- Frying pan (guitar)
Infobox Guitar model|title=Rickenbacker A-22 "Frying Pan"
bgcolor=#FFFFFF
manufacturer=Rickenbacker
period=
bodytype=Cast aluminum
necktype=Set
woodbody=Castaluminum
woodneck=Cast aluminum
woodfingerboard=Aluminum
bridge=Aluminum
pickups=One Rickenbacker horse-shoe magnet pickup
colors=Bare metalThe "Frying Pan" was the firstelectric guitar ever produced. The instrument was created in 1931 byGeorge Beauchamp , and subsequently manufactured by Rickenbacker Electro. The Frying Pan is so called because of its shape: it has a flat, circular body, and the neck represents the "handle;" it is also known by its official model number, A-22. It was alap steel guitar designed to cash in on the popularity ofHawaiian music during the 1930s. It was made of castaluminum , and featured a pickup incorporating a pair of horseshoemagnets that arched over the strings. Beauchamp and machinistAdolph Rickenbacker began selling the Frying Pan in 1932; however, Beauchamp was not awarded a patent for his idea until 1937, a fact that allowed other guitar companies to produce electric guitars during the same period.Development
During the 1930s, Hawaiian music was enjoying widespread popularity in the United States. However, Hawaiian music featured the guitar as the main melodic instrument, and
acoustic guitars were not capable of producing the volume required to entertain a large audience. Beauchamp, an enthusiast and player of Hawaiian music, mounted a magnetic pickup on his acousticsteel guitar to produce an electrical signal which could then be amplified and used to drive aloudspeaker , producing a much louder sound. After discovering that his system produced copious amounts of unwanted feedback caused bysympathetic vibration of the guitar's body, Beauchamp reasoned that acoustic properties were actually undesirable in an electric instrument.Beauchamp had been involved in the development of the
Dobro resonator guitar , and was a co-founder ofNational String Instrument Corporation . Through these businesses, he was acquainted with Rickenbacker, who owned the machine company that manufactured the aluminum resonators andbrass bodies for the instruments. With Rickenbacker's help, Beauchamp designed a lap steel guitar with a solid aluminum body and neck. The instruments were produced from 1932 to 1939.External links
* [http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/electricguitar/ National Public Radio: The Electric Guitar - Present at the Creation]
* [http://www.rickenbacker.com/history_early.asp Rickenbacker: The Earliest Days of the Electric Guitar]
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