Recording Studios Sydney: By the late 1930s other makers and players adapted the new technology to the more traditional Spanish-style hollow-body wooden guitars, but were troubled with distortions, overtones, and feedback—the amplification of vibrations in the body of the instrument as well as in the strings. Inventors began trying to address these sound difficulties by experimenting with solid, rather than hollow, guitar bodies. The Slingerland company commercially introduced a Spanish solid-body electric guitar in 1939. Around 1940, on an instrument dubbed “the Log,” guitarist and inventor Les Paul mounted strings and pickups on a solid block of pine to minimize body vibrations. During the 1940s, Paul Bigsby and Leo Fender also began experimenting with Spanish-style solid-body guitar design.
During the early years of its existence, theRecording Studios Sydney electric guitar’s viability as a “true” instrument was frequently debated. The instrument’s detractors often claimed it did not produce a pure, “authentic” musical sound. Country and jazz musicians, most notably Charlie Christian, were among its first defenders, championing the electric guitar’s louder sound and ability to compete with other melody instruments in ensemble performances.
Recording Studios Sydney: Commercial Success
As with many inventions, the electric guitar initially met with skepticism from traditionalists—performers as well as makers and audiences.
But country and blues players and jazz instrumentalists soon took to the variety of new tones and sounds that the electric guitar could produce, exploring innovative ways to alter, bend, and sustain notes.
The instrument’s volume and tones proved particularly appealing to the enthusiasts of rock and roll, which emerged in the 1950s. While it was important to other genres, the electric guitar was at the heart of the cultural revolution that rock and roll symbolized. The media capitalized on the image of the rock and roller with his slicked-back hair, leather jacket, motorcycle—and electric guitar.
