Do You Know The History Of The Electric Guitar?
The Electric Guitar was invented by a very talented man who when by the name of Adolph Rickenbacker. The first complete setup was back in the 1930′s, which was only a mere 70 years ago. On the other hand, the Classical guitar and the acoustic guitar have been around for many centuries. There is evidence that dates back to 1800 B.C., that shows the presents of guitars, or similar instruments. There is really no comparison between todays electric guitars and the past. The evolution of electric guitars has been nothing short of amazing. This article will give you a brief history of the electric guitar.
Adolph Rickenbacker manufactured his fist electric guitar in the early 1930′s, and equipped it with tungsten pickups. These pickups would sense the vibrations from the strings and convert them into electrical currents. The currents are relayed into the amp and produces sound.
Semi-hollow body are what the older guitars were know as. They were called this because they had sound holes in the body of the guitar. This style of guitar is still very popular today.
As the Big Band era approached in the 30′s and 40′s, the use of electric guitars became more popular. Plugging the guitar into an amplifier would give the much needed sound levels to be heard over the loud surroundings of the bands.
A guy by the name of Les Paul is an excellent musician, but if for some reason you don’t know this name, he is the inventor of the solid body electric guitar. Les Paul invented the fist solid body in 1941.
This type of guitar is made of one piece of wood and has no sound holes. You are able to simply plug into an amplifier and start thrashing. Paul’s first original guitar he made was nothing to brag about. It consisted of nothing more than a rectangular body attached to the neck and six steel strings. However, a modern day Les Paul is simply a thing of beauty.
It was in the 50′s that Gibson hooked up with Les Paul and presented the Gibson Les Paul to the world. From that day there was no turning back. The Gibson Les Paul has been a major success for over 50 years, and is considered the most popular selling electric guitar on the market. One guy very partial to the Gibson is Slash from Guns n’ Roses.
Leo Fender soon became the next big thing in solid-body guitars. Leo invented the Fender Broadcaster in the late 40′s. The Broadcaster was introduced to the public in 1954, but instead of Broadcaster, it was named the Fender Stratocaster or Fender “Strat”. The Fender Strat guitar was very different from the Gibson in the fact the the Strat had a different body shape, used different hardware, and was much lighter. Despite these differences, the Fender has become the second favorite guitar among musicians. Musicians such as Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and many others play the Fender Stratocaster.
Today, there are many other guitar manufactures that produce solid-body guitars. Here are a few:
1. Washburn
2. Ibanez
3. ESP
4 .Jackson
5. Paul Reed Smith
6. Kramer
7. Dean
8. Epiphone
9. Peavy
10. Schecter
Josh Scalf
electric guitar history?
I am trying to find out exactly who made the very first electric guitar and what year it was if anyone know please send me the answer!!
Thank You
Electric guitars were originally designed by an assortment of luthiers, electronics enthusiasts, and instrument manufacturers, in varying combinations. Some of the earliest electric guitars, then essentially adapted hollow bodied acoustic instruments, used tungsten pickups and were manufactured in the 1930s by Rickenbacker. The first recording of an electric guitar was by jazz guitarist Eddie Durham in 1937. Durham introduced the instrument to a young Charlie Christian, who made the instrument famous in his all-too-brief life and is generally known as the first electric guitarist and a major influence on jazz guitarists for decades thereafter.
The version of the instrument that is most well known today is the [solid body] electric guitar, a guitar made of solid wood, without resonating airspaces within it.
At least one company, Audiovox, built and may have offered an electric solid-body as early as the mid-1930s. Rickenbacher, later spelled Rickenbacker (both are pronounced Rickenbocker) offered a solid Bakelite electric guitar, nicknamed "The Frying Pan", beginning in 1935, which reportedly sounded quite modern and aggressive when tested by vintage guitar researcher John Teagle.
Another early solid body electric guitar was designed and built by musician and inventor Les Paul in the early 1940s, working after hours in the Gibson Guitar factory. His "log" guitar (so called because it consisted of a simple 4×4 wood post with a neck attached to it and homemade pickups and hardware, with two detachable Swedish hollow body halves attached to the sides for appearance only) was patented and is often considered to be the first of its kind, although it shares nothing in design or hardware with the solid body "Les Paul" model sold by Gibson.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_guitar
A man named Lloyd Loar was the first to explore and experiment with louder sound. Loar worked for the Gibson guitar company as an engineer. In 1924, he created a large, horseshoe shaped magnet that amplified sound. This was known as a pickup. The vibrations that were received from the pickup traveled through a cord and projected trough a speaker, where the tone and volume of the sound could be controlled. The speaker was known as an amplifier.
Paul Barth, George Beauchamp, and Adolph Rickenbacker used the idea of the electric guitar and decided to sell electric guitars. In 1931 they created Electro String Company, where the three companions made and sold the first electric guitars. Their guitars consisted of steel strings, aluminum bodies, and horseshoe magnets, and they were nicknamed “frying pan” because of the shape and design. These were the first commercial electric guitars.
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Secret methods
Lester Poulfuss (better known as Les Paul), from Waukesha, WI, is generally credited.
As I recall the story, he worked the needle out of his mother’s phonograph (careful not to disconnect the tiny wires), and pushed it into the wooden guitar top. The sound came out the speaker, and he just kept screwing around with different ideas until one worked best.
Check the U.S. Patent Office website for the earliest patent.
References :
Been to Waukesha
les paul perfected the electric guitar
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