And there's also the Rickenbacker "Frying Pan" guitar which came out in 1931. Not a Spanish type, but solidbody and amplified all the same.B45-12 wrote:However I did post a picture of someone playing a doubleneck solidbody from a Practcal mechanics mag of 1937 on one of the threads here some time ago, so your solidbody dating is a little off - although I was just as surprised as anybody to see it but it was a doubleneck gibson - like their old lap steels - and he was playing it like a regular guitar. Must have weighed the earth I'd imagine.mr_sooty wrote:Geez bro, how old are you? 100? No offence intended, but the 40's? Crikey. They didn't hardly even have electric guitars in the 40's, not solid bodies anyway, at least until the very late 40's - as I'm sure you know!B45-12 wrote:1940's radio (plugged in the record player socket and used to get the old tingle from time to time)
1950's radio altered to amp...
Mind you, if you really want to push the boundaries of electric guitar - have a look in Duchessoir's book on Gibson electrics - there he has a picture of a Gibson prototype amp and guitar that Julius Bellson says is from the late 20's!!! while Lloyd Loar got his patent for an electric on November 12, 1935 (Tom Wheelers Book American Guitars 2nd ed p 356/7) and there is a picure of one of his vivi-tone instruments!
I suspect that ampliers pre-date electric guitars.