The ’20 saw the rise of dance halls and
dance music. The guitars required higher volumes
to compete with the brass section. Also the
recording industry of the time needed the guitars
to be louder to capture the performance. So
guitar manufactures of the day came up with
ideas to increase the volume. Some continued
to experiment with larger body sizes and metal
bodies, while others concentrated on electricity
as a possible solution.
In the 30’s the “good old boys”
on the country scene embraced the new amplification
techniques being developed, and even the Jazz
musician thought it was “Great”.
So despite the misgivings of the traditionalists,
the new technology was giving the guitarists
the volumes that could compete with their band
members. In the 40’s and 50’s players
and makers began building Spanish-style electric
guitars with solid wooden bodies, which led
to new designs and new sounds.
It was only during the 20’s and 30’s
that engineers, makers, and musicians began
to solve some of the challenges of electronic
amplification. Although the idea of creating
a louder sound using electricity actually existed
by the end of the 19th century.
Around 1931, George Beauchamp, working with
Adolph Rickenbacker, produced the “Frying
Pan” lap-steel guitar. They made an electromagnetic
pickup in which a current passed through a coil
of wire wrapped around a magnet, creating a
field that amplified the strings' vibrations.
The Frying Pan guitar was manufactured by Rickenbacker
Electro and is considered the first commercially
viable electric guitar. |
