Guitar History

 The Ancient Bards
String instruments have been around for at least 5,000 years but early ones likely resembled the harp or lira.  We don't know if they were played in discos, restaurants or for private parties, but we do know that some early instruments had many more strings than a modern six-string axe. 

The harp and lute described in the bible goes back to the earliest cultures and most assuredly was used for religious ceremonies as well as for entertainment, just like we use the guitar today.  Before that perhaps a dude shooting an arrow realized the bow could vibrate and produce a cool sound.  The Indian Sitar from the middle ages, with more than 20 strings, (try keeping that in tune) is probably an ancestor of the guitar too.   

From the ancient world there is a 3300 year-old stone carving showing a Hittite man (the Hittites were from what is now turkey) playing a string instrument.  I doubt if he played in a band but who knows?  Four of five harpists might produce a heck of a sound.   And since there was no recorded sound, unless you lived in Atlantis,  bards of the earliest era had probably played for the kings and wealthy individuals as many musicians did until recently.  And they better have been good cause Kings and Queens had the power to enslave or execute those they didn't like.  In today's world you'd simply get bad press.

T i m e l i n e

 Before the 1500's:Harps, Lyras, Citharas, Sitars, and others dot the musical landscape.
1500's:The lute comes on board.  It's pear shaped and has 10 strings.  Vivaldi's priemier instrument for composing.  But it has no low E string for a walking, standing, sitting, jogging or reclining bass.  
First known six-string axe with E A D G B E tuning appears.  It's Italian made. Late 1800's: First steel string axe.  No - CF Martin did not invent the X-bracing for steel strings as often stated.   X-bracing was MID 1800'S, before steel stringers. 1916:  First Dreadnaught by Martin.  The name Dreadnaught came from a British battleship.  (Check it out).
1930's: Epiphone and Gibson come out with the electrics. They're hot these new fangled inventions. 
1948:  Leo Fender reveals his Broadcaster solid body.  He later changes the name to Telecaster.
1952:Gibson introduces the famous Les Paul model.  If you got one, you're rich.
1954:Leo Fender reveals his Stratocaster.  The rest is history.


Modern Guitars
The modern six-string guitar probably derives from the six-string lute played by the Vikings of Scandinavia.  (You remember the Vikings.  They landed in Greenland long before Columbus sailed and probably beat him to the States).  The Viking six- string lute, through a long period of evolution, might yet have been an offshoot of the Roman cithara (sprinkled with some sitar).  The Romans got the cithara from Spain during their luscious conquests.  

Some early guitars had several sound holes, many more strings and wider necks than their contemporary cousins.    The narrow neck and the E A D G B E six- string arrangements are part of the modern guitar form.   There is a guitar with six strings labeled from Naples Italy signed by Gaetano Vinaccia with the date of 1779.  It just might be the earliest survivor.

American guitars roll on the scene in the early 1800's. The modern dimensions, shape and style for classical guitars appear to be the early 1800's.  Since then the different sizes and shapes conform basically to the modern style but you can still buy a lute if you'd like, if you're looking for that authentic Vivaldi sound.  

Electrics came on the scene in the early 1930's. The first were just acoustics with tungsten pickups.  Today we still use acoustic with pickups.  Some things never change- now do they.  The first electric was named the Pancake or Frying Pan Guitar and was made by George Beauchamp for Adolph Rickenbacker in 1931.  Made of aluminum, it was not very commercial but it did sound good. 

In 1935 the Epiphone Co. produced the Electar model and that's when things began to take off.  During that period, Epiphones acoustics were considered some of the best in the world.  A year later, the Gibson Co. made a hit with their electric. That's before most Americans had a TV and could watch the awards.  Competition between Epiphone and Gibson grew red hot. 

In the early 1940's, Les Paul came up with an electric design while working at the Epiphone Co. This design in no way resembled the later 1952 Gibson model that carries his name.  Les Paul says he tinkered with the idea of electrics when he was kid.  But Leo Fender changed it all with the solid ash-body 1948 Broadcaster which he later called the Telecaster. The Stratocaster came on board in 1954, featuring the double cut away design and the tremolo tool.  The rest is history.  Gretch and others cashed in with their own models.

US Pioneer and Innovative Guitar Makers
• The first Martin guitars were made in NYC by CF Martin who had arrived from Germany in 1833.  He's known for developing the X-bracing in the 1840's, still considered the best type.  He moved his shop to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1839.

• Gibson Guitars started in the 1890's making mandolins but later by the 1920's were making acoustic guitars with innovative designs that made them very desirable. Their first electric was in 1936. Their first famous and fabulous Les Paul's appeared in 1952.  If you own one you're lucky and if you've sold one at auction recently, you've made a pretty penny.

• Fender Electric was founded by Leo Fender in 1946.  He was an electronics buff repairing radios, phonographs and the like.  But in 1946 he decided to produce new equipment and developed, in 1948 the Broadcaster guitar and then later the Stratocaster.