The acoustic bass guitar (also called ABG or acoustic bass) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar.

History

The first modern acoustic bass guitar was developed in the early 1970s by Ernie Ball of San Luis Obispo, California. Ball's aim was to provide bass guitarists with a more acoustic-sounding instrument that would match better with the sound of acoustic guitars. Ball stated that "...if there were electric bass guitars to go with electric guitars then you ought to have acoustic basses to go with acoustic guitars." Ball notes that "...the closest thing to an acoustic bass was the Mexican guitarron...in mariachi bands, so I bought one down in Tijuana and tinkered with it."[1] Roland Sherwood Ernie Ball (1930 - September 9, 2004 in San Luis Obispo, California) was a pioneer maker of guitar strings used over the past 40 years by such guitarists as Steve Lukather, Steve Vai, Slash, Matthew Bellamy of Muse, Johnny Christ of Avenged Sevenfold, Daron Malakian of System of a... San Luis Obispo, San Luis, or SLO (Spanish for ) is a city in California. ... A steel string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. ... The guitarrón is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass guitar played in Mariachi bands. ... Mariachi is a type of musical group, originally from Mexico. ... Tijuana (Spanish [tixwana], English usually [ˌtiːəˈwɑnə]), is the largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California and the seat of the municipality of Tijuana. ...

Ball collaborated with George Fullerton, a former employee at Fender, to develop the Earthwood acoustic bass guitar, which was introduced in 1972. Production of this instrument ceased in 1974, resuming a few years later under the direction of Ernie Ball employee Dan Norton, until production finally ended again in 1985. The Earthwood acoustic bass guitar was quite large (and deep) in contrast to most instruments in current production, which gave it more volume, especially in the low register.^{photo 1photo 2}The Ernie Ball company describes Ball's design as "an idea before its time"; the instrument was little-used in acoustic musical performances until the late 1980s, when the acoustic basses were used in performances on the MTV Unplugged television program. [2] It has been suggested that Fender Amplifier History be merged into this article or section. ... Earthwood is a brand of Ernie Ball. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Wildstorm Thunderbook cover by Dan Norton Dan Norton is an American comic book artist who broke into the industry with Motorhead from Dark Horse Comics in 1994. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... MTV Unplugged is a series showcasing popular musical artists playing acoustic instruments. ...

Construction and tuning

Unlike the electric bass guitar, which is generally a solid body instrument, the acoustic bass guitar usually has a hollow wooden body similar to (though usually somewhat larger than) that of the steel-string acoustic guitar. The majority of acoustic basses are fretted, but a significant number are fretless instead. Semi-fretted versions also exist, although they are quite rare. Bass guitars typically have four strings instead of six as found on regular guitars. ... A solid body electric instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on its electric pickup system to directly receive the vibrations of the strings. ... A steel string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. ... The neck of a guitar showing the first four frets. ... The fretless guitar is a guitar without frets (including similarly configured bass guitars known as a fretless bass). ...

Eston acoustic bass guitar, fretless but with fretlike markers, made in Italy in the 1980s

Like the traditional electric bass and the double bass, the acoustic bass guitar commonly has four strings, which are normally tuned E-A-D-G, an octave below the lowest four strings of the 6-string guitar. Like the electric bass guitar, models with five or more strings have been produced, although these are less common. In part, this is because the body of an acoustic bass guitar is too small to produce a resonance of acceptable volume at lower pitches on the low "B" string. One solution use the five string acoustic bass to add an additional high string ("E-A-D-G-C") instead of adding a low "B. Another solution is to rely on amplification to reproduce the low "B" string's notes. Eston acoustic bass guitar. ... Eston acoustic bass guitar. ... Eston bass, fretless but with fretlike markers, 1980s Eko is an Italian make of acoustic guitars and similar instruments, catering to the advanced amateur level and manufacturing largely for export. ... Fender Precision Bass Bass Guitar is a commonly spoken phrase used to refer to the electric bass and horizontal acoustic basses, a stringed instrument similar in design to the electric guitar, but larger in size, commonly fretted and sometimes fretless and with a lower range. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ... In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Parts of the guitar. ... Martin EB18 Bass Guitar in flight case. ... This article is about resonance in physics. ...

