[78-L] electric guitar 1929?

[Joe Scott]

http://www.vintageguitar.com/3657/stromberg-electro/

"... the first commercially manufactured electric guitar. At the time, the use of an electromagnet to convert mechanical vibrations of a musical instrument into electrical impulses was by no means new; various patents had already been filed that incorporated the same basic principle. Unlike previous inventions, though, Stromberg-Voisinet instruments were developed into a commercial product that was marketed to the public. The Music Trades article explains, '... The electro-magnetic pick-up is built within the instrument and is attached to its sounding board.'"

Anyway, my main point regarding 1920s, 1930s, and supposed invention of the electric guitar is that whenever George Barnes' brother or Les Paul's uncle or whoever attached an electro-magnetic pickup to a guitar himself in the 1930s, he was doing what others also had been doing in the 1920s.

Joseph Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: Malcolm Rockwell
Sent: 02/14/14 02:12 PM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: [78-L] electric guitar 1929?

Pardon the typos. My fingers wanted a day off. Here's the corrected copy: Okay, so what you have here (see ad) is an amplified acoustic guitar/banjo/mandolin/banjo-mandolin, etc., which is a far cry from an electric instrument. It's an/electrified/ instrument. The first commercial/electric/ instrument, where each strings vibrations were used by a transducer to form an electrical signal, which then went to an amplifier, was manufactured by Rickenbacker and was a lap-style "fry-pan" style Hawaiian steel guitar. The record that is considered to be the first example of this type of electric guitar is Vi V-92, Noi Lane Hawaiian Orchestra (electric steel guitar player unknown), "Dreams Of Aloha", recorded in NYC on Feb. 22, 1933. Bob Dunn followed suit in c. 1934. Malcolm _______________________________________________ 78-L mailing list 78-L at klickitat.78online.com http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l