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CNN Live At Daybreak

Ask CNN: When and How was the First Electric Guitar Invented?

Aired July 20, 2001 - 09:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT BAKER, MARIETTA GEORGIA: Hello. My name is Matt Baker. I'm from Marietta, Georgia.

And my question is: When and how was the first electric guitar invented?

CHARLES PANATI, AUTHOR, "EXTRAORDINARY ORIGIN OF EVERYDAY THINGS": The guitar itself goes back to the 1600s in Spain. As a matter of fact, as a stringed instrument with a wooden sounding box, it's father was the lute -- 4,000 years old, back to Babylonia.

And the lute is the father of the guitar, the ukulele, the fiddle and the violin. But guitars were not electrified until 1929, when two immigrant Czech brothers out in Los Angeles added a simple resonator to the top of the guitar. It worked, but it wasn't perfect. The patent for an electric guitar was taken out in 1956 by a Clarence Fender. And he called this guitar the Fender. It was so spectacular and marketed so well that it revolutionized the face of popular music.

There also was a performer, Les Paul, with his wife, Mary Ford. And he really contributed to perfecting the guitar. In the next decade, in the 1970s, you had Jimmy Hendrix and Eric Clapton. And they made the electric guitar an absolute stage prop for the rock 'n' roll band.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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