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Post new topic Adolph Rickenbacker and the invention of the electric guitar
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Author Topic:  Adolph Rickenbacker and the invention of the electric guitar
Brad Davis


From:
Texas, USA
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2022 5:26 am    
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Though you'd find this news story today interesting:

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/american-invented-electric-guitar-rock-roll

The development of the Rickenbacker frying pan specifically is discussed.
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Noah Miller


From:
Rocky Hill, CT
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2022 8:59 am    
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It seems they did a whole lot of research about Adolph Rickenbacher's background but then parroted a lot of misinformation about the guitar and its history.
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Earnest Bovine


From:
Los Angeles CA USA
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2022 9:59 am    
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Noah Miller wrote:
It seems they did a whole lot of research about Adolph Rickenbacher's background but then parroted a lot of misinformation about the guitar and its history.


If an author is wrong on things that you know, do you trust him on things that you don't know? (Gell-Mann effect)
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Brad Davis


From:
Texas, USA
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2022 10:24 am    
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I figured "invent" was a bit of a stretch at least. First commercially successful design, sure. I think people were trying to electrify guitars back in the 20s if not earlier.
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Mark Helm


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2022 1:46 pm     Misinformation
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Noah is spot on. The article doesn’t properly credit the actual inventor of the electric guitar, George Beauchamp. For an excellent history of the electric guitar, read:
https://www.amazon.com/Play-Loud-History-Revolution-Electric/dp/1101970391/ref=asc_df_1101970391/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312057344057&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3845334471618652601&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9013116&hvtargid=pla-442112297921&psc=1
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Last edited by Mark Helm on 8 Jul 2022 1:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Noah Miller


From:
Rocky Hill, CT
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2022 1:54 pm    
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The article mentions Beauchamp several times, but it makes him out to be second fiddle to Rickenbacher, which is sort of the reverse of what happened.

That book is chock full of misinformation as well, such as the claim that Seth Lover at Gibson created the first humbucking pickup.
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Mark Helm


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2022 1:58 pm    
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Noah Miller wrote:

That book is chock full of misinformation as well, such as the claim that Seth Lover at Gibson created the first humbucking pickup.


Looks like you need to write a book, Noah! Thanks for the info!!! So… who did create the first humbucking p/u?
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Jeff Highland

 

From:
New South Wales, Australia
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2022 2:53 pm    
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Dont know the first, But the Supro/Valco string through pickups were humbucking in the 40's as well as the late 40s National new yorker,
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Mike Neer


From:
NJ
Post  Posted 8 Jul 2022 5:07 pm    
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This is a good read about Paul Tutmarc and Albert Stimson and Stimson’s apparent sale of their pickup design to Dobro.
https://www.historylink.org/file/7479
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Mark Helm


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 9 Jul 2022 1:32 pm     Gell-MannAmnesia Effect
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Earnest Bovine wrote:

If an author is wrong on things that you know, do you trust him on things that you don't know? (Gell-Mann effect)


Well, the answer is "You shouldn't." For those unfamiliar, the Michael Crichton-coined term, the "Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect," refers to our tendency to notice inaccuracies in media concerning subjects we know well, but then trust the same media on subjects we know too little about to spot any potential goofs (hence the "Amnesia"). It would be like Noah reading an article from this same Fox News Live website on Nancy Pelosi'd stance on abortion and trusting it (provided Noah's not also an expert on that subject).

Note that the G-M effect (as Crichton envisioned it, anyway) applies to media only. In most other areas of our lives we tend to quickly learn to be suspicious of people (and businesses), who prove themselves unreliable. We wouldn't want a surgeon taking our gall bladder out if we learned he botched uncle Harry's hernia operation, or a mechanic working on our transmission if he screwed up the last brake job he did for us...
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David Matzenik


From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
Post  Posted 9 Jul 2022 2:00 pm    
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On the net, I have seen knowledgeable musicians state that Les Paul invented the electric guitar and Charlie Christian made the first electric guitar recording. And Jazz was the first genre to use electric guitar.
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Mark Helm


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 9 Jul 2022 2:04 pm     Arrrrhh!
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David Matzenik wrote:
On the net, I have seen knowledgeable musicians state that Les Paul invented the electric guitar and Charlie Christian made the first electric guitar recording.


That always drives me crazy. As for the Les Paul claim.. In the 'Play it Loud" book, they suggest Les did quite a bit to fan the flames of that rumor.
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