【Acoustic Guitar】 Enjoy Electric gut guitar

Hello. My name is Yoshitaka.
This time I would like to talk about electric gut guitars.

1. History of electric gut guitar

Though this is completely subjective, I think Earl Klugh, a fusion guitarist, popularized the electric gut guitar. I recall he was using a Takamine electric gut guitar. While electric-acoustic guitars were not yet established in 1976, he brought out the nylon string sound that does not get buried in the band. In Japan, I think that jazz guitarist Kiyotsugu Amano, who played the Ovation electric gut guitar in a JT commercial (song: Azure Dattan dance), is famous as an electric gut guitar player.
After that, electric gut guitars started being used for various genres such as bossa nova, jazz, pop music, and Enka.

■ List of electric gut guitars

2. Two types of electric gut guitars

Those who are considering purchasing an electric gut guitar should note there are two types of electric gut guitars.

① One is developed from an acoustic guitar and electric guitar
② One is developed from a classical and flamenco guitars

For Yamaha, I believe ① is NTX, and ② is NCX. For Martinez, ① is MP-14, and ② is MP-12. These were designed with a concept of switching between acoustic guitar and electric guitar, and switching between a classical guitar and flamenco guitar. I would suggest you choose which guitar to use according to the music you play, as the neck width, neck joint, etc. are different (I use the Martinez MP-12 for bossa nova).

3. Truss rod

You should check if the guitar has a truss rod or not, especially when purchasing an electric gut guitar after having used an acoustic guitar or electric guitar.
Most classical guitars do not have a truss rod, so it seems some electric gut guitars do not have one either, making it so that you cannot adjust the neck using a truss rod, which can be normally done with the guitar with a truss rod. Therefore, you need to be careful when purchasing an electric gut guitar. I think it is important to check in advance because the specs are different depending on the product even from the same manufacturer.

4. Solid body or hollow body

I would recommend a solid type electric gut guitar like Godin if you play lead in a band, so that the sound won’t get buried in the band sound. (I’m not going into detail as I have never tried one). If you play gentle music such as bossa nova or in a jazz trio, it doesn't have to be a solid type. I feel that electric gut guitars produced today focus on outputting the faithful acoustic sound in the line signal, as well as the electric steel string guitar sound. For Yamaha, you can check the sound on the manufacturer's website, so I think you should check it before purchasing.

5. External pickups

Though a pickup can be mounted on a classical guitar, it is important to note that a magnetic pickup cannot be used with a gut strings. For gut guitars, you’ll need a piezo pickup or a mic. Please see below for good pickups for classical / flamenco guitars.

■ L.R.Baggs / Anthem SL Classical

L.R.Baggs / Anthem SL Classical is a typical one (I haven't used this item myself, but I have used a similar pickup from the Anthem series)
However, since many classical guitars / flamenco guitars are expensive, I feel that many people hesitate to modify them.

6. Finally

Especially for those who play jazz or bossa nova, electric gut guitar will be your main gear.
I feel that the recent electric gut guitars have fairly natural sound with the microphone blending technology, rather than the conventional piezo-only sound.