Body

The main structural mass of a guitar, which holds the bridge, the pickups and the neck joint, and on an acoustic also provides the resonating air chamber.

Its material, thickness and internal structure decide how much the whole instrument resonates with the strings and where its main resonances fall. A solid slab damps the strings very little and pushes most of the energy into sustain; a thin, braced top on a hollow box moves easily and turns that energy into sound instead. Body size also sets how the guitar sits against the player, which is why small shapes feel different to hold as well as to hear.

Example: the same pickups and hardware sound markedly tighter on a solid ash body than on a thin hollow one, where the box itself colours every note.

Body

See also