Did Paul Bigsby actually build the first electric guitar?
- Thread starter tomasz
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Becks Ashtray
Tele-Meister
Interesting question
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Who Invented the Electric Guitar? - inSync
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Leo took ALOT from Bigby's guitar, which I think Leo borrowed for a bit.
He perfected a lot of the concepts in that guitar with the Tele.
Of course we are talking about the "Solid Body" Electric guitar.
Leo, Les Paul, and Bigsby all knew each other, and all influenced each other.
He perfected a lot of the concepts in that guitar with the Tele.
Of course we are talking about the "Solid Body" Electric guitar.
Leo, Les Paul, and Bigsby all knew each other, and all influenced each other.
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Engine Swap
Poster Extraordinaire
bottlenecker
Doctor of Teleocity
Paul Bigsby built the first professionally played solidbody electric guitar, partly designed by Merle Travis. Paul Bigsby also built the first modern pedal steel. The first electric guitar was long before that.
Becks Ashtray
Tele-Meister
George Breed Patent for electric guitar pick-up 1890
Yes, I should have known better how to title a thread!
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I'll toss a log on this fire: Gibson stole the idea for the Les Paul from O. W. Appleton.
Log indeed. Did Appleton require weekly chiropractic adjustments?I'll toss a log on this fire: Gibson stole the idea for the Les Paul from O. W. Appleton.
bottlenecker
Doctor of Teleocity
I'll toss a log on this fire: Gibson stole the idea for the Les Paul from O. W. Appleton.
More fuel:
Hawaiian steel guitarists did everything first. Fretted electric guitarists just followed along behind picking up their crumbs.
Mr. St. Paul
Tele-Afflicted
More fuel: the Slingerland Songster, made from 1936 - 1939.
dazzaman
Tele-Afflicted
The answer is no, but it depends on definitions a bit. The 1931 Rickenbacker frying pan prototype has a normal nut under a raised nut and a round neck, so it was, at least briefly, played as a Spanish style guitar before being converted to slide. They, and other companies were making commercially produced solidbody Spanish guitars in the mid-1930s.
It would depend on a definition of professionally played, but Gage Brewer and Alvino Rey were both playing electric guitars profession in the early to mid 1930s, albeit lap steels. As far as I know there is no clear proof they ever played solidbody Spanish instruments in public. Doc Kauffman was gigging on his Spanish-style Rickenbacker (he had a hand in its design with the motorized vibrato etc) in 1937 or so.
Paul Tutmarc in Seattle (AudiVox) and Rickenbacker were building solidbody electrics in the 1930s, and not just Hawaiian steels.
O.W. Appleton's claims are highly questionable at best. He never had any evidence to support his claim that he submitted it to Gibson, or that Gibson wrote him back when they introduced the Les Paul. He got so mad that he threw away the letter? Yeah, right.
O.W. Appleton's claims are highly questionable at best. He never had any evidence to support his claim that he submitted it to Gibson, or that Gibson wrote him back when they introduced the Les Paul. He got so mad that he threw away the letter? Yeah, right.
Light Roast
Tele-Afflicted
I recently bought the book, based on Kenny's recommendation, and a few chapters in, I'm enjoying it very much.
I'll admit, I know very little about the music, musicians, and craftsmen who pioneered what Fender perfected in the early 50s, and this is a good education.
I'll admit, I know very little about the music, musicians, and craftsmen who pioneered what Fender perfected in the early 50s, and this is a good education.
The first electric guitar I know of was Charlie Christian's jazz box.
That's his ES-250. It wasn't his first electric. He had an ES-150 before that and IIRC even before that he had an Epi with a separate pickup added, dating to about 1936.
I think we're talking about solidbody electrics in this thread, but as far as hollow/semihollows go, Ro-Pat-In (Rickenbacker) introduced the Electric Spanish model in 1932.
mandoloony
Tele-Afflicted
Assuming OP meant solidbody guitar, the answer is still no. Bigsby never built a solidbody guitar - they're all mostly hollow - but solidbodies existed before he built his first guitar.
Yeah, it's just the first picture of him I came up with. It did look a little swanker than I expecte, but I was too lazy to dig deeper.
I saw a lot of the solid-body answers, but Tomasz didn't say solid in his first post, so I just took the question at face value.
Thanks for keeping me honest!