Because it can be difficult to hear an acoustic bass guitar without an amplifier, even in settings with other acoustic instruments, most acoustic basses have pickups, either magnetic or piezoelectric or both, so that they can be amplified with an instrument amplifier or a Public Address system. A picku device acts as a transducer that captures mechanical vibrations (usually from suitably equipped stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, electric bass guitar or electric violin) and converts them to an electronic signal which can be amplified and recorded. ... Piezoelectricity is the ability of certain crystals to produce a voltage when subjected to mechanical stress. ... An instrument amplifier is an electronic amplifier designed for use with an electric or electronic musical instrument, such as an electric guitar. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

There are also semi-acoustic models fitted with pickups that are intended to be used with an amplifier. The soundbox of these instruments is not large enough to amplify the sound; instead, it is designed to produce a distinctive tone when amplified, similarly to semi-acoustic electric guitars. Thin-body semi-acoustic basses such as the violin-shaped Höfner made famous by the early Beatles and several Fender models are not normally regarded as acoustic basses at all, but rather as hollow-bodied bass guitars. As with semi-acoustic electric guitars, the line between acoustic instruments fitted with pickups and electric instruments with tone-enhancing bodies is sometimes hard to draw. The Epiphone Emperor Joe Pass, with its f-holes visible A semi-acoustic guitar or hollow-body electric is a type of electric guitar with both a sound box and one or more electric pickups. ... Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ... Karl Höfner GmbH & Co. ... The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool whose members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. ... It has been suggested that Fender Amplifier History be merged into this article or section. ... Martin EB18 Bass Guitar in flight case. ...

Saga Musical Instruments produces a four-string bass resonator guitar under their Regal brand name. Saga Musical Instruments is a manufacturer and wholesale distributor of stringed instruments, particularly fretted instruments and members of the violin family, and parts and accessories for them. ... A modern tricone resonator guitar, with electric pickup A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more metal resonators rather than by a wooden guitar belly. ... The Regal Musical Instrument Company was established in 1908 in Chicago. ...

Manufacturers

Other manufacturers of acoustic bass guitars (not mentioned above) include Alvarez, Breedlove,Cort, Jerzey, Dean, Eston, Gibson, Washburn, Ibanez, Maton, Ovation, Michael Kelly, Prestige Ribbecke Halfling Bass and Tacoma. Dean Guitars is a manufacturer of musical instruments. ... Eston bass, fretless but with fretlike markers, 1980s Eko is an Italian make of acoustic guitars and similar instruments, catering to the advanced amateur level and manufacturing largely for export. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A washburn Washburn (full name: Washburn Guitars) was established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. ... This article is about the guitar manufacturer. ... Maton is an Australian manufacturer of guitars and other fretted musical instruments. ... The Ovation Elite The Ovation Guitar Company, a holding of Kaman Music Corp, is a guitar company based in Bloomfield, CT. Ovation guitars are notable because the instruments are made with a composite synthetic bowl that replaced the traditional wooden back and sides of the modern acoustic guitar produced by... Michael Kelly (1762 - October 9, 1826) was a British actor, singer and composer. ... Tacoma Guitars is a guitar manufacturer in Tacoma, Washington. ...

Hispanic acoustic bass guitars

Traditional music of Mexico features several varieties of acoustic bass guitars. The music of Mexico is extraordinarily diverse and features a wide range of different musical styles. ...

The bajo sexto, with six pairs of strings, resembles a twelve-string guitar tuned an octave lower. The heavy gauge strings generate a large string tension, yet the guitar is built relatively lightly. The bajo sexto began to be used in Texas in the 1920s with the rise of "Tex-Mex" music, where it continues to be used to play the parts which would be played by the piano in traditional American popular music. The tuning of the instrument is (capital letters are an octave lower than small letters): Official language(s) English (de facto) See also languages of Texas Capital Austin Largest city Houston Area  Ranked 2nd  - Total 268,581 sq mi (695,622 km²)  - Width 773 miles (1,244 km)  - Length 790 miles (1,270 km)  - % water 2. ... The 1920s is a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Tejano[1] (Spanish for Texan) or Tex-Mex[2] music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Hispanic-descended Tejanos of Central and South Texas. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... The first major American popular songwriter, Stephen Foster Even before the birth of recorded music, American popular music had a profound effect on music across the world. ...

BAJO SEXTO - Ee Aa Dd Gg Cc Ff

The guitarrón or chitarrone is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass guitar played in Mariachi bands. Other Latin American acoustic bass guitars exist as well, see: Bordonua Also, since the classical contrabass guitar shares the same range as an ABG, it is a type of acoustic bass guitar. The guitarrón is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass guitar played in Mariachi bands. ... Mariachi is a type of musical group, originally from Mexico. ... The Bordonua (Bordonúa) is a large, deep body (sound-boxes are usually 6 in or 15. ... A contrabass guitar is a low-register six-string instrument in the guitar family, tuned B-E-A-D-G-C (B=B0 - the lowest B on the piano), usually with a solid wooden body. ...

External links

• Acoustic bass guitars
• The Tinozza Acoustic Bass Guitar Description and downloadable plans for a flattop ABG
• The Uccello Grasso Acoustic Bass Guitar Description and downloadable plans for an archtop ABG
• The Bassola Acoustic Bass Guitar Description and summary assembly instructions for a large archtop ABG
• Discover a Hobby: Online guide to learn Bass Guitar
• 5 string ABG tuned B-E-A-D-G
• Ribbecke Guitar Co. - http://www.ribbeckehalfling.com

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