Is an Acoustic Electric Guitar acoustic or electric?

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The term acoustic electric guitar can seem a little confusing. Which is it, acoustic or electric? In a way it's some of both.

The original idea was to make an acoustic guitar louder. There are drawbacks to using a microphone to do this. So guitarists and guitar manufacturers started trying to figure out how to do it.

The first models were acoustic archtop guitars that had a pickup attached. The most popular pickup was one made by DeArmond. It could be attached in a couple of ways, one of which was the "monkey on a stick". This worked okay for adding a pickup to an acoustic guitar. It became less common as guitar makers started making guitars with built in pickups.

This was a fine answer for making the guitar louder but it wasn't good enough. There was a version of the old DeArmond pickup that could go in the soundhole of an acoustic guitar. The problem was that the amplified sound didn't sound "acoustic". So guitar players, makers and pickup makers started trying to figure out how to make it sound acoustic.

Look at this page for more information on acoustic guitar pickups.

How The Factory Does It

For most people the term acoustic electric guitar means an acoustic guitar with pickup and controls. In most cases this means an undersaddle transducer and controls mounted in the side of the guitar.

The amplified sound is still affected by the guitars woods and body size. It will also have the bright sound that is common to undersaddle pickups.

A factory installed system will have the pickup mounted in the saddle slot under the saddle. The controls are mounted inside the guitar at the edge of the soundhole or in a hole cut into the side of the guitar. The biggest advantage to a set-up like this is that control of the guitar is at your fingertips.

What should you look for in the controls?

Who's In Control?

There are a few obvious things that you should look for in the controls of an acoustic electric guitar. The most obvious is volume. Next you'll want something for the tone. The most popular thing for this is a parametric E.Q. This allows you to individually adjust lows, mids, and highs. What else should you look for? A real must is a notch filter. A notch filter helps you deal with feedback. It does this by letting you tune in on the frequency that's feeding back and eliminate it. A frequency control will help to fine tune the notch filter.

If you're considering a guitar that has a pickup as well as a microphone there will have to be a blend control. There should also be a phase reversal control so that the two pickup sources work together and don't fight each other.

Body Size

The size of the body makes a difference. Larger body sizes are more likely to feedback.

Feedback happens when an amplified sound is re-amplified. The big full sound of a large bodied guitar is it's own worst enemy. That booming sound is re-amplified easier than the sound of a smaller bodied guitar. If your guitar has a notch filter on it you should be able to take care of the feedback.

Smaller bodied acoustic electric guitars tend to have a tighter, punchier sound. They usually won't have the big bass of the larger bodied guitars. This makes them less likely to feedback. Some companies have models that are very slender and aren't very resonant. Some of them don't even have soundholes. They are acoustic electric guitars with the emphasis on electric. They are your best bet in a high volume situation.

Other Factors

There are other things to consider when you're choosing an acoustic electric guitar. One of those factors is how resonant the guitar is. The things that make an acoustic guitar sound good cause problems for the acoustic electric guitar.

The woods that are used will affect how well it works. One of the best woods to use is maple.

Maple has a very bright sound and it's notes decay quickly making it very resistant to feedback. The bright sound makes it easier to hear in a band situation.

Some of the best acoustic electric guitars have a very quite voice. They're not very loud and they tend to be very balanced in sound. A good example of this is the Alvarez-Yairi Bob Weir Signature model. It's a good looking, well made guitar, but it's acoustic sound isn't fantastic. Plugged in, it has a great sound.

You need to plug in if you want to be heard. The way to do it is with an acoustic electric guitar.

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