Traces the evolution of America's fretted instruments, including the mandolin, the banjo, and the guitar.

Despite changes in music over the years, the acoustic guitar remains the most popular musical instrument in the world. Now fans can celebrate the acoustic guitar in the most comprehensive guide ever produced, covering decades of great instruments and the people who played them, in this new paperback edition of the best-selling hardcover volume! * The acoustic guitar has been around for centuries and has survived amplifiers, electric guitars, synthesizers -- and even PeteTownshend of The Who. * Virtually every maker and every brand of guitar -- from Alvarez to Zemaitis -- appears in the all-embracing Acoustic Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. * This edition includes more than 1,200 photographs, memorabilia, and lots of vintage and contemporary ads featuring the likes of Bill Haley for Gibson and Slash for Guild. * Additionally featured is an astonishing library of some of the greatest axe players of all time! Check out Elvis Presley and Eric Clapton with their Martins, The Beatles and Johnny Cash with their Gibsons, and Mark Knopflet with his National.

A historical overview of the development of the acoustic guitar, with an illustrated directory of instruments, shown in 220 photographs.

(String Letter Publishing). Acoustic guitarists can now better understand their instruments, preserve and protect their value, and get the sounds they really want, thanks to this new book from the experts at Acoustic Guitar magazine. This indispensable guide begins by acquainting players with their instruments and laying to rest some pervasive guitar myths, then proceeds through various aspects of basic care, setup, common repairs, and pickup installation. Whether it's cleaning and polishing a beloved guitar, protecting it from theft or changes in humidity, selecting a case, or performing diagnostics, readers will become more savvy acoustic guitar owners and repair-shop customers and can forego dubious advice from well-meaning friends and anonymous "experts" on the Web. Includes a primer and glossary of terms.

This book is for experienced luthiers and guitar designers in the industry, novice builders wishing to improve their designs, and guitar owners interested in knowing more about their instruments. It includes the most important technical information gathered from many sources, including the academic literature and the author’s own work, presented here in a clear, actionable form with a minimum of mathematics. The book begins with a historical survey on how important features of the acoustic guitar evolved over centuries. The review leads up to a chapter focusing on three iconic instruments that represent the most important types of acoustic guitars: classical, steel string flat top and archtop. As the guitar market is so strongly conditioned by familiar, traditional instruments, a successful builder must have a thorough working understanding of the most important designs to underpin their own work. Through this volume, Professor French lays out the entire design process and collects detailed information in one convenient source. Luthiers quite often compile notebooks of measurements, part numbers, specific design features and other details they routinely need. This book organizes much of that information, with tables of dimensions, material properties, and other details in one essential final chapter. The book also features concise side bar contributions by top guitar designers and builders including Tim Shaw, Chief Engineer at Fender Music; Bob Taylor, Co-Founder of Taylor Guitars; and Andy Powers, Master Guitar Designer and Partner.

The acoustic guitar has been around for centuries and has survived amps, electric guitars, synthesizers--and even Pete Townshend of The Who. Discover everything you ever wanted to know about acoustic guitars in Acoustic Guitar: The Illustrated Encyclopedia--the definitive A-Z guide to your favorite six-string instrument, from Alvarez to Zemaitis.-Updated for 2009, this is the biggest and most complete guide ever written for the modern guitarist--filled with everything you need to know about acoustic guitars.-Go back in time to learn how the world's favorite instrument evolved. Learn all about celebrated guitar makers such as Andres Segovia, Orville Gibson, and Les Paul.-Guitar picks! Meet some of the greatest axe players of all time and their signature guitars--Elvis Presley and Eric Clapton with their Martins, The Beatles and Johnny Cash with their Gibsons, and Mark Knopfler with his National.-Improve your style as you study ten essential modern genres, including rock, pop, blues, country, jazz and others.-Learn everything you need to take care of your instrument, including how to string, tune, and set up your guitar.-Researched and written by some of the world's leading guitar heroes, this book features 320 full-color pages, more than 1,200 photographs, cool memorabilia, original ads and more.

This beautiful book is a comprehensive guide to the new Golden Age of handcrafted acoustic guitars! Illustrated with full-color photos of custom instruments throughout, this rich resource also contains profiles of top luthiers, advice on buying a custom instrument, and an extensive directory with complete contact information for hundreds of makers. Encompassing steel-string flattops, nylon-strings, resonators and Hawaiians, archtops and more, Custom Guitars presents the history and current state of the art of guitar making. Includes an intro by Alex de Grassi.