Electric Guitar and Violin

Abstract

Almost all the instruments described in this book have their origins in historical cultures dating back over many centuries. In contrast, the electric guitar and violin are clearly twentieth-century innovations. They are products of the electronics age following invention of the rectifying thermionic valve (tube) by John Ambrose Fleming in 1904, the amplifying triode valve (tube) by Lee de Forest in 1907, and the vacuum-filled amplifying valve (tube) by Irving Langmuir in 1915. By 1916, such valves were already being used in radio receivers, and important advances were being made in microphone, amplifier, and loudspeaker design. This, and the increasingly wide distribution of mains electricity in the 1920s, provided the technology and infrastructure for the development of the electric guitar and violin and their lower-pitched relations – the bass guitar, viola, cello, and string-bass. Although we focus here on the electric guitar and violin, almost everything discussed in this chapter is also relevant to their lower-pitched relations.