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Adolph Rickenbacker (April 1, 1887 – March 21, 1976) was a Swiss-American production engineer and machinist who, together with George Beauchamp, created the first electric string instrument, and co-founded the Rickenbacker guitar company, also with Beauchamp. [1] Rickenbacker was born in Basel, Switzerland as Adolf Rickenbacher. He immigrated ...
In 1931, he joined with Paul Barth and Adolph Rickenbacker to form the Ro-Pat-In Corporation to produce and sell electrified string instruments. The most notable of these, the Rickenbacher A-22 (and A-25) lapsteel guitar – known as the "frying pan" – is widely regarded as the first mass-produced electric guitar.
Adolph Rickenbacher and George Beauchamp founded the company in 1931 as the Ro-Pat-In Corporation (ElectRo-Patent-Instruments) to sell electric Hawaiian guitars.Beauchamp designed his instruments in collaboration with Paul Barth and Harry Watson, who had been active in the National String Instrument Corporation. [1]
The instrument was made of cast aluminum, and featured a pickup that incorporated a pair of horseshoe magnets that arched over the strings designed by Paul Barth with George Beauchamp. Beauchamp and machinist Adolph Rickenbacker began selling the guitar in 1932, but Beauchamp was not awarded a patent [3] for his idea until 1937, which allowed ...
Ro-Pat-In Corporation (ElectRo-Patent-Instruments) was founded by Adolph Rickenbacher and George Beauchamp in 1931 to manufacture and distribute electrically amplified musical instruments. Beauchamp designed the instruments, assisted by Paul Barth and Harry Watson from National String Instrument Corporation.
In their 1930 catalog, National list eight key associates, including Adolph Rickenbacker, George Beauchamp, Harry Watson, Paul Barth, and Jack Levy. [4] In 1932, the Dopyera brothers secured a controlling interest in both National and Dobro, and merged the companies to form the "National Dobro Corporation".
Beauchamp was backed in his efforts by Adolph Rickenbacker, an engineer and wealthy owner of a successful tool and die business. Beauchamp eventually produced the first successful single-coil pickup, which consisted of two massive U-shaped magnets and one coil and was known as the " horseshoe pickup ". [ 1 ]
George Beauchamp, along with Adolph Rickenbacker, invented the electromagnetic pickups. [5] Coils that were wrapped around a magnet would create an electromagnetic field that converted the vibrations of the guitar strings into electrical signals, which could then be amplified.