Frying pan (guitar)

Manufacturer	Ro-Pat-In Company (later renamed to Rickenbacker)
Period	1931/1932 – 1939
Body type	Cast aluminum
Neck joint	Set
Body	Cast aluminum
Neck	Cast aluminum
Fretboard	Aluminum
Bridge	Aluminum
Pickup(s)	One Rickenbacker horse-shoe magnet pickup
Bare metal

The "frying pan" in 1931/1932 was the first electric lap steel guitar ever produced, and one of the earliest electric guitar, along with the Stromberg Electro in 1928.George Beauchamp created the instrument in 1931, and it was subsequently manufactured by Rickenbacker Electro. The instrument—officially the Rickenbacker Electro A-22—earned its nickname because its circular body and long neck make it resemble a frying pan.

It was designed to cash in on the popularity of Hawaiian music in the 1930s. The instrument was made of cast aluminum, and featured a pickup that incorporated a pair of horseshoe magnets that arched over the strings. Beauchamp and machinist Adolph Rickenbacker began selling the Frying Pan in 1932, but Beauchamp was not awarded a patent for his idea until 1937, which allowed other guitar companies to produce electric guitars in the same period.

In the 1930s, Hawaiian music enjoyed widespread popularity in the United States. However, Hawaiian music featured the guitar as the main melodic instrument, and the volume of acoustic guitars was insufficient for large audiences. Beauchamp, an enthusiast and player of Hawaiian music, mounted a magnetic pickup on his acoustic steel guitar to produce an electrical signal that was electronically amplified to drive a loudspeaker, producing a much louder sound. After discovering that his system produced copious amounts of unwanted feedback from sympathetic vibration of the guitar's body, Beauchamp reasoned that acoustic properties were actually undesirable in an electric instrument.

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Wikipedia