The most important piece of the body of the acoustic is the soundboard. This is the wooden piece mounted on the front of the guitar's body, and its job is to make the guitar's sound loud enough for us to hear. In the soundboard is a large hole called the sound hole. The hole is normally round and centered, but F-shaped pairs of holes, as in a violin, are sometimes seen. Attached to the soundboard is a piece called the bridge, which acts as the anchor for one end of the six strings. The bridge has a thin, hard piece embedded in it called the saddle, which is the part that the strings rest against.
Soundhole |
Soundboard |
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When the strings vibrate, the vibrations travel through the saddle to the bridge to the soundboard. The entire soundboard is now vibrating. The body of the guitar forms a hollow soundbox that amplifies the vibrations of the soundboard, thus creating sound.
Below are a few sound samples of an acoustic guitar, one fingerpicking, one strumming, and the last with a mixture of both.
With Fingerpicking:
Strumming:
Both Fingerpicking and Strumming:
