Editing Electric guitar (section)

== History ==
[[File:Elektrofryingpan.jpg|thumb|170px|The "Frying Pan", 1932]]
Many experiments with electrically amplifying the vibrations of a string instrument were made dating back to the early part of the 20th century. Patents from the 1910s show telephone transmitters were adapted and placed inside violins and [[banjo]]s to amplify the sound. Hobbyists in the 1920s used [[Carbon microphone|carbon button microphones]] attached to the [[Bridge (instrument)|bridge]]; however, these detected vibrations from the bridge on top of the instrument, resulting in a weak signal.<ref name="Wheelwright">Wheelwright, Lynn; Carter, Walter (28 April 2010). [http://www.vintageguitar.com/3588/ro-pat-in-electric-spanish/]. ''Vintage Guitar''. Retrieved 10 July 2014.</ref>

Electric guitars were originally designed by acoustic guitar makers and instrument manufacturers. The demand for amplified guitars began during the big band era; as orchestras increased in size, guitar players soon realized the necessity in guitar amplification and electrification.<ref>{{cite web |title=Invention: Electric Guitar |url=http://invention.si.edu/invention-electric-guitar/p/35-invention |website=www.invention.si.edu |publisher=Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation |access-date=21 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824234551/http://invention.si.edu/invention-electric-guitar/p/35-invention |archive-date=24 August 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The first electric guitars used in jazz were hollow [[archtop]] acoustic guitar bodies with electromagnetic [[transducer]]s.

The first electrically amplified stringed instrument to be marketed commercially was a cast [[aluminium]] [[lap steel guitar]] nicknamed the [[Frying pan (guitar)|"Frying Pan"]] designed in 1931 by [[George Beauchamp]], the general manager of the [[National Stringed Instrument Corporation]], with Paul Barth, who was vice president.<ref name="Wheeler">{{cite book|last=Wheeler|first=Tom|title=The Guitar Book: A Handbook for Electric & Acoustic Guitarists|year=1978|publisher=Harpercollins|isbn= 0-06-014579-X|page=153}}</ref> George Beauchamp, along with [[Adolph Rickenbacker]], invented the electromagnetic pickups.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://invention.si.edu/node/791/p/35-invention|title=Invention|date=April 18, 2014|website=Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation|language=en|access-date=2019-12-08}}</ref> Coils that were wrapped around a magnet would create an electromagnetic field that converted the vibrations of the guitar strings into electrical signals, which could then be amplified. Commercial production began in late summer of 1932 by the [[Ro-Pat-In Corporation]] (Elect'''ro'''-'''Pat'''ent-'''In'''strument Company), in Los Angeles,<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NlscjoFVcs0C&pg=PA10|title=The History of Rickenbacker Guitars |author=Smith, Richard R. |page=10|publisher=Centerstream Publications|year= 1987 |isbn= 978-0-931759-15-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.viewgoods.de/allgemeine/guitar-e.html |title=Guitar E – berichte und fotos |work=viewgoods.de |access-date=18 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025012719/http://www.viewgoods.de/allgemeine/guitar-e.html |archive-date=25 October 2011 |df=dmy }}</ref> a partnership of Beauchamp, Adolph Rickenbacker (originally Rickenbacher), and Paul Barth.<ref>{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Tom|title=Guitars: Music, History, Construction and Players from the Renaissance to Rock|year=1977|publisher=Paddington Press|isbn=0-448-22240-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/guitarsmusichist0000evan/page/344 344]|url=https://archive.org/details/guitarsmusichist0000evan/page/344}}</ref>

In 1934, the company was renamed the [[Rickenbacker]] Electro Stringed Instrument Company. In that year Beauchamp applied for a United States patent for an ''Electrical Stringed Musical Instrument'' and the patent was later issued in 1937.<ref name="Retrofret">{{cite web|title=An Important and Historical Instrument |url=http://www.retrofret.com/products.asp?ProductID=6407|website=Retrofret Vintage Guitars|publisher=Retrofret |access-date=16 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="rickenbacker.com">{{cite web|title=The Earliest Days of the Electric Guitar|url=http://www.rickenbacker.com/history_early.asp|website=Rickenbacker|publisher=RIC|access-date=8 August 2015|archive-date=24 December 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051224083246/http://www.rickenbacker.com/history_early.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Stringed Instrument Tremolo">{{cite web|title=Stringed Instrument (Tremolo)|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2241911?oq=ininventor%3A%22Clayton+O+Kauffman%22|website=Google Patents|publisher=USPTO|access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref><ref name="USPTO">{{cite web|title=Electric Stringed Musical Instrument|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2089171?oq=inassignee%3A%22Electro+String+Instr+Corp%22|website=google.patents|publisher=USPTO|access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref> By the time it was patented, other manufacturers were already making their own electric guitar designs.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kreiser|first=Christine|date=April 2015|title=American History|journal=Electric Guitar|volume=50|pages=16|via=MasterFILE Complete}}</ref> Early electric guitar manufacturers include Rickenbacker in 1932; [[Dobro]] in 1933; National, [[Paul Tutmarc|AudioVox]] and Volu-tone in 1934; [[Vega Company|Vega]], [[Epiphone]] (Electrophone and Electar), and [[Gibson Guitar Corporation|Gibson]] in 1935 and many others by 1936.

