Called the Frying Pan, probably due to its shape, the guitar
pictured here was the first version of the much loved electric guitar. It was
the result of a long and arduous struggle by George Beau-champ (in collaboration
with Adolph Rickenbacker) who wanted a louder, improved guitar, even going as
far as attaching a Victrola horn(the horns you see attached to classic record
players) to the bottom of the guitar and pointing it at the audience, in vain.
 |
| Electric Guitar |
Unfortunately for George, in 1931 there was no way to a
patent a musical device which was also electric-it was either one or the other,
resulting in many other sneaky companies duplicating the device. Unfortunately
again for him, George died of a heart attack while deep sea diving in 1940, and
didn't live to see what has come of his creation later. Les Paul mounted
strings and pickups on a solid block of pine and thus was invented the first
solid body electric guitar.
We find this to be a really important invention because
without it we would have lost the cornerstone of rock, the air guitar. That,
and the fact that it fueled some pretty obscure genres such as rock n roll,
jazz and the blues.
