- The first guitars evolved from violins, lutes and mandolins. They weren't distinctive separate instruments until the latter half of the 18th century. At that time, the first six-string guitars were produced in Italy. A few years later, the man who would change the guitar world was born. This was Christian Frederick Martin. He came to the United States in the early 1800s and started making his own guitars in New York City. He later moved to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where he concentrated on building guitars that would become distinctly American.
- The first major innovation, although not definitively known to have been created by Martin himself, was the cross-bracing, or X-bracing, under the acoustic guitar's top. This made the guitar sturdier and allowed it to produce a louder sound, good for playing alongside louder instruments such as the banjo. The second major innovation was the development of a larger body, known as the dreadnought, which gave the guitar a better, richer, louder and more vibrant sound. The acoustic guitar of the mid-1800s was not essentially different from the one made today, except for the strings. According to "Martin Guitars & Co.: The Martin Guitar History in Summary" on Morphis.com, "C.F. Martin passed away in 1867 leaving his company to his son C.F. Martin Jr. C.F. Martin ran the company for a brief 11 years and in 1888 he [unexpectedly] died leaving the Martin guitars company to his 22 year old son Frank. Frank expanded Martin Guitar Company into mandolins and in 1916 Frank Martin would help a man named Harry Hunt design what was known as a 'Dreadnought' guitar."
- The X-bracing of the acoustic guitar and the dreadnought shape would unintentionally lead to the modern guitar because the strength of these guitars allowed for the introduction---around the beginning of the 20th century---of steel strings to replace the gut strings previously common. Since steel strings exert far more pressure on a guitar neck and body than gut strings do, the introduction of the truss rod also helped. This is a steel bar or screw that stretches the length of a guitar neck, thus making it stronger. The truss rod also allows the user to fix warping in the neck by turning it with a tool to straighten it. According to the Internet Guitar Database, "In the neck of a guitar there is a metallic rod called the 'truss rod.' This allows the curvature of the guitar neck to be adjusted, which is necessary when changing the string gauge, or when drastic temperature and/or humidity changes occur."
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Steel strings also were essential for the development of the electric guitar. Once the sound needed to be amplified in the 1930s big band era, steel strings were needed because they could produce the vibration across the pickups---essentially magnetic microphones on the guitar's surface---that could be amplified. By the time of the guitar heroes of the 1960s and 1970s, the steel strings had become thinner and more stable. This allowed guitarists to bend the strings to produce distinctive leads. According to Gary Rollins, the dominant electric guitar today is the solid body electric guitar, invented by musician Les Paul in 1941. It is made of solid wood with no soundholes. Paul's original solid body guitar was a simple rectangular block of wood connected to a neck with six steel strings. According to "The History of the Solid Body Guitar," the Gibson company's new electric models became firmly established in the 1940s. Again, according to Rollins, the electric guitar's popularity increased during the big band era of the '30s and '40s. It was necessary to have guitars that could be heard above the loud brass and jazz sections. Electric guitars filled this void because they could be plugged into amplifiers.
- Except for classical acoustic guitars---now largely strung with nylon strings---most guitars use steel strings. This is true for both acoustic and electric guitars, and for hybrids called acoustic-electric guitars. Whether it's jazz, blues, rock or country, steel-string guitars have dominated the music world since the 1950s.
