Dr. Brian KirkmeyerKaren Buchwald Wright Assistant Dean for Student Success

& Instructor of CEC266 Metal on Metal: Engineering & Globalization

in Heavy Metal Music

Whitney RileyDirector, Corporate and Foundation Relations

How My Guitar Loudly Shrieks:The Technology of Electric Guitar

Agenda

Guitar design basics

Guitar amplification basics

Guitar signal modification basics

Early electric guitars were either electrified

acoustics or chop-shop specials

Over time, the designs were modified, customized, mass-produced, and otherwise advanced to allow every possible option that the musician could decide that he/she needed

Guitar Design

Design Basics

www.gibson.com; www.fender.com; www.warmoth.com

What design elements will we discuss?

Pickups

Bridges

Amplification

Signal modifications

Pickups

Single coil Brighter sound, subject to hum/noise

Humbuckers Beefier sound, eliminates hum/noise

P90 In between sound, subject to hum/noise

Passive (no pre-powering)

Active (pre-powered via battery)

Bridges

Hardtail Telecaster-style

Tune-o-matic

Vibrato (aka tremolo) Vintage six-point

Modern two-point

Floating

Vacuum tubes

Older style

Warmer, more natural sound

Transistors

Newer style

Colder, relatively artificial sound

Hybrids

Tube-driven pre-amplifier, transistor-driven amplifier

Allows integration of amplification and signal modification

Amplification

Signal Modification

Irreversible damage to the amplifier

Dave Davies of The Kinks, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats

Permanently damage the speaker (slicing it, dropping the amp)

Overpowering the circuitry to cause distortion and feedback

Turn it up too loud, e.g. The Who, Blue Cheer, Led Zep, Hendrix

Impart signal interference due to magnetic field interactions

Overlay modified copies of the original signal

Studio effects, e.g. press on the flange of the recording reels

Apply signal filters to add/subtract parts of it, or induce phase delay

What kinds of modifications?

Distortions

Overdrive, distortion, fuzz

Pushing the signal amplitude past its capabilities

Signal modulation

Flanger, chorus, phaser, tremolo, ring modulation, vibrato

Mixing or splitting signals to vary it over time

Filters

Wah, talk box, equalizer

Frequency-specific alterations of the sounds to boost or suppress

What kinds of modifications?

Dynamics

Boost, compression, noise gate

Volume-specific alteration of the sound signal

Time modulators

Delay, reverb, looper

Replications of the original signal to create time effects

Pitch modulators

Harmonizer, octaver, pitch shifter

Shifting pitch up or down, either just the original signal or as a mixed signal

Thanks for listening, and ROCK ON!!!