The Guitar Book

The story of the American guitar is a long and involved one, and one plagued with misinformation, lost historical records, vague personal memories, and half-truths. It's also packed with colorful people, ingenious designs, masterful marketing schemes, pioneering inventions, humor, and heartache. The first edition of this book did more than any prior publication to clear away the former and introduce the public to the latter. This volume, his substantially enlarged and more detailed revision, goes even further to show what the world's most popular musical instrument is, and how it got that way. This revised and updated version contains approximately 335 totally new photos, including shots of never-before-publicized prototypes and one-of-a-kind rarities. And as the technology of the instrument has expanded, so has the coverage of such new subjects as mini-amps, acoustic guitar pickups, electronic tuners, synthesizers, and radically new guitar designs. The chapters on effects devices, accessories, guitar theory, tunings, and guitar factories have all been expanded and rewritten to be even more complete, more up to date. There is also a new section on handmade acoustic instruments. --Introduction.