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Who Really Built the First Electric Rock ‘n’ Roll Guitar?
- creeble 8y agoI still credit the Rickenbacker "frying pan" as it predated Fender's black log by over 10 years. But the Esquire was the first mass-produced electric solid-body guitar designed to be played like a regular acoustic, standing up with a strap. edit: mass-produced. Paul Bigsby's solid-body predated Fender's but were custom made.
- delinka 8y agoAnswer: Clarence Leonidas “Leo” Fender and a friend named Clayton “Doc” Kaufman had taken a solid plank of oak, painted it glossy black, attached a pickup at one end, and strung its length with steel strings.
- speakeron 8y ago> The original color of the >1954 Fender Stratocaster was a three-toned sunburst. Two-tone, surely. The two-color sunburst finish became a three-color sunburst finish in the first half of 1958 with the addition of an “in between” red hue.[1] [1] https://www.fender.com/articles/gear/the-history-of-the-fender-stratocaster-the-1950s https://www.fender.com/articles/gear/the-history-of-the-fend...
- jdietrich 8y agoAlthough the Fender Esquire was the first popular solid-body electric guitar, it was far from the first. That accolade almost certainly belongs to George Beauchamp while working for Rickenbacker - he has a patent for a solid-body instrument dated 1932. Lloyd Loar released a number of popular semi-hollow instruments through the Vivi-Tone company in the mid-1930s. https://reverb.com/uk/news/who-really-invented-the-electric-guitar https://reverb.com/uk/news/who-really-invented-the-electric-... https://patents.google.com/patent/US2089171 https://patents.google.com/patent/US2089171
- jccalhoun 8y agoYes, I thought this article was going to be some real investigation of who was first instead of just talking about Fender and Paul.
- keithpeter 8y agoJust curious as to what difference the amplifier makes? [1] has a collection of circuit diagrams /schematics for Fender amplifiers. The Champ circuits look very simple with basically a volume control. [1] https://www.thetubestore.com/early-fender-guitar-amp-schematics https://www.thetubestore.com/early-fender-guitar-amp-schemat...
- scrumper 8y agoA lot. It's half the instrument. Of that, the loudspeaker(s) and the cabinet it's in are as important as the circuit.
- bsder 8y agoA lot. Many of the early amp designs were either cribbed from radio amp or ham amp power stages--these are "clean". "Distortion" wasn't a thing until much later. For instance, the whole reason why "fuzz" pedals came into existence is that a volume control on the preamp wasn't a common thing at that point--and were talking the mid 60's at that point.
- tabtab 8y agoSome of the earlier users of distortion concocted various home-grown tricks, before dedicated distortion equipment was manufactured. The Kinks would feed one fully-cranked amplifier into a second or third layer to pile on the distortion caused by over-cranking them all, giving them the "you really got me" sound in '64, arguably the first heavy metal hit. Another musician said he'd poke holes in the speaker with a pencil. And another said the "drunk band" dropped the amplifier while loading it, damaging it, but they liked the damaged sound and kept it.
- beat 8y agoThe original 1950s amp designs are FILTHY. Fender had to develop the whole blackface line to try to get loud, clean sounds. A Champ or a Tweed Deluxe cannot hit enough volume to play with other instruments without some distortion. The sound of rock records is often the sound of old 1950s small amps, cranked up. I have a 1950s Supro 5 watt (similar to a Champ) that hardly has a clean sound in it. By the time the volume is at noon, it sounds like what you imagined a wall of Marshalls sounded like when you first saw a picture. Fantastic recording amp. It's that sound, the sound of rock.
- beat 8y agoWhat's interesting to me (as a guitarist) isn't who was "first", because there was obviously a zeitgeist technical need for solid body guitars. Rather, it's what designs and innovations have stood the test of time, and why. The real winner here, I think, is the Telecaster. They're still made in droves, still immensely popular, and have been the backbone of millions of recorded tracks. And it's easy to see why. They're dead simple, making them both inexpensive to manufacture and straightforward to play. And the biting, aggressive bridge pickup tone cuts through walls of other loud instruments in a way that is much harder for the round, warm tone of a Les Paul. Bigsby guitars are a historical curiosity. Rickenbackers are still made, but are a rare exotic most guitarists will never play. Les Pauls are a pricey luxury item. But Telecasters! Telecasters are the sound of rock'n'roll flipping a middle finger to everything that's supposed to be "good". I love them.
- tjr225 8y agoI love Telecasters, as well. Tone and feel aside - they also kind of look so simple that one might call them ugly. I don't know why, but it is a quality that I really like.
- beat 8y agoYeah, the utilitarian look is a real selling point for me, too. Weirdly, I also like the "uncomfortable" chunky body, more than the smooth ergonomic curves of a Strat. With that hard edge digging into my torso and forearm, I know exactly where my arm is relative to the strings. I have to attend to other, more distracting cues to understand my position on a Strat.
