Transcript History of the Electric Guitar

History of the Electric
Guitar
By Justin Hayes
Invention of the electric
pickup
• Invented in late 1920’s by Lloyd Loar
– Faraday’s Law of Induction
– Didn’t catch on at all.
• Adolph Rickenbacker and George Beauchamp
– Perfected Loar’s design
– Rickenbacker began selling the “Frying Pan”
• Hawaiian lap steel players love it…
…other players didn’t
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Mass Production
• Leo Fender invents the Telecaster
– First mass produced solid body electric guitar
– Cheap to produce, affordable
• Gibson introduces the Les Paul
– Higher end model endorsed by Les Paul
• Both models are still sold today
• “Solid Body” guitars are designed for amplification
– Sound much better than old style modified hollow
bodies, less feedback.
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Continued
• Guitars shapes have become increasingly modern
(ex. Flying V)
• Preamplifiers inside guitar
• Basic construction and operation has stayed the
same
– Much cheaper now
– Ex. Gibson and Epiphone, Fender and Squire
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Amplifiers
• Can’t have the electric guitar without the amplifier
Guitar ---> Pre-Amp--->Power-Amp--->Speaker
• First amplifiers were modified stereo equipment
– Manufacturers started building guitar specific amp in the
1930’s
• Until 1970’s most amps were tube powered
– Refinement of silicon transistors led to “solid state”
• Tube sound is sought after, solid state amps emulate tube
amps, distortion.
• Computer technology has lead to modeling amps
– Can often emulate many (20+) different models
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