Omar Reyes
Professor Sean Pessin
English 114B
April 24, 2013
NotSo Different
In my blog I discuss the various parts of a guitar. I show their importance as well as their functions. A guitar is an instrument that functions almost like a human body. If one thing from theguitar doesn’t function or is broken, then the guitar is deemed useless in mostcases. From aiding in support to the actual sound of the guitar the wholeanatomy of a guitar is sometimes intricate to most people. The various partswork together and keep the guitar running just like a human body. If you arecareless about your guitar and don’t maintain it, your guitar works at minimumperformance and it eventually wears out. Like a human body, if you don’t takecare of yourself your body feels tired and you get sick and it “wears you out.”Various parts and tools symbolize different body parts like bones, organs, face,etc.
The neck, it providessupport, the ability to mix chords, and aids in keeping the tension of thestrings held together with the headstock and its tuners that hold the string inplace. Without the neck the guitar is useless and it is one of the most vital“organs” of the anatomy of a guitar.
The body is like thehead of a guitar. If the body is not present, the guitar is not considered aguitar. It holds the many important electronics that allow the sound to beprojected using an amplifier. It is also holds an important feature to many,which is the finish and the shape of the body. The body is the most artisticpart of the guitar and shows its beauty.
The bridge, located onthe body, aids in the elevation of strings, support, and tension. Without thebridge no sound is produced and as always useless. Its metal alloy materialmakes it strong and the bolts on each side hold it in place. There are manytypes of bridges but they all do the same thing which is to maintain thetension, support, etc. The main source of the tension created is in thethree springs located inside the guitar body (the back). These springs regulatethe height of the bridge and carry most of the stress that the strings put onwhen tuning/restringing.
Think of cleaning a guitarlike taking a shower, if you don’t clean your guitar it gets mucky and itactually even begins to smell a certain way due to the grimy metal pieces.These go hand in hand with a human body although it is obviously worse forhumans.
Restringing your guitaris like a monthly or yearly body flush, where you release all the unwantedchemicals in your body that hold you and your health back. A new set of stringsrepresents a new cycle for the guitar and a fresh start like a body would feelafter the flush. The tuning of your strings daily can represent your daily doseof vitamins and minerals that keep your body healthy. If your guitar doesn't get that tuning done often it wears the wood and the sound of your guitar wouldbe very bad such as a unhealthy body would.
A truss rod is like thespine of the guitar as it holds the neck at a certain angle to keep it nice andcurved to get the best sound of your guitar. Just like a over curved spine, anover curved truss rods causes problems to the whole guitar like the spine wouldaffect the body.
The pickups are themagnetic force on the body that helps project the sound of a guitar onto anamplifier like the vocal chords allow us to talk, speak up, and gives us ourown unique voice. With aid of the volume knobs that represent the control youhave of the volume of your voice.
Frets on the guitarneck guide you to play the specific notes or chords and it allows theimagination to flow using the different mixture of notes that the frets allowyou to memorize and write down easily with either notes or tabs.
The wiring in the bodyof the guitar can represent the brain because it is the main source where thespecific electrical components of the pick-ups are located as well as theelectric components for the volume knobs, input jack (jack where you plug inthe instrument cable), and tone knobs.
The hardware locatedall over the guitar, which are the screws, nuts, bolts, washers, etc.), arelike the bones of the guitar because they give support to the guitar and ifthey were not present then the guitar would fall apart. As well as the glueused in various places throughout a guitar like the neck, piling of the wood toactually make the guitar, headstock, etc.
The finish of a guitaris the first thing that catches a player’s eye. There are various intricate andplain designs that give a guitar its own personality. It may as well be one ofthe most artistic features of a guitar, from its designs to its color it givesa guitar that aesthetic touch almost all people love.
The brand of a guitarrepresents the way a human being is raised they in a way go hand in hand witheach other. If a guitar is badly made and rushed then it will not sound as goodas a guitar that is made with “love.” The guitars that are made well using thebest wood as well as made slowly and carefully end up being the most beautifulsounding guitars and most expensive.
Amplifiers are like thevehicles that drive the sound through the speakers as well as sends differentsignals that create different sounds. With the aid of an instrument cable ofcourse, this can represent the key for the ignition because without it nosignal or sound will be projected through the amp. It also has a complicatedset of electronics inside that represent the motor of a car because of itsintricate wiring that if damaged is very difficult to repair without aprofessional.
But the most importantpart of the guitar is the player. The player is the main source of note making,control, and maintenance in general. The player provides all of the above andmore, you could think of the player as the doctor, the source of creativity andsound production of the guitar. It is like the face of a person because of allits features. The body is like the head and with the finish its face is seenwhich can be beautiful, horrifying, or in middle just like people see otherpeople.
There are various aspectsof a guitar that makes its anatomy a similar to that of a human because oftheir functions that are necessary for a guitar to keep its “health” to topperformance and its vitality running over the course of years. This whole thingmay seem a bit exaggerated but it is only symbolism of how a guitar works andhow its parts work together to keep it running like an organism’s body does. Thisis why maintaining a guitar is important because just like a human body orother organism, if the body is not taken care of it performs “unhealthily” andeventually gets sick, worn out, and dies. So if you are a dedicated guitarplayer take the time to really care for your guitar because they are veryexpensive at times, taking these tips in mind can really save you money, andyou will have yourself a rocking guitar.
Work Cited
“Anatomy of an Electric Guitar.” Cyber Flotsam. DaveDixon. n. d. April 23, 2013.
“Basic Anatomy.” Manatomy. Human Anatomy. n. d. April23, 2013.
“Anatomy of an Amp Build.” Classic Tube Amps. n. d. April23, 2013.
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