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3 - The Electric Guitar’s “Golden Age”

from Part I - History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2024

Jan-Peter Herbst
Affiliation:
University of Huddersfield
Steve Waksman
Affiliation:
Smith College, Massachusetts
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Summary

The release of the Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, and Fender Stratocaster in the early 1950s has led that era to assume the status of a “golden age” of electric guitar design and production. This chapter seeks to broaden the terms according to which we understand this pivotal moment through multiple lenses. First, it documents an earlier turning point in electric guitar history in the mid to late 1930s, when the Spanish-body electric ascended to prominence over its Hawaiian-style counterpart. Next, it examines the prehistory of the commercial solid body through the preproduction prototypes built by Les Paul, Leo Fender, and Paul Bigsby. Third, the chapter highlights the continued importance of hollow body electrics throughout the 1950s, in conjunction with the early years of rock ‘n’ roll. Lastly, it foregrounds the impact of low-cost electric guitars produced by companies such as Harmony and Kay, which helped make the instrument into a more accessible commodity.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Selected Bibliography

Bacon, Tony and Day, Paul, The Gretsch Book: A Complete History of Gretsch Electric Guitars (Miller Freeman Books, 1996).Google Scholar
Duchossoir, A.R., Gibson Electrics: The Classic Years (Hal Leonard, 1994).Google Scholar
Port, Ian, The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock ’n’ Roll (Scribner, 2019).Google Scholar
Smith, Richard, Fender: The Sound Heard ’Round the World (Hal Leonard, 2009).Google Scholar
Troutman, John, Kika Kila: How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music (University of North Carolina Press, 2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tolinski, Brad and di Perna, Alan, Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, & Revolution of the Electric Guitar (Doubleday, 2016).Google Scholar
Waksman, Steve, Instruments of Desire: The Electric Guitar and the Shaping of Musical Experience (Harvard University Press, 1999).Google Scholar
Making the Guitar Electric: Early Electric Guitar History,” Musique-Images-Instruments 17 (2018): 128147.Google Scholar
Wheeler, Tom, American Guitars: An Illustrated History (HarperPerennial, 1992).Google Scholar
Wright, Michael, Guitar Stories, Vol. 2 (Vintage Guitar Books, 2000)Google Scholar

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