Over the years a lot of different types of electric guitar have hit the market. And various rockabilly guitarists have probably used just about every type there is. But one type of guitar has risen to iconic stature in the rockabilly world: the hollow-body guitar. And to narrow things down even more, the Gretsch guitar company has really ruled rockabilly since the early days with their 6120 and other models. So, what is this "hollow-body" business all about?
In a basic sense, all electric guitars create their sound in the same way. Just like any guitar, the vibration of a guitar string produces a tone. The thickness of the string combines with the length of the string to emit a particular tone, or note, when the string vibrates as a result (usually) of being plucked or strummed. When a guitar player says, "I'm going to tune my guitar," he simply means, "I'm going to turn this tuning knob and thus change the length of the string until it sounds the perfect pitch for the note it should represent."
Once the guitar is in tune, the guitarist changes the pitch of the note the string plays by pressing down on the string and in effect making it shorter. The shorter the string the higher the note it plays when plucked. So, to play a melody, the guitarist is constantly changing the length of the string in an organized manner.
All guitars work this way. But not all guitars sound the same--even when playing the same note--because there are many other factors that go into giving a particular guitar its sound characteristics. One of those characteristics is the way that the sound resonates through the wood (or other materials) of the guitar itself. And the density of the instrument matters.
So, an acoustic guitar makes its sound by having a hollow body and (typically) a large round hole under the strings. The sound from the strings resonates through the air inside the body of the guitar and bounces off the wooden inside to come back out the hole. This process effectively amplifies the sound of the string and you hear it as sounding like an acoustic guitar.
Electric guitars work basically the same way, but with a twist. Electric guitars have coils of wire under the strings. These coils create a magnet when electricity is run through them. When the metal strings are plucked, these magnets (called pickups) carry the impulse through the guitar cable and out to an amplifier. Of course then, the pickups and the amplifier have great influence on what the electric guitar sounds like.
But there's more to it than that. Just because an electric guitar uses pickups and an amplifier to make the sound, doesn't mean that all of the other things we talked about don't matter. The sound still resonates through the wood and air of the guitar.
Now, generally there are two types of electric guitar: solid-body and hollow-body (there are also semihollow-body guitars, but we'll leave those out of the discussion for now) and the two types of guitar sound very different. Since there is more air inside a hollow-body guitar (like an acoustic), the sound of the strings bounces around inside the body a lot more than in a solid-body. This changes the character of the sound.
These hollow-body guitars were used by many of the very early rockabilly players in large part because that's what the country guitarists that influenced them were playing. Many of them started out as country guitarists. Hollow-body Gretsches and Gibsons were their instruments of choice, although of course there were guitars made by other manufacturers as well.
The hollow-body sound gives those early Elvis recordings their distinctive sound as Elvis' guitarist, Scotty Moore, played hollow-body Gibson guitars on them. But it is Eddie Cochran who has probably influenced modern rockabilly guitarists the most with his iconic orange Gretsch 6120 model guitar. It's definitely the guitar of choice for many (if not most) modern rockabilly players. Stray Cat Brian Setzer cemented the guitar's hold on rockabilly when he hit the scene with the same model guitar during the rockabilly revival years of the late 70s and early 80s.
None of this is to say that the solid-body guitar has no place in rockabilly. The Fender Telecaster is a solid-body instrument that sees a lot of stage time in rockabilly. James Burton, who took over for Scotty Moore as Elvis' guitarist after a few years, is a master of the Telecaster. Carl Perkins played a variety of both solid- and hollow-body guitars. Many other players did too. But it's the hollow-body guitar that has come to mean rockabilly. It gives the music that distinctive hollow-body sound. You might not be able to put your finger exactly on that sound, but it's there. And now you know a little bit about how it's produced.
In a basic sense, all electric guitars create their sound in the same way. Just like any guitar, the vibration of a guitar string produces a tone. The thickness of the string combines with the length of the string to emit a particular tone, or note, when the string vibrates as a result (usually) of being plucked or strummed. When a guitar player says, "I'm going to tune my guitar," he simply means, "I'm going to turn this tuning knob and thus change the length of the string until it sounds the perfect pitch for the note it should represent."
Once the guitar is in tune, the guitarist changes the pitch of the note the string plays by pressing down on the string and in effect making it shorter. The shorter the string the higher the note it plays when plucked. So, to play a melody, the guitarist is constantly changing the length of the string in an organized manner.
All guitars work this way. But not all guitars sound the same--even when playing the same note--because there are many other factors that go into giving a particular guitar its sound characteristics. One of those characteristics is the way that the sound resonates through the wood (or other materials) of the guitar itself. And the density of the instrument matters.
So, an acoustic guitar makes its sound by having a hollow body and (typically) a large round hole under the strings. The sound from the strings resonates through the air inside the body of the guitar and bounces off the wooden inside to come back out the hole. This process effectively amplifies the sound of the string and you hear it as sounding like an acoustic guitar.
Electric guitars work basically the same way, but with a twist. Electric guitars have coils of wire under the strings. These coils create a magnet when electricity is run through them. When the metal strings are plucked, these magnets (called pickups) carry the impulse through the guitar cable and out to an amplifier. Of course then, the pickups and the amplifier have great influence on what the electric guitar sounds like.
But there's more to it than that. Just because an electric guitar uses pickups and an amplifier to make the sound, doesn't mean that all of the other things we talked about don't matter. The sound still resonates through the wood and air of the guitar.
Now, generally there are two types of electric guitar: solid-body and hollow-body (there are also semihollow-body guitars, but we'll leave those out of the discussion for now) and the two types of guitar sound very different. Since there is more air inside a hollow-body guitar (like an acoustic), the sound of the strings bounces around inside the body a lot more than in a solid-body. This changes the character of the sound.
These hollow-body guitars were used by many of the very early rockabilly players in large part because that's what the country guitarists that influenced them were playing. Many of them started out as country guitarists. Hollow-body Gretsches and Gibsons were their instruments of choice, although of course there were guitars made by other manufacturers as well.
The hollow-body sound gives those early Elvis recordings their distinctive sound as Elvis' guitarist, Scotty Moore, played hollow-body Gibson guitars on them. But it is Eddie Cochran who has probably influenced modern rockabilly guitarists the most with his iconic orange Gretsch 6120 model guitar. It's definitely the guitar of choice for many (if not most) modern rockabilly players. Stray Cat Brian Setzer cemented the guitar's hold on rockabilly when he hit the scene with the same model guitar during the rockabilly revival years of the late 70s and early 80s.
None of this is to say that the solid-body guitar has no place in rockabilly. The Fender Telecaster is a solid-body instrument that sees a lot of stage time in rockabilly. James Burton, who took over for Scotty Moore as Elvis' guitarist after a few years, is a master of the Telecaster. Carl Perkins played a variety of both solid- and hollow-body guitars. Many other players did too. But it's the hollow-body guitar that has come to mean rockabilly. It gives the music that distinctive hollow-body sound. You might not be able to put your finger exactly on that sound, but it's there. And now you know a little bit about how it's produced.
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