The date of the first application of a pickup to a guitar is uncertain but Loyd Loar who worked for Gibson from 1920 to 1924 (and is famous for his mandolins and arch tops) developed a pickup. The company developed a bunch of prototypes which were not accepted by the "agents" (who I believe sold to the retailers). Vivi-Tone was founded by Loar and two other folks from Gibson - however they were too far ahead of the curve and there was no market.
Walter Fuller recalled that when he joined Gibson in 1933, he found some pickups that he believed were made ten years earlier under Loar's supervision. They were more like microphones than modern day pickups with a fixed anode and a charged, stretched diaphragm. It was not a successful design.
Commercially successful electric instruments began to appear in the 1930s. In 1931 Rickenbacher (that's a correct spelling for the era) produced a Hawaiian guitar that came to be known as the "Frying Pan". It was the first instrument to use a modern style electromagnetic pickup which, in addition to ten years of market simmering, might explain its success.
Rickenbacher was not alone - Rowe-DeArmond had started producing pickups early in the decade and Dobro produced a small number of amplified resonator guitars in 1932.
While the Hawaiian guitars were solid from the start, the electric "Spanish" guitars of the time were mostly arch tops with a pickup stuck on them. Various global events were pulling attention away from guitar manufacturing. As a result the electric guitar did not begin to become well known until the late 30s when Charlie Christian and Benny Goodman's band brought Gibson's ES-150 to the masses. (Note that "ES" stands for Electric Spanish).
The Second World War continued to hamper development because people with manufacturing skills were pressed into service.
Les Paul (born in 1916) had experimented with his own pickups as early as 1929. He was certain that making a stiffer instrument, keeping the pickup in place and allowing the strings to move was the way to go and so started working toward solid instruments.
He had John D'Angelico put a soundpost or block inside an instrument for him to keep the top still, and in 1937 commissioned an instrument from Larson Bros. of Chicago with a heavy solid top and no sound holes. A short while later he experimented with "The Log", essentially a railroad tie, where he stuck the bouts of the guitar to the plank which contained everything else. He built this at Epiphone's New York factory in 1941.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - James Russell
I'm pretty sure I saw a picture once of an electric guitar made in 1910. If I recall it correctly (and it's been many years, so I can't remember where I saw it), it was a mighty odd-looking instrument...
2 - Ian
thank you very much I used some of your information if that is alright with you...
I hope you don't mind it was just for a school project so don't worry about sending it out on the web or anything. you can contact me if you need to.
THanks
ian
3 - chad girard
this place roks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 - Tom Johnson
Yes, yes Chad, it does.
5 - hilary
hey, this web site really is excellent. I go on here in my spair time! i find it truley helpful when i need reasearch! thancks a lot!
yours truly,
hilary
xxooxx
6 - HW Saxton Jr.
Since were on the subject of E-Lek-Triss-A-Tee:
Tampa Red was the first bluesman to play slide on a standard 6 stringed ELECTRIC guitar,thereby
helping to set the standard for cats like Robert
Nighthawk,Elmore James,Earl Hooker,Muddy Waters,
Hound Dog Taylor and all of the rest.
7 - Loa curfew III
What is the oldest guitar in the world? (Electric)
8 - Garrbear
this site relly rocks i love it
9 - Michael Edelhofer
While using your information for a school project, I noticed a mistake in your 8th paragraph, 2nd line, after the comma, the word, I believe, should be "and" and not "an".
10 - Jman
Hey, was EVH or Alan Holdsworth first to put the single humbucker in the Strat body? EVH was totally famous for it, and I remembered reading about how he had a "Les Paul Strat" guitar. Evh was a huge guitar innovater anyway and I can't believe he wasn't mentioned (along with many other big names...) Who produced the first whammy bar? What about Floyd Rose's floating bridge? Seymour Duncan?
11 - Nicole
this site rocks! hey check out my site too! i cant find like alot of info on the history of electric guitars.
12 - StuartP
Tampa Red was the best bluesman.
13 - Roger
Cool posting Daniel. I beleive it was George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker who officially invented the first electrc guitar. Wasn't one of Les Pauls first working pickups made from telephone parts? I own a Gibson SG. It's currenlty is the only "Axe" I own. At one time in the 80's and early 90's I owned several Gibsons including a Melody Maker, Sonex 180 and Flying-V. I regret letting them go even though they were fairly inexpensive, except for the V.
On a different note: To Josh and Nikk who posted above, go fuck-off and play with your Superman dolls!
14 - Eric Olsen
I believe Daniel is long gone, though his post lives on. If I am wrong Daniel, please let me know.
15 - Roger
Didn't pay attention to the Sept 02 date. Just thought I'd provide what little knowledge I had.
16 - Eric Olsen
and fine knowledge it is
17 - elzie
thankies for the info!! , it made my essay a loot easier , not i didnt copy starigh what you wrote but yea , thankiez!!! ( A+ , FIRST EVA!!)
18 - Bennett
Hey Rhys. Try to avoid typing words that long, please. It really messes up the page.
Thanks!
19 - Victor Plenty
Antidisestablishmentarianism is the longest word allowed in a Blogcritics comment.
20 - Bennett
Yeah, and even that one tweaked out the "Hot Topics" column...
[ya bastid]
21 - Ross O'Dell
The first electric guitar was made in 1925 by Adolph Rickenbacker and the first guitar smash was an accident by Jimmi Hendrix when he fell off stage and threw his guitar back on stage and it broke. The very first guitar company was "Electro String Company" it was founded in 1931 by Adolph Rickenbacker and George Beauchamp. The same year that the Great Depression came.
22 - mike
thanks man that was kool
23 - justin
i am doing a really in depth research paper for my class
all of the previous sources ive been to were about 10 pages of text
though i doubt daniel looks at these comments, i give him kudos for making the info on the page short and to the point
24 - Jake
This is really cool it really helped for a school progect and i found it interesting. This was not like researching it was fun
25 - kenny
this site is dumb