“Frying Pan”, the First Electric Guitar

In this paper, I shall re-examine some of the commonly held assumptions regarding the Frying Pan. I will show that the 1931 prototype Frying Pan was an electric guitar in every sense of the word and was in fact designed to be capable of both Hawaiian and Spanish-style playing. I shall also look at some of the design aspects of the Frying Pan’s transition from prototype to production model. Even now, when its claim can now no longer be seriously challenged, the Frying Pan’s avant-garde design has led some to look for a more conventionally guitar-like contender for the title of the first electric guitar. In light of this, I shall also examine the viability of some of the more noteworthy rival claims to the invention of the electric guitar based on my recent research......

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