The Ultimate Guitar Book

Tony Bacon's book "The Ultimate Guitar Book" goes into detail about acoustic, solidbody and bass guitars and is full of great pictures of all types. The book starts out with a hitory of the guitar from the 16th and 17th centuries and how it developed to it's current form. The acoustic guitar section begins with the anatomy of the acoustic guitar and some basic terminology. The chapter progresses through classical guitar builders Antonio De Torres and discusses the styles of classical and flamenco guitar. The Martin guitar company's guitars are discussed next with a discussion of the various body sizes, inlays and production dates. The chapter continues with D'Angelico, D'Aquisto, Epiphone, Gibson's archtops and flattops and Ovation guitars. The chapter finishes up with resonators and lap and pedal steels. The electric section starts with the earlist pioneers of amplified guitars like the Rickenbacker "Frying Pan" and the Les Paul "Log". The Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster and various Fenders are covered along with Gibsons Les Pauls, Flying V's, Rickenbackers and various American and European guitars. This book is a great starting point for reference and research but is only a starting point. There are many other books devoted to single models such as the Les Paul and Stratocaaster that one book could not possibly cover everything. Well worth the price espcially for all of the wonderful pictures.

I bought this book because I liked the first part of "The Complete Guitarist" book where the history and dissection of the guitar is shown.This book is full of pictures and descriptions of a lot of guitars. The book is divided by guitar type, from acoustic, archtop, solid-body electics, semi-solid electrics and basses. The descrptions are short and give way to the pictures, but the guitars that demand, by respect, more description are given more pages.The guitars shown are from all over the world and thus aren't limited to a specific market. Its cool to see how a russian guitar is made.The only thing I would have liked is a timeline, but the book isn't formatted this way and its fine.All in all a very fun book to have. No theory, nothing to tell you "practice damn it!", just enjoy.

If you were to never read one word of the text of Mr. Bacon's fine book, it would still be worth the cost. Encased between the two covers are some of the finest photos of guitars you'll ever lay your eyes on. Not only are there pictures of your "standard" American-made guitars (Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker), but also "axes" from around the world. Bacon has also included some interesting and unusual guitars as well. This is a book that you will go back to over-and-over; it's that interesting.

I've read and reread this book countless times. The details in construction techniques of the various classes of guitars from the Archtops to the Solid Bodies, are very well ilistrated and the text is unambiguous, without being patronizing. I would highly recomend it as an addition to auy music lovers library. -Jose' Torres Jr.-

This book is a must for any guitar enthusiast. It traces the major developments in the history guitar production with awesome photos of the best examples. Includes reference information on dating certain popular vintage guitars (e.g. Fender) and explains important terminology. A very enjoyable way to learn about this subject.