A silent guitar is a type of

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

with a

solid Solid is a state of matter where molecules are closely packed and can not slide past each other. Solids resist compression, expansion, or external forces that would alter its shape, with the degree to which they are resisted dependent upon the ...

chambered body An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickups to convert the vibration of its strings in ...

that converts the vibration of the strings into

electric current An electric current is a flow of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is defined as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface. The moving particles are called charge c ...

using a

piezoelectric pickup A pickup is an electronic device that converts energy from one form to another that captures or senses mechanical vibrations produced by musical instruments, particularly stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, and converts these to ...

. The body of the guitar does not amplify the vibration of the strings into audible sound. Thanks to this, musicians can practice with headphones without disturbing people around them, or obtain an acoustic tone under heavy amplification without feedback.

Las Vegas Academy The Las Vegas Academy of the Arts is a magnet high school located in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Students are accepted through an audition process and claim a major pertaining to performing arts or visual arts. History Las Vegas High School ...

has used silent guitars in a classroom setting, with students wearing headphones to hear their instrument's sound.

Types

Full-size bodies

A successful early silent guitar with a full-sized body was the

Gibson Chet Atkins SST The Gibson Chet Atkins SST was a solid body acoustic-electric designed by the musician Chet Atkins and manufactured and marketed by Gibson. The steel-string model was introduced in 1987 and was discontinued in 2006. The Chet Atkins CE was the or ...

. It appeared to have a

soundhole A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * Round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; * F-holes in instruments from the viol ...

, but it was in fact a dummy. It was employed by

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British musician. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and he is the one of the two members who stayed during the band's existence ...

, among others.

Small bodies

Reducing the body size of a silent guitar has little effect on the sound. The portability of a small bodied guitar, as well as the ability to practice silently, is an advantage to travelers.

Skeleton guitars

Some silent guitars are small-bodied instruments with a knee-rest of outer frame in the dimensions of an acoustic guitar so that they can be played sitting. These can be detachable to allow conversion into a

travel guitar Travel guitars are small guitars with a full or nearly full scale-length. In contrast, a reduced scale-length is typical for guitars intended for children, which have scale-lengths of one-quarter (ukulele guitar, or guitalele), one-half, and th ...

. The most well known and popular model of this type is the Yamaha Silent Guitar series. The model in the photo above is the SLG130NW.

Strings and tuning

Silent guitars are usually tuned in the same manner as traditional guitars, from low to high: E - A - D - G - B - E. Various models are available with seven, eight, and even 14-string configurations, although those are rare.

Manufacturers

Several guitar manufacturers offer silent guitars, including

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

Traveler Guitar Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler, or The Traveller may refer to: People *Anyone engaged in travel Groups * Romani people, or Roma, or Gypsies, and their subgroups in various countries * Indigenous Norwegian Travellers * Irish Travellers ...

and

Warr Guitars Warr or WARR may refer to: * Warr Glacier, in Antarctica * Warr Guitar * WARR (AM) (1520 AM), radio station in North Carolina, USA * Warr Acres, Oklahoma, a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States * WARR (TUM), a student group at the Techn ...

References

Guitars {{electric-guitar-stub de:Gitarre#Silent/Traveller Guitar