History of Electric Guitars

December 6th, 2008 by Randy Slabey

Although today you might find many electric used guitars for sale, the first electric guitar was made by a man called Paul H Tutmarc in 1920-30. The widely available electric used guitars for sale take inspiration from a telephone. Tutmarc learnt how the telephone created vocal vibrations by using magnetics, and thought of how he might be able to do the same with his acoustic guitar. He thus made the first electric guitar out of an acoustic Hawaiin guitar by attaching a magnetic pickup made from horseshoe magnets and wire coils that amplified the vibrations from the guitar. This however was a very rudimentary prototype of the electric used guitars for sale that we find now.

The very famous Rickenbacker electric guitars that are quite popular actually came from a prototype developed by two men called George Beauchamp and John Dopyera. In an attempt to make louder guitars, they experimented quite a bit before they ended up attaching electro-magnetic pickups with two horseshoes. Beauchamp took it to Adolph Rickenbacker and both formed a well known manufacturing company. Many used guitars for sale today are Rickenbacker guitars. 

Exciting Used Guitars for Sale

The ES-150  

Another guitar maker ‘Gibson’ also has a great deal of history when it comes to electric guitars – whether new or used guitars for sale. Orville Gibson created the first modern electric guitar – the ES-150, which took the guitar-ing world by storm. The prototype for the WS-150 was developed by Alvino Ray and the final version built by Walter Fuller, another Gibson employee. The ES-150, although the first of its kind, had its own share of flaws. Its hollow body produced vibrations that were amplified, creating feedback and distortion. From here came the full body electric guitar in 1940, developed by Les Paul. Today, all electric guitars are solid body guitars.

First Solid Body Electric Guitar

Paul’s guitar had a solid body, and the strings and pickup were mounted on a block of solid pine. When Gibson saw the design, he wasn’t sure it’d work. However, Leo Fender immediately saw what Gibson had missed and began producing the ‘Esquire’ based on Paul’s design. The ‘Esquire’, later renamed the Telecaster, became the most famous electric guitar of the time and was a hit with country, rock n roll, and blues. Inspired by this, Gibson went on to produce a solid body guitar too, and it was called the ‘Les Paul.’ Both Gibson and Fender are well known manufacturers of electric guitars today, and their instruments are even popular as used guitars for sale.

From 1960 onwards, electric guitars became an integral part of music composition. Many changes were also introduced in the design. For example, Gibson introduced special type of pickups that eliminated the ‘hum’ from magnetic coils. They called them the ‘humbucking’ pickups. Along with this a semi hollow body guitar was introduced by McCarty – the ES 335, which incorporated the good of both — acoustic and electric. Most of the used guitars for sale today have these changes incorporated. Significant changes in design were also made, especially by Fender in the Stratocaster and by Gibson in Gibson SG. Both guitars are also highly popular used guitars for sale. To learn & see more used guitars for sale, visit http://www.woodyguitars.com

 

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