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First Ever Electric Guitar - Rickenbacker Frying Pan
The first ever electric guitar in history was called the Rickenbacker Frying Pan, because of it's odd shape. At the time Hawaiian music was extremely popular which led George Beauchamp to invent the Rickenbacker. He had realize acoustic guitar types resonated too much and created the hard body guitar which you plug into an amplifier. It is the basis for modern electric guitars such as Les Paul Epiphones and Fender Stratocasters. http://www.guitar-muse.com/rickenbacker-frying-pan-guitar-2247 -
The Les Paul "Log"
In the 1930's, Les Paul had an idea to create a solid bodied guitar with less buzz and a greater tone than the popular hollow bodied guitars at the time. He took a piece of pine and added homemade pickups and tremolo. This was to eliminate buzz and increase string sustain. He took the idea to Gibson who refused to use the idea and called it a "broomstick with pickups". They later approved it in 1950 and began work on the idea. http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Les_Pauls_Log_Solidbody_Guitar -
The Bigsby-Travis Guitar
Paul Bigsby was originally a motorcycle mechanic and after World War II, he decided to gear his career towards music. He believed he could build a better solid bodied guitar, and finally met Merle Travis, another creator at a motorcycle racetrack. Travis sketched out the design Bigsby made it a physical possibility. They created one of the first modern electric solid-bodied guitars today with six tuning pegs on one side. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101583548 -
The Fender Broadcaster
The Fender Broadcaster was a milestone for electric guitar manufacturing because it had two pickups and could reach high volumes without feedback problems that were present in most guitars at the time. It was also one of the first guitars with an adjustable truss rod . The name Broadcaster was later removed as a drum company was called Broadkaster and asked for Fender to change it to Telecaster. http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/1950_Fender_Broadcaster -
The Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul is the first solid bodied guitar to be manufactured by Gibson and was created because they saw the success of the Fender Tele(Broad)caster. They approached Les Paul to help design and create one after they had turned him down multiple times in the past. The result was an iconic instrument played by great artists of the 20th century. https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/index.php/The_history_of_the_Gibson_Les_Paul -
The Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster is a guitar used by many great musicians and still to this day. It has three noiseless pickups, three adjustment knobs for volume, tone, and tone, and supports a whammy bar. First created by Leo Fender in 1954, it is the last electric guitar manufactured by a company than one made for/by an artist that has made such a large impact on the music industry. http://www.guitarplayer.com/solidbody-electric/1037/meet-the-first-fender-stratocaster-serial-no-0100/56557
