Electric Guitars and Basses: A Photographic History - Hardcover

Gruhn, George; Carter, Walter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 087930328X ISBN 13: 9780879303280

Publisher: Backbeat Books, 1994

Synopsis

Provides color photographs and brief descriptions of the history and special features of over 500 electric guitars and basses

About this title

From Library Journal:

Vintage guitar experts Gruhn and Carter (Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars, Miller Freeman, 1991) take readers on a spectacular photographic journey, with more than 500 full-color photos depicting the entire evolution of the American electric guitar from its birth in 1935 to the present. Starting with the guitar's electric roots, Part 1 depicts the unique Hawaiian and "Spanish neck" electric models, first developed between 1932 and World War II. Part 2 traces the electric family's growth from 1947 to the 1990s, with the development of the full-depth hollowbody, solidbody, and thinline models. The color photographs are accompanied by descriptive text and detailed captions that identify and date each instrument and describe its technical, aesthetic, and historical significance. Both parts provide historical overviews of the electric guitars of the period followed by in-depth discussions of each manufacturer. Highly recommended for music libraries and research libraries as well as larger public libraries.
Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence,
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

The promised companion to last year's lavish Acoustic Guitars and Other Fretted Instruments is another stunner featuring page after page of full-color musical instrument portraits (the pictures are so loving and attentive, you couldn't call them anything else). Gruhn and Carter sort the pictures first into two chronological parts, "Electric Roots: 1932 to World War II" and "Branches of the Electric Family: 1947 to the 1990s," then more finely within each part by type (e.g., Hawaiians and Spanish-necks in part one) and still more finely by maker. Besides the brief, historical main text, they provide for each instrument a generous note, and quite often a distinctive detail of the instrument appears nearby. Practically everyone who cares deeply about America's idiomatic musics--jazz, blues, country, and rock, in each of which the electric guitar and later the electric bass guitar became fundamental voices--will pour over this book like a Hendrix flourish over that morning crowd at the original Woodstock. Ray Olson

About this edition

• Publisher: Backbeat Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 087930328X
• ISBN 13: 9780879303280
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 255