Electric Guitar
Posted on November 10th, 2008 in Guitar Tips
Electric guitars are most often made with solid bodies since they depend upon electromagnetic pickups and amplifiers to produce the sound and are not dependent upon the resonance of the hollow body like the acoustic guitar.
When most people think of electric guitars, they think of rock music. But electric guitars are more versatile than you’d think. Electric guitars are intimately associated with many famous musicians of the twentieth century—and may be the iconic musical instrument of our time.
- The demand for electric guitars came during the Big Band Era in the 20’s and 30’s. Performers experimented with attaching microphones to acoustic guitars. The first manufactured electric guitars were made in 1931 by the Electro String Instrument Corporation. Bandleader Gage Brewer of Wichita, Kansas, received two electric guitars directly through Electro String Instruments, possibly for publicity purposes.
- The earliest known recording of an electric guitar performance was produced in 1938. The earliest electric guitars were essentially hollow-bodied acoustic guitars equipped with Tungsten pickups. The problem with hollow-body electric guitars is that the hollow space within the guitar produces vibrations when the strings are plucked or strummed. These vibrations account for the unique tone of an acoustic guitar, but they produce harsh feedback when they interact with the pickups in an electric guitar.
- One of the earlier solid-body guitars was an aluminium instrument known as the “Frying Pan” or “Pancake Guitar.” These guitars were said to have produced a sound similar to that of modern electric guitars.
- Several other well-known luthiers experimented with solid-body guitars during the early history of the electric guitar. In 1940, during his time at Gibson Guitars, Les Paul attempted a solid-body instrument called the “log guitar,” so called because it was a simple post equipped with neck, strings, and pickups.
This created demand among the general public for affordable electric guitars.
It wasn’t until the 1980’s that Japanese manufacturers stepped forward with affordable electric guitars capable of professional-quality sound. Soon, electric guitars were more accessible than they had ever been.
