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Kapila Kane
Ha`aha`a
USA
1051 Posts |
 Posted - 01/15/2010 : 01:34:12 AM
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I know that Lloyd Loar, the master acoustic mandolin master builder, had switched his energy around the late 20's or 30's into GIBSON'S electric guitar and bass prototype.
I think he left to do his own company sometime in the late 20's?
But did the Hawaiian steel guitar beat him, or lead the way?
The waves of HSG came to the mainland early in 20th C. and were popular in sheet music, and recordings or airplay must have been triggering this Mainland interest in the Hawaiian sounds.
The Pan-American or other cultural exhibitions would have triggered intially, but it must have swept much further by radio?
The great Les Paul was firing up his innovations for instrument electrification in the 30's and 40's...
but this is not exact...it's remembered impressions from old accumulated reading and tidbits over the years...
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cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2010 : 06:25:12 AM
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| The first commercially produced electric guitar was the Richenbacher "Frying Pan" in 1931 and was, in fact, a lap steel. Prototypes for electric guitars were first developed in the early '20s though (using a variation on an attached mic). |
Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
Edited by - cpatch on 01/15/2010 06:26:17 AM |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2010 : 10:20:19 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Mark
Here's an interesting perspective:
http://www.b0b.com/infoedu/tutmarc1.html
Mark (Kapila Kane, too)- right on, as usual. Imho, the elecric guitar was an idea whose time had come by the late 20's. Paul Tutmarc in Seattle (steel guitar), Les Paul in Wisconsin (solid body electic), Adolph Rickenbacher in LA (steel guitar), Pedro DeArmond in San Antonio TX (in-sounhole pickup) and others, I'm sure, were experimenting with electifiying instruments in the late 20's. Gibson, I believe, didn't come out with an electic steel until the late 30's. Tutmarc and Rickenbacher both started selling their guitars in 1931. From photographs, I know that Leon MacAullife and Eldon Shablin were playing Martins with in-soundhole pickups with Bob Wills in the mid 30's, and Leon had an electic steel by 1937. It is certian that the problem of hearing a steel guitar in a larger ensemble propelled the advance. It goes like this: acoustic spanish guitar with raised nut -> Weisenborn -> Dobro -> electric lap steel, each step providing more oomph. |
keaka |
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Adam Troy
Akahai
Australia
58 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2010 : 11:10:02 AM
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| Adolph Rickenbacher's all aluminum hawaiian guitar must have seemed pretty "spacey" in 1931. The famous horseshoe pickup, which has never been improved upon, was the work of George Beauchamp. Adolph and George got together to form the Rickenbacher Co. George had been working for National. Adolph's metal shop did all the stampings for those wonderful National guitars. The development of the HSG is one of innovation paralleling the changing musical tastes between 1900 and 1940. |
Edited by - Adam Troy on 01/19/2010 11:11:37 AM |
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were HSG's the first electric guitars?
