplifique el sonido, el cuerpo sería simplemente una plataforma que sostiene cuerdas vibrantes -similares a las de una guitarra acústica- y componentes electrónicos. The body could even be solid, not hollow. El cuerpo podría incluso ser sólido, no hueco. With a solid body, the strings make a very soft sound— softer than the sound achieved in the rubber- band-around-the-box experiment, and not nearly enough to amplify successfully through a typical microphone. Con un cuerpo macizo, las cuerdas emiten un sonido muy suave, más suave que el logrado en el experimento de la banda de goma alrededor de la caja, y no lo suficiente como para amplificarlo con éxito a través de un micrófono típico. Instead of a hollow sound box, the strings are placed just above tiny magnets, or pickups. En lugar de una caja de resonancia hueca, las cuerdas se colocan justo encima de unos imanes diminutos, o pastillas. When the strings vibrate, they create a weak but precise disturbance in the pickup's magnetic field. Cuando las cuerdas vibran, crean una perturbación débil pero precisa en el campo magnético de la pastilla. That disturbance (the audio signal) is transmitted as a weak electrical current through wires and cables to an electrical device that amplifies the signal through a speaker, sometimes to ear-splitting levels. Esa perturbación (la señal de audio) se transmite como una débil corriente eléctrica a través de hilos y cables hasta un dispositivo eléctrico que amplifica la señal a través de un altavoz, a veces hasta niveles que paran los oídos. By the 1950s, electrics were revolutionizing popular music. En la década de 1950, los eléctricos revolucionaron la música popular.

Meanwhile, efforts were being made to electrify what were now called acoustic guitars—the steel string guitar made of wood. Mientras tanto, se hacían esfuerzos para electrificar lo que ahora se llamaban guitarras acústicas, las guitarras de cuerdas de acero hechas de madera. Amplification is achieved by placing pickups inside the guitar body. La amplificación se consigue colocando pastillas dentro del cuerpo de la guitarra. These pickups contain a mechanism (a piezo-electric transducer) that is sensitive to vibration. Estas pastillas contienen un mecanismo (un transductor piezoeléctrico) sensible a las vibraciones. They transmit an electrical version of the vibration through wires to an amplifier. Transmiten una versión eléctrica de la vibración a través de cables a un amplificador. The thinking here is that by capturing body vibration, the amplified sound will have a more natural tone, and it does. La idea es que, al captar la vibración del cuerpo, el sonido amplificado tendrá un tono más natural, y así es. There are many competing designs, and the technology is constantly changing, but whatever their form, internal pickups allow traditional acoustic guitars to achieve greater amplification while maintaining the acoustic guitar sound. Hay muchos diseños que compiten entre sí, y la tecnología cambia constantemente, pero sea cual sea su forma, las pastillas internas permiten a las guitarras acústicas tradicionales conseguir una mayor amplificación manteniendo el sonido de la guitarra acústica.

Electronic amplification opened the door for musicians to experiment with sound in other ways. La amplificación electrónica abrió la puerta a que los músicos experimentaran con el sonido de otras maneras. Before sound can be amplified electronically, it must be converted into an electronic signal, and this signal can be modified to achieve different effects. Antes de que el sonido pueda amplificarse electrónicamente, debe convertirse en una señal electrónica, y esta señal puede modificarse para conseguir distintos efectos. Think of it this way: the volume and tone of an acoustic guitar are mainly the result of its materials and design. Piénsalo así: el volumen y el tono de una guitarra acústica son principalmente el resultado de sus materiales y su diseño. A well-designed acoustic guitar made of good materials sounds better than a less carefully constructed one. Una guitarra acústica bien diseñada y fabricada con buenos materiales suena mejor que otra construida con menos cuidado. With a solid body electric guitar, however, the electronics build and shape the instrument's naturally thin tone by enriching the audio signal before it is transmitted to speakers. Con una guitarra eléctrica de cuerpo sólido, sin embargo, la electrónica construye y da forma al tono naturalmente fino del instrumento enriqueciendo la señal de audio antes de que se transmita a los altavoces.

After decades of research and development, guitar players can now manipulate and modify the audio signal in the most astounding ways. Tras décadas de investigación y desarrollo, los guitarristas pueden ahora manipular y modificar la señal de audio de las formas más asombrosas. Just consider the colorful vocabulary they use to describe the sounds of an electric guitar— crunch, punch, fuzz, Hange, wah wah, chorus, screaming, delay, gated. No hay más que ver el colorido vocabulario que utilizan para describir los sonidos de una guitarra eléctrica: crunch, punch, fuzz, Hange, wah wah, chorus, screaming, delay, gated. Some of the possibilities are quite unpleasant. Algunas de las posibilidades son bastante desagradables. Others add to the library of wonderful sounds that are used to make music. Otros se suman a la biblioteca de sonidos maravillosos que se utilizan para hacer música. These acoustic gifts are the unexpected but natural consequence of the long effort to do one simple thing—to make a very mellow instrument a little bit, or a whole lot, louder. Estos regalos acústicos son la consecuencia inesperada pero natural del largo esfuerzo por hacer una cosa muy sencilla: hacer que un instrumento muy suave suene un poco, o mucho, más fuerte.