An early history of the electric guitar
The first attempts to produce electric guitars date back to the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1920s, many hobbyists tried various ways to amplify the sound of guitars and other stringed instruments using carbon button pickups in the bridge and tungsten pickups, but this produced weak signals and therefore poor results. . Hollow body acoustic guitars were the accepted form at the time and there was much experimentation during the 1920s and early 1930s by numerous luthiers, any one of whom may have claimed to be the first inventor. The 1930s saw the beginning of the ‘Big Band’ era, whose sound was closely associated with jazz and featured brass instruments prominently. Because of this, the guitar needed to gain a stronger voice and this was a major influence on the development of the electric guitar.
George D Beauchamp (1899-1941) was the man credited with discovering the first successful magnetic pickup for a guitar. In 1931 he and his achievement Adolf Rickenbacker (1886-1976) created the guitar known as ‘Pan‘, a lap steel instrument in which this technology was introduced. The body of the’Pan‘ was formed from cast aluminum and featured a pick-up made up of a pair of magnets that curved over steel strings. Beauchamp did not obtain a patent for his invention until 1937, which allowed other manufacturers to capitalize on his work, notably Gibson Guitar Corp. Tea’Pan‘ was introduced to the public in 1932 and more than 2,700 were built before the outbreak of World War II in 1939, when production ceased.
The first all-electric guitar, meaning it had single-string pickups instead of a single bar, was credited to a North Carolina physics professor by the name of sidney wilson. In 1940, Wilson entered his guitar at the North Carolina State Engineering Fair and stole the show. He reasoned that individual pick-ups would solve the problem of uneven volume that plagued the single-bar pick-up. He also argued that a hollow body guitar was more prone to vibration feedback problems and therefore his award winner was built with a solid body. After the war, the production of electric guitars underwent a metamorphosis when in 1952 Gibson’s designer ted mccartyWith Paul Barth Y the Pablo, introduced the solid body design known as the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar. This guitar was made in two different models, the first ‘Gold Top’ in 1952 and the second ‘Custom’ in 1954. Prior to that, Les Paul had developed their own solid body guitar known as the ‘record guitar‘because the body consisted of a solid 4″x4″ piece of wood with a neck attached and two Swedish hollow body halves attached on each side which had no functionality, but made it more aesthetically pleasing. While Gibson and Les Paul introduced their brand, another manufacturer fender leo (1909-1991), who had a background in electronics, combined his electrical skills with guitar production and in 1951 introduced his own solid-body guitar known as the ‘Announcer‘ then renamed the ‘telecaster‘. That same year Fender also released a new base guitar called the ‘precision basis‘, because it had a fretted neck instead of the traditional open neck and could be played like a guitar instead of the familiar full-bodied acoustic instrument. From there, Fender introduced the “Strat‘ in 1954, which changed the design of its predecessor to incorporate suggestions from professional musicians, Fender employees, and Leo Fender himself. More importantly, he added the new tremolo bridge, intended to give the sound associated with pedal steel guitar. In addition, it included its third single-coil pickup, which gave it a wider range of tonal possibilities, and also a better body design, to allow easier access to the higher registers.
The introduction of the electric guitar was the foundation of Rock and Roll and has had a huge impact on jazz, blues, and other forms of popular music.