A Box and a Bunch of Strings 2 - Guitars! Quiz

Answer: Arch-top

The basic flat-top guitar with a round sound hole is the style of guitar that everybody readily recognises. The flat-top style covers classical guitars with nylon strings as well as the folk style guitar with steel strings. Arch-top guitars were a later development designed with the intention of greatly increasing the volume and projection of the instrument.

Many of the bands that existed during the early decades of the 20th century featured guitar players that used instruments such as these, which were so powerful that no external amplification was required. Early pioneers of the arch-top instrument included manufacturers such as John D'Angelico, Epaminondas Stathopoulos - founder of the 'Epiphone' brand and, of course, Gibson guitars.

Answer: Courses

The earliest surviving instruments, which we would recognise as guitars, date from the late 16th century although it is certain that instruments of this nature existed before then. Early guitars were frequently strung with only four courses of strings; however, each course may have consisted of one, two or even three strings.

By the turn of the 17th century the five course guitar had become commonplace and two strings per course had become the standard. Many early instruments also have frets made from gut that were simply tied to the fingerboard with securely fixed metal frets appearing at the end of the 18th century.

It was also at around this time, at first in Italy and France, that the first six course, singly stringed guitars started to appear.

Answer: Classical

They are all classical guitar makers of great renown. Hermann Hauser I (1882-1952) was, and is still, considered to be one of the greatest luthiers in the history of the instrument. His company produced a wide range of stringed instruments, all impeccably constructed and used until 1970, by Andres Segovia, one of the greatest guitar players in history. Ignacio Fleta (1897-1977) started working in Barcelona in 1927 and was known for his wide waisted instruments and for his habit of varnishing the inside of his guitar bodies with the aim of 'brightening' the sound. Masaru Kohno (1926-1998) was a Japanese luthier who started building instruments in 1948.

In 1960 he studied guitar making in Spain under the luthier Arcangel Fernandez and set up his own business in Tokyo in the late 1960s. Steve Howe of British progressive rock band 'Yes' is a high profile user of Kohno instruments. Finally, Greg Smallman is an Australian builder with an impressive reputation for innovation and quality.

He is one of the very few builders to use composite materials in his instruments, often with an extremely thin soundboard. The virtuoso player, John Williams, is a user of Smallman guitars.

Answer: Gibson

Many of today's producers have a number of 'signature' models within their ranges which have been developed with direct input from the players themselves or have been used by and endorsed by a particular artist. As one of the early pioneers and leaders in the jazz guitar field it is clear that the Gibson Company would have an association with a number of top players. All three of these wonderful instruments were produced in very limited numbers, only 215 of the 'Tal Farlow' guitar were built during a five-year production run and the 'Barney Kessel guitar was only built for a total of ten years starting in the early 1960s and was recognisable by its 'bow-tie' fingerboard inlays.

The 'Johnny Smith' was marketed by Gibson as an improvement over the New Yorker model by John D'Angelico - I am sure that some would argue that last point!

Answer: A Superstrat

The vibrato units generically referred to as a Floyd Rose, appear almost exclusively on solid body electrics. These instruments are robust enough to withstand the forces exerted by these fittings. They are aimed primarily at rock and metal players as this style of playing demands fairly heavy duty equipment! The Floyd Rose style vibrato unit is used in conjunction with a 'locking nut' at the headstock end of the neck which helps to maintain the correct string tuning.

The actual vibrato unit itself locks in place when the handle is in the vertical position and only enables 'whammy bar' techniques to be performed once the player has gripped the handle.

It may well be possible to fit a Floyd Rose to many styles of guitar but, to be honest, who would be daft enough to fit, or attempt to fit, a Floyd Rose to an ES335? Kerry King, maybe?

Answer: The Broadcaster

The world's first commercially available solid bodied electric guitar was the Fender Broadcaster. In 1951 Fender was forced to change its name as rival manufacturer Gretsch had filed prior rights to the Broadcaster name for a range of their drum kits, and so, the Telecaster was born and still remains in production today some 60 years later.

The Telecaster is a fabulous guitar, as at home playing the blues, as it is playing jazz, country or rock 'n roll... a truly universal instrument. The Fender Stratocaster was released in 1954 and is possibly the most recognisable body shape of any guitar ever built, the Jazzmaster is another Fender instrument introduced in 1957 as Fender's top-of-the-range guitar, but was withdrawn from production in around 1980.

The Baretta is a product from the Kramer Company and, as a 'superstrat' type, is aimed squarely at rock and metal players.

Answer: Spaghetti

The original Fender logo became known as the 'spaghetti' logo and can be an effective method of roughly dating Fender instruments. After the company was taken over by CBS in 1965, the logo became larger, appeared only as black lettering and was far more noticeable. Along with the changes to the logo, Fender guitars also changed the headstock design to a wider style that remained in production until around 1971.

This headstock style was extended right across the Fender range and appeared on all models except the Telecaster, with one exception - The Telecaster Deluxe was the only model in the Telecaster range (ignoring custom built instruments) that was fitted with the wider style headstock.

Answer: Gretsch

Quite simply, Gretsch build beautiful guitars. All are big-bodied, and have become very fashionable over the last few decades. Dating any Gretsch guitar can be fraught with difficulty and, more often than not, it is easier to identify a classic Gretsch guitar by the fittings and finish than by any serial number! Gretsch guitars ceased production in 1981 but resumed again in 1985. High profile users of these fine instruments included Malcolm Young of Australian rockers, AC/DC and Dave Stewart of British electro-pop band, Eurythmics.

Answer: Ned Steinberger

First appearing in the early 1980s, the headless bass was the culmination of around 10 years of work by Ned Steinberger, an industrial engineer. He was of the opinion that the most important part of a bass guitar is the neck, all other constituent parts playing minor roles.

He also considered that the secret to a bass guitar's tone and sustain was its solidity and, with this in mind, he designed guitars with bodies made from an inflexible moulded resin, strengthened with carbon fibre. The resulting instruments produced bright tones with virtually no 'dead spots'.

The headless design also meant that the tuning keys would need to be incorporated into the bridge unit. Headless basses are still produced today, however, they are far less popular than they were three decades ago.

Answer: B-Bender

The 'B-Bender' is a device invented during the 1960s by two members of the band 'The Byrds' - Clarence White and Gram Parsons. A series of levers and springs make a connection between the bridge unit and the front strap button. Pulling the guitar down on its strap will raise the pitch of the 'B' string.

Another similar, but simpler device, known as a palm pedal, acted on either the 'B' or 'G' strings and was operated by pushing the edge of the hand against a pair of levers behind the bridge unit.