Hawaiian music, brought to the mainland early this century, was riding a phenomenal crest of popularity since the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Stimpson, in Washington state, were also working independently to meet the electrical challenge. To George Beauchamp (Bee-chum), cofounder of Los AngelesвЂ™ National String Instrument Corporation (with John Dopyera), probably goes the credit for inventing the modern electric, although Paul H. Modern electromagnetic guitars began life in the early вЂ™30s. This no doubt accounts for why no one has as yet turned up one of these rare birds.ДЄpparently, the Vega banjo company, Chicago, also came up with an electric banjo in вЂ™28, though this got far less publicity and disappeared even faster than the Strombergs. вЂњHankвЂќ Kuhrmeyer referred to having produced вЂњвЂ¦several hundredвЂќ Stromberg Electros. Some years later Kay president/namesake Henry K. However, news quickly faded and due to performance problems or the Depression (or a combination) Stromberg Electros disappeared with the publicity. In any case, this was greeted with much ballyhoo in the trade press and was immediately picked up by Chicago radio performers. No modern electromagnetic pickups were shown on illustrations at the time, so it has been speculated this may have been some sort of transducer placed inside, perhaps adapting phonograph cartridge technology.

Kay, the company known as Stromberg-Voisinet at the time, became the first to put an electric guitar into production in вЂ™28 the Stromberg Electro Guitar, the six-string in a Spanish design, the tenor in a two-point Venetian acoustic guitar, both with some sort of pickup. Recall Lloyd LoarвЂ™s experiments at Gibson as early as вЂ™24, though the technology was so primitive that failure was almost a foregone conclusion. American guitar manufacturers had begun playing around with the notion of an electric guitar as early as the вЂ™20s. While the Telecaster was not the first solidbody electric guitar, it was groundbreaking. In any case, this month weвЂ™ll track the more conservative years of Tele history and next month discuss some of the more spectacular modern interpretations. And while this is true for the first 35 years of its existence, the form garnered considerable attention beginning in the late вЂ™80s, perhaps due to the renewed interest stirred by its creator, perhaps influenced by the burgeoning of the vintage guitar scene. So here we will explore the evolution of and variations on its form.Д«efore we begin let us say we expected to find a fairly straightforward tale with relatively little to say. Given this success, itвЂ™s amazing so few guitars have attempted to copy the Telecaster. The only solidbody guitars that even come close are the Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Les Paul. ThatвЂ™s a track record equalled only by the Fender Precision, the worldвЂ™s first solidbody electric bass, which debuted in вЂ™51. Which is probably why since it was introduced as the Esquire in 1950, the Telecaster has remained in constant production. Certainly this was the case Leo FenderвЂ™s Telecaster guitar, which was revolutionary in its design and impact, and relatively simple, even elemental. Sometimes the most revolutionary ideas are simple.

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