What is a Line? Strings Packaging.

What is a Line? Wiring.

I thought I better have a closer look at guitar wiring in relation to it's colour. Obviously red and the green earth wire and the primary considerations.

However as my the tone of my work is not designed to be an instructional images then the colour of my wiring doesn't matter as much. I guess two colours can be kept but if those two colours weren't red and green for the sake of aesthetics then I don't think this would be a crime.

Another thought is that as long is the wires are connected in the right places then the bit in between doesn't necessarily need to be exact. Guess it depends on whether I go with an x-ray style documentary image or something more illustrative.

Personally I'd prefer to do something more illustrative as I think it suits the target audience better. If this is something that's designed to be bought by guitar fanatics as decorations for their house then images which feel artistic and visually prominent would work better. 

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What is a Line? Fender & Gibson.

They really are the two most recognized and revered electric guitar makes so it makes sense to concentrate on them.  


Fender:

Fender themselves class there iconic electric guitars as the telecaster and the stratocaster along with two bass guitars which I haven't considered as possible options as they are equally electric and in cases equally iconic.

It has a rich heritage of respected artists that have used there guitars which is how they gained some notoriety.

Other possible guitar for consideration by them is the 'Jaguar' and the 'Mustang'. If I had these with the tele and the strat it gives me a set to work with but it might not offer enough variety.

Fender's visual style keeps strong 60's aesthetics and that of rock and roll. This is obviously a vintage poster but you can see how the modern logo hasn't really changed much in 50 something years. This tells me they are keen to keep their heritage alive and well.

 Gibson:

Gibson guitars as a company is actually very similar to Fender in both it's proud heritage and it's aesthetic choices.

Other Gibson considerations include the 'Firebird', 'SG', 'Flying V' and the 'Explorer'. All have unique shapes. There's also the ES-150. This is the first Gibson electric. 

 















You can see how similar the logo's are in structure. They are both designed as script text which I suppose is to give the guitars that vintage, hand made feel. The Gibson logo is also written on an angle of about 10 degrees. This style of logo is pretty consistent with the guitar industry, especially those which have been around a while.

What is a Line? Guitar Research.

I thought it sensible to start my research process by looking at some images of iconic guitar shapes and their innards. See what's lurking around the internet firstly.

Fender Stratocaster:

Possibly the most iconic guitar of all time, it's shape is recognised and has been copied countless times. This would make it a prime subject for the idea I have for this brief.

In terms of wiring it's fairly simple and would work well as a simplified graphic.

Gibson Les Paul:

The les paul is probably equally iconic and another one of the most copied guitar shapes of all time. Again the wiring looks simple which is good but this time it seems to involve more chambers. I don't mind this, it gives me more visual elements to work with.

Fender Telecaster:

  

Another famous model from fender. Not as much as the strat but it's widely known and respected. This is a bit of a mix between the strat and les paul in structure mixing chambers and solid body.

What I'm getting from this is the wiring basically connects the pick ups which transmit the sound from the strings, to the volume and tone switches, that is then connected to the jack output which sends the sound to the amplifier.

Gibson 355:

A Gibson 355 like the ones John Lennon and Chuck Berry played are definitely iconic guitars and will cost you a fortune these days. The difference with this guitar is that it's semi-acoustic so the body is partially hollow but it still uses electrics so it can be amplified.

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Evaluation: 

There's definitely visually interesting elements I can work with so that's a relief. I wasn't sure what was lurking beneath a guitars surface to be honest and whether it would be substantial enough for me to be able to design to. Luckily it has enough bits and bobs to be able to create something interesting.

I need to keep in mind that wiring can be an extremely dull subject to most but hopefully with visual interest added and aimed at the right audience, guitar enthusiasts, I believe it has enough merit to carry the project forward.

Initial thoughts:

The shapes of the guitars are well known enough to my target audience not to need to add detail of the outer elements unless they are visually striking or relevant. This leaves me the whole body of the guitar to map out wiring and chambers with a mind for experimentation in colour.