[[File:Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts Model.png|thumb|left|170px|Electro-Spanish by Ken Roberts, 1935]]
By early-mid 1935, Electro String Instrument Corporation had achieved success with the "Frying Pan", and set out to capture a new audience through its release of the [[Electro-Spanish Model B]] and the [[Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts]], which was the first full 25-inch scale electric guitar ever produced.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Maloof |first1=Rich |title=Who Really Invented the Electric Guitar |url=https://reverb.com/news/who-really-invented-the-electric-guitar |website=Reverb.com |date=28 June 2017 |access-date=21 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="Retrofret"/><ref name="rickenbacker.com"/><ref name="Stringed Instrument Tremolo"/><ref name="USPTO"/> The Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts was revolutionary for its time, providing players a full 25-inch scale, with easy access to 17 frets free of the body.<ref name="Retrofret.com">{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Rickenbacker Ken Roberts Model Hollow Body Electric Guitar |url=http://www.retrofret.com/products.asp?ProductID=6407 |website=Retrofret.com |access-date=21 July 2018}}</ref> Unlike other lap-steel electrified instruments produced during the time, the Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts was designed to play while standing upright with the guitar on a strap, as with acoustic guitars.<ref name="Retrofret.com"/> The Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts was also the first instrument to feature a [[Vibrato systems for guitar|hand-operated vibrato]] as a standard arrangement,<ref name="Retrofret.com"/> a device called the "Vibrola", invented by [[Doc Kauffman]].<ref name="Retrofret.com"/>
<ref>{{cite web |title=Apparatus for producing tremolo effects |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US1839395A/en?inventor=Clayton+O+Kauffman |website=US Patent Trade Mark Office |publisher=USPTO |access-date=21 July 2018}}</ref> It is estimated that fewer than 50 Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts were constructed between 1933 and 1937; fewer than 10 are known to survive today.<ref name="Retrofret"/><ref name="rickenbacker.com"/><ref name="Stringed Instrument Tremolo"/><ref name="USPTO"/>

The [[solid body|solid-body]] electric guitar is made of solid wood, without functionally resonating air spaces. The first solid-body [[classical guitar|Spanish standard guitar]] was offered by [[Vivi-Tone]] no later than 1934. This model featured a guitar-shaped body of a single sheet of plywood affixed to a wood frame. Another early, substantially solid Spanish electric guitar, called the Electro Spanish, was marketed by the Rickenbacker guitar company in 1935 and made of [[Bakelite]]. By 1936, the [[Slingerland]] company introduced a wooden solid-body electric model, the Slingerland Songster 401 (and a lap steel counterpart, the Songster 400).

Gibson's first production electric guitar, marketed in 1936, was the [[Gibson ES-150|ES-150]] model ("ES" for "Electric Spanish", and "150" reflecting the $150 price of the instrument, along with matching amplifier). The ES-150 guitar featured a single-coil, hexagonally shaped "bar" pickup, which was designed by Walt Fuller. It became known as the "[[Charlie Christian]]" pickup (named for the jazz guitarist who was among the first to perform with the ES-150 guitar). The ES-150 achieved some popularity but suffered from unequal loudness across the six strings.

A functioning solid-body electric guitar was designed and built in 1940 by [[Les Paul]] from an Epiphone acoustic archtop as an experiment. His "[[Les Paul#Guitar builder|log guitar]]" — a wood post with a neck attached and two hollow-body halves attached to the sides for appearance only — shares nothing in common for design or hardware with the solid-body [[Gibson Les Paul]], designed by [[Ted McCarty]] and introduced in 1952.

The feedback associated with amplified hollow-bodied electric guitars was understood long before Paul's "log" was created in 1940; Gage Brewer's Ro-Pat-In of 1932 had a top so heavily reinforced that it essentially functioned as a solid-body instrument.<ref name=Wheelwright/>