Guitar Design book 'Amplification'

[merciful-evans]

I've just finished this. 

This was only written in 2021 so I thought it worth sharing my thoughts on it.

Paul Atkinson makes it clear early on that this is strictly about electric guitar design. So no getting upset if your guitar isn’t mentioned. The pictures are not gratuitous, which is a relief. They are good though. He also includes bass guitar design.

There are 5 chapter/headings

1/Emergence – the first electric guitars

2/The Holy Trinity – Tele , LP , Strat

3/Expansion – Widens to other Makes & models

4/Diversity – pointy guitars and alternative body shapes

5/Technology – Materials / Synths

 

The main interest here for me is the 1st & 2^nd parts; 1/Emergence & 2/Holy Trinity. Starts with the George Breed guitar & shows the patent sheet. Briefly describes the transducer pickup experiments & the Stromberg-Voisinet production model. A surprise was an early ad sheet showing the Rickenbacker Electro A22/A25 alongside a flattop acoustic guitar with Beauchamp's pickup on it. I had no idea they made a conventional Spanish guitar at that time. 

Other than that 3/Expansion & 4/Diversity is all about crazy body stylings Explorer / Iceman / Longhorn etc. A few designs from here on made a lasting impression, even though more possibly deserved to.

I didn’t expect to get much out of 5/Technology, thinking it would be about synths and such. Well it is, but it also goes a long way into the use of alternative materials (to wood) which has been a keen interest of mine for a long while. Lots of aluminium, Acrylic, carbon fibre etc.

I did learn a few things from the book and I checked his research; keeping a page marker in the source references pages. Some of his sources were stuff I had read. Some stuff I read was curiously absent. His research was generally very good. I didn’t agree with everything he said, but that’s ok.

It seems odd that having established the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Tele, LP & Strat, at the epilogue the author talks of the 5 classic designs. What were the other two? He cites the Explorer & the Flying V. I don’t get that. How are they more important than the P-Bass or the 335 ?

Nevertheless I did think it well worth the read. 

[sparquelito]

Thanks for the recommend, m-e, and for the thoughtful review!

🙂

[havasasabata]

Will need to study it

[bigtim]

Interesting

 Never heard if this book. 

 

I agree the P bass was, in my opinion, a ground breaking design of engineering.....putting frets on a solid body bass guitar and using the same scale length too.....in a way smaller package. 

 

As far as the guitar goes.....well....they seem to be all kind of similar in design.......unless you get into the standberg headless thing that just does not feel comfortable sitting or standing....IMO

 

335 was a great body style too......and still is. I have to admit though the Fender strat body is probably the most copied designed piece ever in history and only variations of that seem to have been made the norm now from other brands. 

[Erin_Jacob]

13 hours ago, bigtim said:

Interesting

 Never heard if this book. 

 

I agree the P bass was, in my opinion, a ground breaking design of engineering.....putting frets on a solid body bass guitar and using the same scale length too.....in a way smaller package. 

 

As far as the guitar goes.....well....they seem to be all kind of similar in design.......unless you get into the standberg headless thing that just does not feel comfortable sitting or standing....IMO

Sounds like an interesting book for anyone interested in guitars and guitar design. Your comments on different sections of the book demonstrate the variety of topics and aspects it covers. When I was learning to play the guitar, I often skipped lessons and didn’t do assignments, I had to pay for homework, I found  https://edubirdie.com/pay-for-homework for this. I think this was definitely not in vain. Regarding the mention of "five classic designs" and the omitted mentions, it may be a matter of the author's interpretation and taste preference of the author.

335 was a great body style too......and still is. I have to admit though the Fender strat body is probably the most copied designed piece ever in history and only variations of that seem to have been made the norm now from other brands. 

I've never heard of her either.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Erin_Jacob

[Sgt. Pepper]

My guitars are acoustic so they wont be in there.

[Murph]

On 4/22/2023 at 1:30 PM, merciful-evans said:

It seems odd that having established the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Tele, LP & Strat, at the epilogue the author talks of the 5 classic designs. What were the other two? He cites the Explorer & the Flying V. I don’t get that. 

 

Nor do I.

Rock and roll was pretty much invented with a modified Gibson ES-295 in Memphis, and the 330/335's surely had a bigger role in amplified music than did the Explorer and Flying V COMBINED.

Granted I haven't, nor will I, read it but it seems to be very narrow minded and forgets, or is un-aware of, actual history.

[Sgt. Pepper]

4 minutes ago, Murph said:

 

Nor do I.

Rock and roll was pretty much invented with a modified Gibson ES-295 in Memphis, and the 330/335's surely had a bigger role in amplified music than did the Explorer and Flying V COMBINED.

Granted I haven't, nor will I, read it but it seems to be very narrow minded and forgets, or is un-aware of, actual history.

The book say its about 'design' history. Not the Gideon Bible of electric guitar history. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

[merciful-evans]

3 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

The book say its about 'design' history. Not the Gideon Bible of electric guitar history. 

Yes its different take on the subject. The only distinctive feature about the Explorer & V are the shapes. To me aesthetics is the least interesting part of design.  

Further to the P Bass. Though George designed all the earliest electrics, his bass was not a guitar. Leo's Precision was the benchmark for all basses to come. I see pro show / dance bands on holiday all the time. Frequently there is no guitar in there, but there is always a bass guitar. It seems almost indispensable to any electric music. For that reason only I'd say it was Leo's most important instrument ever.