50 Architects Of The Electric Era

Since the earliest ‘Frying Pan’ models of the 1930s, pickup-loaded instruments have undergone constant evolution in the hands of almost a century of innovators. We celebrate the pioneers whose envelope-pushing ideas have changed the face of the electric guitar

- Tony Bacon

01 BILL AITKEN

The SynthAxe was an 80s British invention, designed by Bill Aitken, Mike Dixon and Tony Sedivy, and it set out to reimagine the guitar synthesizer. Looking like a futuristic spaceship, it dispensed with regular pitch-to-voltage converters and instead sensed every nuance of the required non-standard playing techniques and converted these to MIDI. The Synthaxe cost around £6,000, and fewer than 100 were sold.

02 LARRY ALLERS

An unsung hero, Larry Allers was an important ideas man at Gibson’s HQ in Kalamazoo, where he began working during the 30s. He was promoted to head the firm’s woodworking department following the success of the Les Paul Goldtop in ’52, and Larry likely also spearheaded the original development and design of the SG, Flying V, Explorer and ES-335.

03 DAN ARMSTRONG

In the late 60s, Ampeg hired Dan Armstrong, a New York guitar repairer, to design a guitar and bass to partner its amplifiers. Dan carved the distinctive bodies of the Ampeg See-Throughs from clear Lucite, and Bill Lawrence’s interchangeable pickups added to the unorthodox vibe. However, the plastic led to problems with weight and tuning instability, and Dan’s See-Throughs were gone by 1971.

04 PAUL BARTH

A pioneer on America’s West Coast guitar scene of the 30s, Paul Barth helped create some early electric guitars and the first electro-magnetic pickup. Into the 50s, he worked at Rickenbacker, his own Barth company and Magnatone. In ’64, he set up Bartell, where the product line included an unusual and short-lived fretless guitar.

05 TRAVIS BEAN