People may not be aware that there are more than two guitar types (acoustic and electric) that can be created but there are many different types of guitars. There are some very large differences in each and the following is an overview of the types of custom guitars that I regularly make for customers and can teach you to make. This list is not all-inclusive but it will give you an guide to the different projects I undertake hand making guitars.

A lap steel guitar is generally electric. It is a solid body electric guitar, which sits on your lap. There are no frets on the guitar, only fret markers, which tell you where to place the steel bar that slides up and down using your left hand. Your right hand is used to finger pick the strings.

A resonator guitar has an aluminum resonator cone in the body and the instrument sits on your lap, much like the lap steel guitar. It is usually a square-necked instrument, but can also be found with a round neck. It is played similarly to a normal guitar but the resonator cone is what gives it a particular sound. It is often referred to as a Dobro guitar, based on the Dopyera brothers of California, who invented the style of the instrument.

A mandolin is known as an f-style arch top instrument. They are small and have “f” holes in the body. It is s high-pitched, sweet-sounding instrument that has eight strings. The mandolin requires a lot of carving as it has a carved top, carved back, and a scroll on the body. The mandolin is typically used in bluegrass music.

Wooden banjos are all wood in both the body and the neck and usually have a skin on it with metal parts surrounding it. They utilize nylon strings that can be surprisingly loud. Wooden banjos are usually used as practice instruments in place of a real banjo but are also used in little acoustic bands.

Making a guitar is different each time and there are different steps and requirements to follow for each different guitar type.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 1:06 am and is filed under Guitar Types. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.