The "Frying Pan" was the first electric guitar ever produced. The instrument was created in 1931 by George Beauchamp, and subsequently manufactured by Rickenbacker Electro. The Frying Pan is so called because of its shape: it has a flat, circular body, and the neck represents the "handle;" it is also known by its official model number, A-22. It was a lap steel guitar designed to cash in on the popularity of Hawaiian music during the 1930s. It was made of cast aluminum, and featured a pickup incorporating a pair of horseshoe magnets that arched over the strings. Beauchamp and machinist Adolph Rickenbacker began selling the Frying Pan in 1932; however, Beauchamp was not awarded a patent for his idea until 1937, a fact that allowed other guitar companies to produce electric guitars during the same period. Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ... George D. Beauchamp (1899 - 1941), inventor of musical instruments and co-founder of National Stringed Instument Corporation and Rickenbacker. ... Mod revivalist band The Jams Bruce Foxton (left) on a Rickenbacker bass and Paul Weller on a Rickenbacker guitar Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker (IPA pronunciation: ) [1]), is an electric guitar manufacturer, notable for having invented the first electric guitar during the 1930s. ... Chandler electric lap steel guitar, a modern solid body with the classic Weissenborn profile. ... Hawaiian music refers to the musical style native to the Hawaiian Islands of the United States. ... Aluminum is a soft and lightweight metal with a dull silvery appearance, due to a thin layer of oxidation that forms quickly when it is exposed to air. ... Magnetic lines of force of a bar magnet shown by iron filings on paper A magnet is an object that has a magnetic field. ... Adolph Rickenbacher (b. ...

Development

During the 1930s, Hawaiian music was enjoying widespread popularity in the United States. Hawaiian music featured the guitar as the main melodic instrument, and acoustic guitars were simply not capable of producing the volume required. Beauchamp, an enthusiast and maker of Hawaiian music, used a magnetic induction coil similar to that found in a telephone receiver to amplify his steel guitar. After discovering that his system produced copius amounts of unwanted feedback caused by induced sympathetic vibration of the guitar's body, Beauchamp reasoned that acoustic properties were actually undesireable in an electric instrument. An acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the Classical guitar, but generally strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. ... The telephone or phone is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly voice and speech) across distance. ...

Beauchamp had been involved in the development of the Dobro and was a co-founder of National String Instrument Corporation. Through these businesses, he was acquainted with Rickenbacker, who owned the machine company that manufactured the aluminum resonators and brass bodies for the instruments. With Rickenbacker's help, Beauchamp designed a lap steel guitar with a solid aluminum body and neck. The instruments were produced from 1932 to 1939. A modern Gibson Dobro Dobro is a trade name now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar. ... The National String Instrument Corporation was the company formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars. ... Brass is any alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses, each of which has unique properties[1]. Note that in comparison bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin. ...

External links

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/electricguitar/ http://www.rickenbacker.com/history_early.asp