A Time-line History of the Electric Guitar

Leo Fender launches the single pick-up, solid body Broadcaster guitar. Fender’s rivals dismiss this revolutionary guitar because it is mass produced and lacks conventional craftsmanship. Critics mock the guitar’s design, streamlined production techniques, and lower manufacturing costs. Gretsch forces Fender to change the Broadcaster name because they have Broadkaster drum kits. Fender adds a second pick-up and renames his guitar the Telecaster.

Fender debuts the Precision Bass guitar. With the electric bass guitar, Fender rendered the old-fashioned upright bass obsolete within the decade. The Precision’s design revolutionized bass playingand changed the sound of popular music forever. Besides being easier to learn and easier to play, Leo’s new offering allowed bass players to sing.

Jackie Brenston’s recording of “Rocket 88" is widely considered to be the first rock n’ roll record. Ike Turner plays piano on this historic session and Sam Phillips does the recording at his Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennesse.

Gibson introduces its own solid body electric guitar, the Les Paul. It’s gold finished carved maple top sported two P-90 single-coil pick-ups. The body and neck were mahogany. And, at the time, it was neither a commercial or critical success.

Fender launches the Stratocaster.

Elvis Presley, Bill Black, and Scotty Moore convene for their initial recording session at Sun Recording Service in Memphis, Tennessee. Sam Phillips engineers and supervises the session. It all starts from here.

Gibson engineer, Seth Lover, invents the humbucker guitar pick-up. Gibson puts its PAF’s (Patent Applied For) in their guitars in 1957.

Bill Haley and the Comets shoot to Number One on the record charts with the teen-age anthem, “Rock Around the Clock”. The song opens the teen exploitation movie, ”Blackboard Jungle”. If you had forgotten or just didn’t know, guitarist Danny Cedrone delivers a killer solo.

Chuck Berry is advised by Muddy Waters to Chess Records. A short time later, Berry throws down “a high-performance mixture of frenetic syncopation and pure adrenaline.” The result is “Maybelline”. And the blueprint for rock guitar begins right here.

Fender offers custom colors for its guitars.


Keith Richards receives his first guitar. He is twelve years old.

Teen idol, Ricky Nelson, rock n’ rolls on his parents’ weekly sitcom, “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”. His telly packin’ lead guitarist is the young James Burton.

Buddy Holly makes his debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. The studio audience and the folks watching at home get to see Buddy playing his wild, futuristic electric guitar- a sleek Fender Stratocaster.

Bo Diddley creates the “Bo Diddley beat”. Once it hits the radio, the kids go crazy and their parents are horrified.

In Great Britain, Vox unleashes its AC-15 guitar amplifier, fifteen watts of sweet tone.

Fender introduces their forty watt, 2 x 12 speaker, the Twin combo amplifier.

Gibson introduces the semi-hollow body, ES-335. A solid block of wood runs underneath its pick-ups, tailpiece, and bridge. One of the highlights of Ted McCarty’s career with Gibson, the 335 is still in production today.

Duane Eddy moves the electric guitar to the forefront of rock instrumental music with “Rebel Rouser”. Eddy’s “ Million Dollar Twang” entices young men by the thousands to pick up a guitar. A few day’s worth of practice could have one playing just like the “Guitar Man”.

Link Wray records the ominous sounding “Rumble”. To get his sound, Link punches holes in his amp’s speakers with a pencil. This recording offers perhaps the earliest example of power chords. The record is banned from many radio play lists for sounding “too suggestive”.

Vox introduces their new thirty watt combo amplifier, the AC-30. This amp will soon become the reason for the sound of the“British Invasion”.

British guitarist, Hank Marvin, gets a coral color Fender Stratocaster delivered to him from America. It’s the first Strat in all of England.

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