Electric vs Acoustic Are All Guitars the Same

If you have ever compared an electric guitar to an acoustic guitar, you probably quickly discovered that they have several things in common.

Both acoustic and electric guitars have six strings, they both tune those strings with tuning pegs and they both have frets on a long neck. Down at the body end is where the major differences are found.

Electric guitars have a hollow or semi-hollow body with the resonating cavity found in an acoustic guitar, but the most popular electric guitars have solid bodies. You see, the sound is produced by magnetic pickups and controlled by several knobs. These pickups convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into electrical current, which is then amplified.

The resulting signal that emanates from the guitar can be electronically altered in order to achieve various tonal effects prior to being fed into an amplifier.  If you pluck a string on an electric guitar that is not plugged in, the sound will be barely audible. Without a soundboard and a hollow body, there is nothing to amplify the string's vibrations.

That being said, not all electric guitars are the same. Just as everyone likes to play a different style of music, many musicians want a unique guitar that matches their personality. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of places that will customize a guitar especially for you, such as one that offers unique striking finish designs.