An acoustic electric guitar is an acoustic guitar which has microphones, transducers or pickups fitted into the guitar. When using these hybrid guitars, one gets to enjoy the music of the acoustic tones along with the advantage of its electric capabilities. Acoustic guitars no doubt produce melodious tones, but when it comes to the volume levels and rocking music, they cannot compete with the electric guitars. Achieving the desired volume levels is possible by fitting a specially designed pick up into the acoustic guitar.
AcousticElectric vs. Semi-Acoustic
Acoustic electric guitars are also referred to as electro-acoustic guitars and are often confused with semi acoustic guitars. An acoustic electric guitar is different from the semi-acoustic guitars in that these electric guitars are acoustic guitars with amplifiers and electric capabilities while semi acoustic guitars are electric guitars with a hollow acoustic body.
Acoustic electric guitars can be used simply as acoustic guitars or can be used with the electric capabilities. Most electro acoustic guitars have piezoelectric pickups fitted under the bridge or have mass microphones fitted inside the body. These pickups help in converting the vibrations occurring within the body of the guitar into electric signals. A preamplifier installed into the guitar body helps in amplifying the electric signals within the guitar body before being fed to the main amplifier of the guitar.
The Preamplifier
The preamplifiers used in the body of the guitar are usually equalizers with up to six frequency bands. Some of the guitars also have preamplifiers with various tone controls. The use of preamplifiers eliminates the necessity of using microphones and hence the electro acoustic guitar is often referred to as plug-in acoustic guitars since they can be directly plugged into the speaker system.
How They Create Sound
The electro acoustic guitar has more of the acoustic guitar principles than the electric guitar principles. Unlike the electric guitars, in which the vibrations of strings are converted into electric signals, electric signals in the acoustic electric guitars are generated by the vibration of the guitar body or the top. Thus it is the acoustic body of the guitar which is responsible for the tones produced and amplification of the tones is done by the electric plug-ins. The body and other features of the electro acoustic guitar resemble that of the acoustic guitar.
Their Uses
Acoustic electric guitars are commonly used in folk, classical styles of music and also various bands and modern music like rock, pop etc. These hybrid acoustic guitars allow playing of various types of songs, be it a quiet melodious song or a high pitch rock song.
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