View Full Version : Lloyd Loar Invented the Electric Guitar?
John Flynn
May-31-2004, 6:46pm
The cover article of the current issue of Invention and Technology magazine is about the invention of the electric guitar. Among other interesting facts is that the invention of the first electric guitar pickup is attributed to "a Gibson engineer named Lloyd Loar" in 1923. The article goes on to say that Gibson was not interested in it at the time and never brought it to market. Also, Mr. Loar went on to market electric guitars in 1933 under the "Vivi-Tone" brand, but it was not successful. Gee, what would a Loar electric guitar be worth?
The article is available on the web here:
http://www.inventionandtechnology.com/2004/01/feature.shtml
Mando Medic
Jun-01-2004, 5:34am
Thank you for sharing that story with us. A great read. Kenc
He did a few electric things. Here are some Loar Patents (http://www.siminoff.net/pages/loar_patents.html)
Spruce
Jun-01-2004, 9:31am
The Shrine to Music Museum (http://www.usd.edu/smm/) in Vermillion, South Dakota has an electric viola that was made by Lloyd...
I highly recommend this museum to anyone who might be passing through the area...
It's quite the collection...
Darryl Wolfe
Jun-01-2004, 11:21am
Check this and the links out on the subject
link to Hank Risan's themomi.org (http://www.themomi.org/museum/lloydloar/1923ElectricViola.html)
Blueglass
Jun-02-2004, 9:09am
Alright Spruce!! The Shrine to music museum is an amazing place. Did you see the Stradivous mandolin there. I was just there and right now they have a whole display just of diffrent mandolins. cool stuff and wanted to leap over the fence and start picking.:D
Paul Kotapish
Jun-02-2004, 10:22am
There's a nifty interactive, animated timeline of the evolution of the guitar and bass at online Experience Music Project:
http://www.emplive.com/create/guit_bass.asp
The story of the electric guitar portion of the story begins with the Loar Vivi-Tone.
This is a corner of the website for the so-called "Hendrix Museum" in Seattle. Lots of cool artifacts and lore, and plenty of stuff to explore in the online version.
The museum itself, housed in a wildly expressive Frank Gehry structure, is worth a vist if you're in the Seattle area. The curators are actually quite knowledgeable, and they sure do have a lot of great rock 'n' roll ephemera.
John Flynn
Jun-02-2004, 2:18pm
That is a nice website. I thought it was interesting that the site says that Loar left Gibson, reportedly due to thier lack of support for his "way-out ideas." I haven't heard the story quite that way before.