- ben7799 8y agoMe too, dedicated Telecaster player. Incredibly flexible despite having so few apparent options.
- coldtea 8y ago>Bigsby guitars are a historical curiosity. Rickenbackers are still made, but are a rare exotic most guitarists will never play. Les Pauls are a pricey luxury item. And yet tons of guitarists use one or more of those 3 brands. E.g: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rickenbacker_players https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rickenbacker_players https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gibson_players https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gibson_players Bigsby less mainstream, but they're hot in rockabilly circles, jazzers use them, etc.
- olivermarks 8y ago'Rock 'n' Roll' was arguably a white commercialization of Rhythm and Blues, for which there was a lot of amplification of resonator guitars and harmonicas for live performance and recordings. There's a natural progression here of who started mass manufacturing instruments as opposed to who built the first ones....
- 52-6F-62 8y agoIt goes further than that— The banjo, probably one of the instruments most closely associated with country and southern American music was derived from instruments brought over by slaves from Africa. It's pretty damned hard to escape African/African-American influence on any folk music traditions in the Americas, if that's even possible at all.
- beat 8y agoDrummer Steve Smith did a great dvd called "History of the American Beat", where he argues that all American music is derived from African rhythms. Swing, shuffle, and backbeat grooves are all expressions of a three-against-two polyrhythm, the simplest possible polyrhythm, and the essential character of west African music is polyrhythmic, while polyrhythms are rare in European music. If it rocks, swings, or shuffles, it's African in nature. It shows up in melody, too. Anything blues-derived, as opposed to diatonic, has African roots. Diatonic harmony was Europe's contribution to American music. Blue thirds and sliding sevenths were Africa's contribution.
- 52-6F-62 8y agoThanks, I'll have to check that one out. That all sounds about right to me.
- falcolas 8y agoFor those interested in the electric guitar, and who will be in the Phoenix, AZ area, might I suggest a visit to the MIM? https://mim.org/galleries/special-exhibitions/the-electric-guitar-inventing-an-american-icon/ https://mim.org/galleries/special-exhibitions/the-electric-g... The electric guitar first entered the music scene in the '20's. At that time, it started to appear in the Jazz, Country, and Big Band scenes. Even spanish-style electric guitars (that is, solid body Telecaster/Les Paul style guitars) pre-date the R'n'R phenomenon. Oh, and the Hawaiian music scene (that haunting 4 note tune everyone associates with Hawaiian music is often done on a steel guitar).
- vibrolax 8y agoWhat's interesting to me is how quickly the solid body electric guitar reached its technological optimum. The Telecaster, Stratocaster, and Les Paul represent the iconic forms to this day (No offense towards metalheads, who tend to prefer pointier models). There have been many refinements and anti-refinements among the icons along the way, but in my opinion, no new form has become mainstream since 1960.
- jdietrich 8y agoGuitarists (and musicians in general) tend to be quite conservative. There are objective advantages to a modern design like the Strandberg Boden, but there's no history attached to such instruments. Metal players are happy to embrace new technological developments and have been early adopters of digital modelling technology, but most other players have an image of the guitar that's locked in a previous decade. https://strandbergguitars.com/product/boden-fusion-6-black/ https://strandbergguitars.com/product/boden-fusion-6-black/
- rhinoceraptor 8y agoEven the more radical shapes like the Explorer or Flying V back to that time.
- fhood 8y agoMore offended that you think that metalheads don't still use those styles of guitar gojira: http://www.charvel.com/guitars/artist/joe-duplantier-signature-pro-mod-san-dimas-style-2-hh-ebony-fingerboard-satin-white/ http://www.charvel.com/guitars/artist/joe-duplantier-signatu... Mastodon: Rythm guy plays a les paul. SOAD: Daron favors a les paul as well. Les Paul, stratocaster, and telecaster style guitars are very very common in metal as well.
- bena 8y agoI think he's just saying that things like the Flying V or Explorer are seen more in metal. If you see someone playing a Les Paul, it could be anything. If you see someone playing an Explorer, good bet it's metal.
- 11thEarlOfMar 8y agoI am not a writer, so forgive the prose, but I put this together after losing yet another aged rocker last year. Players will have fun looking through the guitars: https://festivalpeak.com/https-medium-com-davisjames-guitar-1a2b67c0f869 https://festivalpeak.com/https-medium-com-davisjames-guitar-...
- CWuestefeld 8y agoI've sometimes wondered how the "trem bar" acquired that incorrect name [1], since it's really vibrato [2]. Reading this piece makes makes me wonder if it's intentional on Fender's part, an attempt to obscure that the idea is lifted from Bigsby. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremolo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremolo [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibrato https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibrato