Solid-Body Electric Guitar
An electric guitar carved from a solid block of wood with no internal air chamber, relying entirely on magnetic pickups and an amplifier to be heard.
The solid-body electric is the workhorse of rock, blues, metal, and pop guitar. Because the body is solid wood rather than hollow, it produces very little sound on its own — almost everything you hear comes from magnetic pickups converting string vibration into an electrical signal that's sent to an amplifier. That solid construction gives the instrument long sustain, a tight low end, and strong resistance to unwanted feedback, which is why it's the preferred choice for higher-gain and higher-volume styles. Classic examples include the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster and the Gibson Les Paul.
Types
- Single-coil equipped (like a Stratocaster or Telecaster) — bright, clear, glassy tone, but the pickups are prone to a background hum.
- Humbucker equipped (like a Les Paul) — two coils wired together to cancel that hum, producing a thicker, darker, higher-output tone favored for rock and heavier genres.
- P-90 equipped — a single-coil design with a fatter, grittier voice that splits the difference between the two above.
How to use it
- Plug a standard 1/4-inch instrument cable from the guitar's output jack into an amplifier's input.
- Use the pickup selector switch to choose which pickup (or combination) is active, and the volume/tone knobs to shape the signal before it hits the amp.
- Sit or stand with a strap so the neck sits at a consistent, comfortable angle, and keep your fretting-hand thumb centered behind the neck.
- Tune before every session — electric strings are thinner than acoustic strings and drift more easily, especially with a tremolo/vibrato bridge.
Care
Wipe down strings and the body after playing, keep the guitar in a case or on a stand away from direct sunlight and radiators, and have the intonation and action checked periodically, since solid-body necks can shift slightly with the seasons.
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