Lately I’ve really got into jazz and was thinking of buying a decent hollow-body guitar. I’ve also got a rebetiko guitar, which I use with a dual pickup and have had complaints about its sound, as well as an acoustic guitar that I’m bored with. However, I thought I could also use the hollow-body for a programme featuring dance-oriented rebetiko and old laïko music. I’ve never worked with this kind of guitar before. In the band, there are two bouzoukia, percussion and accordion, along with me on guitar. Do you think it would work for a nightclub? Has anyone used this kind of guitar for this repertoire?
In photos of Chiotis and, more generally, of the period when electricity had just been introduced on stage, you don’t see guitars like these, do you? Also, I think the guitarists in mainland traditional music played guitars like these, particularly during the period when electricity was introduced, but before Ovation appeared and, more generally, before electro-acoustic guitars.
I’ve noticed that too, but these days I don’t see anyone using it, which is why I’m puzzled.
Historically, electrically amplifying instruments was an important development in traditional genres of music, and a great help to players who no longer had to break their hands trying to be heard.
Some genres adapted to it beautifully, both musically and aesthetically (e.g. electric blues); others did not (a bouzouki through a Fender Twin, and traditional folk music with funky grooves).
Nowadays, thanks to advances in sound-recording technology, there is no longer such a need to electrify them. On the contrary, we seek the natural, authentic sound of rebetiko or traditional folk music. So it’s up to you if you want to create your own sound. Besides, a hollow-body guitar is always a beautiful guitar!
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Even without being an expert, I wouldn’t trust what was happening when a new technology first emerged, while its users were still exploring it.
The first electric guitars appeared in the ’30s, the bouzouki was plugged in around the ’60s, and somewhere around then we have photos of electric guitars on stage, and I assume a little later at festivals and village fairs. I don’t have the figures to hand right now, but there was already a delay of two or three decades.
Microphones, on the other hand, were adopted immediately by record companies for recordings (1926, if I remember correctly). On stage, I think they began to be used in the late ’40s, positioned centrally for the female singer.
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Here you can see Chiotis with various instruments, including an electro-acoustic guitar, “Maria”, with f-holes.
Let me ask a question: Historically, wouldn’t it be interesting to discover the electric sound of popular music from a particular era, even if it sounds harsh to modern tastes? If, for example, Chiotis played like that on stage, would it be a subject worthy of study?
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If this was how Chiotis played when he had just discovered electricity (but hadn’t yet figured out all its tricks and was still searching for them), then I don’t know…
It’s certainly interesting from a musical and sociological perspective; there’s probably already a study, dissertation or at least an article on it somewhere.
And it has certainly been studied extensively in other types of music where this electrification took place, roughly during the same period.
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Anyway, the original question was:
The initial answer to the initial question is that what’s wanted these days is a natural sound. If he can achieve that with a suitable setup, then all well and good. Electric sound isn’t appreciated in venues today, regardless of the fact that many bouzouki players and guitarists plug straight into the mixing desk and sound awful.
At a later stage, some bands may choose a more electrified sound as a form of arrangement—the result depends on the band’s aesthetic. But this isn’t a taverna setting; it’s a live music venue.
It’s certainly interesting, and various factors also play a role — geography, politics, etc. For example, the Farfisa, being a fully electronic Italian instrument, must have been easier to transport and cheaper to import into Greece than the Hammond, which was American and therefore expensive and electromechanical — and consequently huge, heavy and difficult to transport. That’s why the Hammond was adopted only by rockers and blues musicians, and quite late on — for example, Peloma Bokiou — whereas the Farfisa was the solution to two problems with the accordion: the weight of the instrument, which puts a strain on the player, and amplification.
I think Italian electric guitars and amplifiers would also have been cheaper. Hiotis, of course, had money as a successful soloist, and would have brought back instruments he bought in America.
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And another photo of Chiotis playing Μανώλης Χιώτης: η Ευφυΐα! Ταχύτητα-Μελωδικότητα! και ο θαυμαστής.. Jimi Hendrix | Μπουζούκι Και Μπουζουξήδες.
I remember, twenty years ago, in some little dive in the city centre with terrible wine and out-of-date tins, a chav from the western suburbs turned up for a job, with a white Stratocaster, the classic blue light behind him, and a little amp under his chair. He didn’t get the job in the end.
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If by Hollow body you mean “semi-acoustic” guitars with f-holes (jazz guitar), there are quite a few recordings from America featuring Poggi, Evgenikos and others. Petsas here in Greece also has a few recordings.
I don’t have anything to hand at the moment.
I’ll bear it in mind and make a note of them.
Come on, let’s collect these recordings too…
Yes, those are the ones I mean—their sound is warmer than that of a plain electric guitar, but they’re not rebetiko guitars, for heaven’s sake. Basically, I don’t like using a standard acoustic guitar, and they have an issue with the sound of my rebetiko guitar, which, as I said, I use with a pickup… That’s why I said I’d use that kind of guitar, since we’re not talking about a koutouki but a nightclub with a sound system.
you need to clarify something here.
when we have a pickup or a transducer, the sound is determined by the method of conversion.
e.g. 1. pickup (electric sound resulting from the modulation caused by the vibrating strings in the pickup’s magnetic field)
2. transducer (a device that converts the instrument’s vibrations into an electrical signal).
the actual sound of an instrument is what we hear, or what a microphone hears.
what you’re saying here,
[ and with my rebetiko guitar, which, as I said, I use with a pickup, they make an issue of the sound…],
needs to be specified more precisely. In other words, what exactly is the problem?
You can invest in a better capsule or magnet. We’ve had relevant discussions on the forum, and there are several options.
Indeed, that is the question. Does the pickup produce distorted sound, or overemphasise certain frequencies, with the situation impossible to fix using EQ? Or is the signal too weak and you don’t have enough preamplification, so the signal gets lost in the noise? Does it feed back easily?
When you say dual pickup, do you mean two pickups on the instrument, or something else? Do you place them side by side, or one, for example, at the soundhole and one towards the bridge or the 12th fret?
Get a new guitar because you’ve got hooked on jazz. But for your work, you need to talk to the people making the complaints, work out exactly what is going wrong and fix it.
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