The Electric Guitar | 10 Question Music Multiple Choice Quiz

Answer: Acoustic guitars were not loud enough in "big band" ensembles

As popular music evolved, ensembles began to grow. The primary melodic instruments of the day were the piano and the common brass/woodwinds (trumpet, saxophone, clarinet etc); many composers began writing more complex melodic structures for for larger brass sections.

The guitar functioned as a rhythmic instrument in these groups, used to strum chords in time with the beat pattern in the piece. With the growing prominence of full horn sections (which played ensemble throughout the entire piece), the guitar was becoming harder to hear in the mix, particularly in live recording sessions.

The first amplified guitars were an attempt to address this problem.

Answer: Rickenbacker "Frying Pan"

The "Frying Pan" addressed the volume problem for guitars used as the primary melodic instrument, in genres of music such as Hawaiian, Delta blues and country; it is the forerunner of today's pedal steel and lap steel guitars. The first attempts to amplify guitars for slide players (who rested the guitar on their lap) gave us the familiar resonator guitars, marketed by the National String Instrument Company.

Although these were much louder than a standard acoustic guitar, there was still a need for even more volume. George Beauchamp (the man who was co-developer of the National resonator) found himself out of a job in 1930, this as the result of a falling out with his former partner.

He immediately set about trying to find a way to outmaneuver National, stepping up experiments with magnetic pick-ups, which he had been tinkering with during the past five years. Working at his kitchen table (with the assistance of Paul Barth), Beauchamp solved the puzzle within six months.

Although he'd been outwitted at National, there were still many craftsmen who owed their living to Beauchamp. One of these men was a luthier named Harry Watson, who was more than happy to build a prototype instrument to demonstrate the new "pickup".

While he was with National, Beauchamp had met a man named Adolph Rickenbacker; they had concluded a deal whereby Rickenbacker's company manufactured metal resonators for use in National guitars. With the new prototype in hand, Beauchamp now approached Rickenbacker for support...the rest is history. The instrument was an immediate success with steel players although the U.S. Patent Office dragged their heels about the pickup. The patent was not issued until 1937, long after the secret was out. While this served to spread the new technology faster, it also allowed Beauchamp's proprietary rights to be violated by many, including his nemesis the National String Instrument Company!

Answer: "Electro-Spanish" and the price in dollars

The ES-150 arose from the pioneering work done by legendary Gibson acoustical engineer Lloyd Loar, known primarily for his work on the mandolin. In 1933 he created a company ("Vivi-tone") set up as a subsidiary of Gibson to market a "Spanish-style" electric guitar which he'd been tinkering with in his spare time. Unfortunately for Loar the timing was poor (so was the playability and general quality of the instrument) and despite an aggressive attempt to market the instrument, there just weren't enough people buying expensive toys in 1933 to keep Vivi-tone alive. The seeds had been planted at Gibson however and as the American economy began to revive itself, Loar's idea for an "Electro-Spanish" guitar was also revived. The first one shipped from Kalamazoo in May of 1936 and despite the hefty price tag ($150 was a lot of money in those days), orders began pouring in from around the country by the end of the year. For the first time, guitarists could take lead breaks of their own (and be heard) instead of just supporting the rhythm section with strumming. Jazz player Charlie Christian quickly rose to fame with the Benny Goodman Orchestra when he started riffing out on his ES-150. Most credit Christian with completely changing the way that both the public and other musicians looked upon the "role" of the instrument.

The ES-150 is known as the "Charlie Christian" model to this day.

Answer: resonant feedback

Although Ted Nugent became famous for coaxing "whale-songs" from his semi-acoustic guitars many years later, resonant feedback was decidedly "unfashionable" in the early years of amplification!

My first "electric" guitar was made by fitting a single coil pickup into the sound hole of a 3/4 scale acoustic which I'd received for Christmas in 1971. Plugging into Dad's stereo through the 1/4" record input on the cassette deck, with the deck on "record" and "pause" allowed playback through the "tape monitor" function. While experimenting with this signal path, I quickly realized that "pinning" the sliders for the "record" volume gave a very mean sounding distortion effect...Dad's stereo was living on borrowed time from this point forward! This rig was VERY suitable for recreating "the Nuge", live in the living room. And yes, I did eventually replace the fried speakers and cassette deck with money earned delivering newspapers!
Although not popular among buyers (due largely to their cost), Gibson started custom manufacturing "cutaway" archtops (the L-5 and Super 400) in 1939.

Answer: Lester "Les" Paul

I hope nobody picked Yngwie!
Although Slingerland (known primarily as a drum manufacturer) produced a line of solid-body guitars in 1939, they were not well received and production was short lived.
Les Paul, a well known jazz and country guitar picker and consummate tinkerer had been playing amplified archtops since their commercial introduction. Dissatisfied with their two key weaknesses, resonant feedback and lack of sustain, he fitted "hotter" pickups (which he wound himself) to a 4 x 4 piece of pine timber and added a guitar neck. The instrument proved perfect at solving the above noted problems, however its unconventional appearance caused a less than warm reception when he gave his first performance using it; people decried it's lack of "tone" when compared to a "real" guitar. As an experiment in social psychology, Paul sawed the bouts (wings on the body) off the body (from which he'd earlier taken the neck) and glued them to "the Log", purely for the sake of appearance.

At the following performance, everyone told him how much better it sounded, now that he had returned to playing a "normal" guitar!

