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The first electric lap steel guitar was made by George Beauchamp in 1931. It had a solid aluminum body where an electro magnetic microphone was mounted to pickup the vibrations from the guitar strings. This guitar was named "the frying pan" because it looked like an aluminum frying pan with a neck attached to it.
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Rickenbacker combined the idea of the Hawaiian guitar and the frying pan to make the electro string guitar. This guitar was an acoustic guitar with a steel top and an electro magnetic pickup, so it could be amplified.
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The first solid body electric guitar was designed and built by Les Paul. Dubbed "the log" because it was simply a single piece of wood with a pickup attached to it. This served as the building block for the modern electric guitar.
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Merle Travis worked with Paul Bigsby to develop the first Spanish style electric guitar
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Leo Fender built and sold the first production solid-body electric guitar. Due to his love of television, he named it the Telecaster.
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Partnering with Gibson, Les Paul designed the famous Les Paul solid-body guitar and made it available to the public
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Gretsch introduces their first electric guitar the "Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet"
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Leo Fender introduces his second legendary solid-body electric guitar design.
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Rickenbacker introduces their first solid-body electric guitar, the "Rickenbacker 360/12"
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Eddie Van Halen wows the world with his two handed tapping technique and his custom made "Van Halen Frankenstein" guitar.
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The first 7 string electric guitar was made by Kirk Sand in partnership with Lenny Breau. It debuted at the NAMM show later that year. https://www.guitarrepairbench.com/best-7-string-guitars/
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Paul Reed Smith takes custom and high end guitars to the next level with his custom guitar company PRS Guitars
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Ibanez Jem, designed by Steve Vai and the Ibanez custom shop team, introduced innovative electric guitar features like a full 2 octave neck, scalloped fretboard, and extended cutaway. It also revolutionized the Floyd Rose style bridge by routing a reverse cavity in the body for the bridge to spring back.
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The first online guitar lesson website was started to provide video based guitar lessons on the computer.
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The video game, Guitar Hero, introduced electric guitars to a whole new demographic and generation.
