One of the most important instruments in nearly any ensemble, no matter the venue or stage, is the guitar. Equally, the electric guitar is included in this as this instrumental instrument is a staple for every genre of music.
While the stringed
instrument has been around since its earliest ancestor called the Lyre by Jubal
(Genesis 4:21), the earliest form of the guitar is identified around the 1400s
in the form of the Gittern originating in Western Europe. Fast forward through the various designs and
sizes to accommodate audiences, it would not be until the early 20th
Century the invention of the electrified guitar is birthed.
The earliest
development of the electric guitar, much like many other inventions, were found
to be crude. From the utilization of
telephone transmitters being placed within the body of the guitar or similar
instruments, to frail microphones and a few other experimental devices in
between, the electric guitar was founded as the Frying Pan in 1931. George Beauchamp designed and marketed this
cast aluminum lap steel guitar with Paul Barth and Adolph Rickenbacker with
commercial assembly beginning in the summer of 1932 by the Ro-Pat-In
Corporation in Los Angeles, CA.
Shortly after
the Frying Pan was introduced, other manufacturers were on the heels designing
and marketing their versions of the electric guitar to include: Dobro in 1933;
AudioVox, National, and Volu-tone all in 1934; and Epiphone, Gibson, and Vega
all in 1935. Various versions to include
body style and string count surfaced with these designs but the most notable
which became a standard in the electric guitar is the Electro-Spanish electric
guitar. This design, constructed by Ken
Roberts between 1933 and 1937, allowed the instrument to be played while
standing upright rather than the lap version or “Frying Pan”-like designs which
required the guitarist to sit while playing.
During this
early era, the solid body electric guitar was offered as the Spanish standard
guitar by Vivi-Tone. Soon after, like
manufacturers, like Gibson with the ES-150 which held fast to the Spanish
guitar design and the often emulated Fender Stratocaster flourished providing
the guitarist a variety of stylish designs and audible variations or tones for
the venue or musical ensemble. One added
design is the floating or trapeze tailpiece with a lever giving the artist
another artistic flavor to adjust or vary the pitch. Originally called the Kauffman Vibrola, this
added feature was originally patented by the designer Doc Kauffman in 1929 but
it was not until the late 1930s in which the first commercial use as a standard
option was available to the Electro-Spanish electric guitar built by
Rickenbacker (originally the Ro-Pat-In Corporation).
The electric
guitar’s electronic advancement is equally as intriguing as the overall
shape/style and accessories as well. In
the earliest versions, as stated earlier, using telephone amplifiers inserted
into an acoustic guitar’s body to the near intelligible carbon microphones were
challenges to those early developers.
The ability to clutch the audio produced by the strings could be seen as
an immense enigma, yet the fortitude to overcome the obstacle allowed the
invention of the electromagnetic pickups by the aforementioned trio of inventors:
Beauchamp, Barth, and Rickenbacker.
The next major
technological advancement arrived a mere few years afterwards with the
Electro-Spanish guitar and the use of a single-coil, hexagonally shaped bar
pickup designed by Walk Fuller. Upon
this advancement birthed the number of pickups to grasp the desired note. As the name implies, the pickup pick up the
generated electric current (inductance) via magnets coiled in very fine wire
ultimately generating the note, through electronic circuits and components,
which are audibly heard via the equally necessary amplifier and speaker. In addition, another pickup called the
humbucker or double-coil is designed to reduce or resist (buck) the hum.
Much like any piece of equipment, it is the guitarist that truly makes the instrument stand out. From the simple strumming and gentle selection of notes, the added ability to change the notes (much like an electric keyboard can play a piano, organ, flutes, etc) during the musical venue, to the artists’ advanced usage of both hands on the fretboard (Eddie Van Halen) and power tools along the neck to create another unique sound (Eddie Van Halen and Paul Gilbert) that truly make the electric guitar sing!
Citations : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibrato_systems_for_guitar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_guitar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_guitar
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