Re: Blog: Was the Slingerland Songster Model 401 the First Electric Guitar?
I agree, the facts point to this beig the first truly magnetic pickup electric guitar. The technology ... huge magnet, flux return path over the strings, etc. indicate that it was a struggle, with the permanent magnet technology of the day, to get enough signal out of the pickup to drive the tube amp technology of the day. Lohr's "pickups" in that era were crystal pickups that sensed vibration of the sounding board, with some mechanical amplification even, to get high enough voltage out. Ditto the ceramic mic.
I would love to know who conceived this design.
He was the true inventor of the electric guitar as we know it, with pickups converting string vibration directly to electric signal, no sound involved, no physical vibration of anything but the string itself involved.
I wish someone would do detailed pics and diagrams of this beast.