George Breed

The first documented attempt at the electrification of a fretted stringed instrument was an 1890 guitar patent by U.S. Navy officer George Breed. The Navy had great interest in the rapidly developing electrical technology and by the late 1880s the Navy Academy at Annapolis had begun offering classes in electrical engineering. Breed had been a midshipman at Annapolis, and it was there that he most probably received his electrical training. Although Breed’s design had some superficial similarities to Beauchamp’s “Frying Pan” (both employed a large electromagnet encircling the strings), they functioned in very different ways. This was not an electric, but an electrified guitar. While the Breed guitar was sounded by an electric means, it was still an acoustic instrument, with a rough sound similar to a fast-picked mandolin or a hurdy-gurdy. It should be remembered to that Breed’s design did not produce a louder instrument (which was Beauchamp’s goal) but an instrument theoretically capable of infinite sustain.

George Breed USNA, Class of 1886

As part of his research into George Breed, Matthew has been reconstructing a working model of Breed’s 1890 design in collaboration with John Hall, C.E.O. of Rickenbacker International Corporation. John has been instrumental in the decipherment and re-creation of the circuitry and the electromagnet (12 pounds of solid iron and copper wire) used in Breed’s guitar. Doug Kensrue, president of MK Products, Santa Ana, California, has used his manufacturing expertise and resources to make the intricate and problematical design of Breed’s electromagnet a physical reality. Dr. Brian Flynn of the University of Edinburgh has also given great assistance with regards to the possible configurations of Breed’s circuitry.

Instruction in electricity at US Naval Academy 1890.

In 2006 Matthew presented a paper on the American early electrical instrument designer George Breed at the joint Galpin Society / CIMCIM / American Musical Instrument Society meeting at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota. The complete paper can be accessed from the 'Papers and Publications' page.

John Hall (left) and Matthew Hill working on recreating the electromagnet from George Breed's guitar design of 1890