Members 1001gear Posted May 17, 2023 Members Share Posted May 17, 2023 Haven't read yet. https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/who-really-built-the-first-electric-rock-n-roll-guitar/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 17, 2023 Moderators Share Posted May 17, 2023 Good read, from a few years back. The answer is that the first electric solidbody guitar was built by Paul Bigsby for Merle Travis. Les Paul's 'Log' was an utter failure, despite his legacy; the actual Les Paul Model was not designed by Les, just endorsed by him. Leo Fender's 'black guitar' was nothing more than a sample unit that never went into production. One could make the case that Rickenbacker's 'Spanish electric' was the first solidbody, being made in the mid 1930s, but those are really lap steels. Fender's Esquire was the first mass produced solidbody, although there were a number of inherent drawbacks which led the evolution to the Telecaster, and eventually the Stratocaster. Undoubtedly there were a number of inventors along the way who made solidbody guitars before WWII, but none made it to mass production. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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