Answer: Esquire

Les Paul had taken "the Log" to Gibson at Kalamazoo in 1946 but they were unconvinced that people would accept such an unconventional design.
Leo Fender had built his first solid body guitar in his radio repair shop in California in 1943. He rented the instrument to musicians, receiving valuable input back from them for ideas to improve the prototype. Fender was convinced that the future of the instrument lay within his design and continued to handmake improved prototypes reflecting the suggestions of his small group of testers. All of this tinkering culminated in the "Esquire", which Fender completed in the fall of 1949. This instrument had a few very distinct differences from the production models; the headstock was "conventional" (three tuners to a side), the body was formed from a slab of pine (1 3/4" thick), and the bolt-on maple neck had no truss rod. Due to the lack of a truss rod, Fender made the neck a constant width from one end to the other for strength. Over the Winter of 1949/50, tinkering continued; feedback from his testers led to Fender redesigning the neck, incorporating the now familiar tapered profile and "six-in-line" headstock. As roughsawn lumber is commonly sold in 8/4 (a full 2"), this only allowed 1/8" per side of the body slab for machining (planing and sanding) if the finished thickness of the prototype's pine body was to be provided for. This was too little tolerance for mass production and was seen as a potential problem by manufacturers. As a result the decision was taken to change the body material to ash (increasing the mass for sustain and resonance), while providing for the common 1/4" of machining tolerance used in production woodworking.

Production of the first run started in April of 1950.

Answer: Broadcaster

Early period "Esquire" guitars are now one of the most highly prized electric guitars in existence. The neck pickup was first introduced into production instruments in June of 1950; these guitars were still sold with the marking "Esquire". In late October of the same year, the first twin pickup "Esquire" was introduced with a redesigned neck, featuring a truss rod. With the introduction of this model, the two pickup guitar was standardized for production in this configuration as the "Broadcaster"; production and promotion of the single pickup "Esquire" model was briefly dropped. Almost immediately, Gretsch musical instruments (who were marketing a drum kit with the name "USA" Broadcaster) threatened to sue Fender for infringement; it is estimated that only about 200 guitars were produced bearing the name "Broadcaster". In January 1951 Fender modified their stock of name decals for the headstock; production continued, and an indeterminate number of guitars (some estimates give a figure around 450) were sold with the modified decals applied (the "Broadcaster" part was cut from the decal)...these rare birds are now known as "Nocasters" to collectors! When the supply of modified decals ran out (sometime around September, 1951) the first guitars bearing the new name of "Telecaster" started leaving the factory. The one pickup "Esquire" went back into production in January of 1951, fitted with the (now) standard neck, with the truss rod.
The rarest of the "Nocasters" have their own story...

A small batch of "Esquire" decals were also modified (by mistake) and applied to "Nocasters" in the spring of '51. These can be differentiated from the "Broadcaster" decals by their color; Broadcaster decals have "Fender" in silver, Esquire decals have "Fender" in gold.

This link has a wealth of information about early Fender guitars:

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html

Answer: He designed the "trapeze" style tailpeice

Paul is also credited as being a primary force in the decision to paint the first Les Paul's gold. When his endorsement deal with Gibson later fell apart, Paul was to claim a much more significant role in the physical design of the instrument, yet this is most unlikely and is discredited by almost all researchers.

A design team, led by Gibson President Ted McCarty, is now almost universally recognized as the source of the instrument's key design features.

Answer: Paul Bigsby

Much better known these days for his patented vibrato design (still sold as original equipment on many high end guitars), Bigsby cut his teeth customizing Gibson guitars for well known recording stars in the forties. In 1947, his good friend (well known country music star) Merle Travis asked Bigsby to build a solid body electric guitar from a design that Travis had sketched on the back of a radio programme guide. The unusual design quickly became Travis' trademark and within the Nashville genre, Bigsby's custom instruments became a symbol of success.

Bigsby never wanted to relax his quality standards to mass produce his guitars, so very few were ever made. However, their influence on the mainstream acceptance of the solid body electric guitar during this early period is an entirely different matter.
The roster of Bigsby users is a virtual "who's who" of country music in the forties and fifties...Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Hank Garland, Grady Martin, Faron Young, Joe Maphis, Speedy West, Billy Byrd, Hank Thompson, Zeke Clements, Tiny Moore...and others.

Answer: the "Humbucking" pickup

As sales of electric guitars started to take off in the mid-fifties, Gibson president Ted McCarty was constantly looking for ways to increase his company's market share . One of the last major problems still unsolved, was the 60 cycle hum, caused by interference from other electrical devices plugged in to the same electrical circuit as a guitar. Devices with large resistances (notably florescent lighting, which was gaining widespread acceptance at the time) caused an unacceptable droning buzz through the amplifier. McCarty assigned the problem to Lover, an electrical engineer who'd been hired during the expansion at Gibson, which came with the introduction of the Les Paul model in 1952. At this point, all electric guitars used single coil pickups.

Throughout most of 1955, Lover experimented with various combinations of magnets, wiring options and phase alignments. By 1956 he had solved the problem. His solution was ingenious; using two separate magnets connected in series (as opposed to parallel) with their polarities in opposition to each other, it was found that each canceled out the impedance of the other, "bucking" the "hum".

The first "PAF" (Patent Applied For) pickups appeared on Gibson lap steel guitars in 1956. They became standard equipment on the 1957 model year of the Les Paul "Standard" guitar.

As these early pickups were all handmade they are highly desirable in the vintage collector market. Some have sold for thousands of dollars. As a result, forgeries are common.

Much, much, later on, Lover and well known pickup "guru" Seymore Duncan were to collaborate on an "exact" replica of the PAF...this now sells as the Duncan SH-55 "Seth Lover" model and is very popular as a replacement pickup.