Since the electrified guitar was introduced at the end of the 1930s people from all backgrounds have sought to innovate and improve this amazing invention. Ironically, however the most popular designs today haven’t really changed a lot since the 50s.
Most players would say there are 5 basic types of electric guitars: hollow body (ES175) type- “jazz box”, semi hollow (ES335) type, solid body without tremolo (Telecaster) type, solid body without tremolo (Les Paul) type, and solid body with tremolo (Stratocaster) type.
All of these guitars have “pickups” which are magnets wrapped in coated copper wire that generate small amounts of electricity when a steel string vibrates next to it. Electric guitars must be plugged into an amplifier to amplify the subtle electricity fluctuations that happen as the result of picking the strings.
Different types of guitars have come to be associated with specific genres of music and often the wrong type of guitar may simply not sound right for the musical style. Also many players will want to use the same type of guitar as is used by the players who influenced them. I recommend that you research the type of guitar used by your favorite artists and try to buy that type of guitar for yourself.
Jazz Box guitars
The ES175 is an early style of Gibson electric guitar often associated with jazz. It is a completely hollow guitar much like an acoustic guitar, but with pickups mounted to the top. These guitars often produce a mellow clean tone and are often strung with flat wound strings to create a soft mellow tone. They can’t easily be used near a loud amplifier without suffering feedback issues.
Semi-hollow guitars
The ES335 is an early style of Gibson guitar developed to try to fix the feedback issues associated with the hollowbody guitar. The semi-hollow body guitar has a solid block of wood along the inside center of the guitar, specifically under the pickups and strings. The solid block helps keep the guitar from having feedback issues, but makes it a bit heavier than the hollwbody guitar. These guitars are also associated with jazz, but also blues, and early rock and roll music.
Solid body les paul type
Les Paul designed the first solid body electric guitar in the early 40s. By the end of the 40s he had perfected what he called the Les Paul guitar. The les Paul design was very expensive to make, required expert luthiers and featured special pickups. This guitar design is still very popular today, and is often associated with rock and metal.
Solid body Telecaster type
The Fender telecaster was introduced in around 1951 and was innovative because it featured a completely solid wood design. It was a marvel at cost cutting innovation in that the body was a single piece of wood, and the neck was simply bolted on with four screws. Also, the bridge was made of simple metal parts. The inspiration for the design came from the very simple lap steel guitars that Leo Fender had started to make in the late 40s. The telecaster had been used by players from just about every genre, but is often associated with country, blues, and rock.
Solid body with tremolo
Tremolo systems had been created by Bigsby in the early 50s and attached to ES335 and other guitars, but in 1954, the Fender created the Stratocaster which had a tremolo system integrated into the guitar design. The Strat also featured three pickups and a comfortable contoured body. This guitar was so different it seemed futuristic and captured the imagination of players who sought to blaze a trail of new rock music. It remains the most popular type of guitar and is used in all genres but especially blues, rock, metal.
