National String Instrument Corporation in 1927 . Beauchamp successfully gathered seed money from his millionaire cousin-in-law , a mistake that would soon come back to haunt him .
Perhaps glad to be rid of the Dopyera brothers once and for all , Beauchamp got to work on designing the first electro-magnetic guitar pickup , for which he was later awarded a patent . In addition to taking night classes in electronics , he also enlisted the help of National Vice-President , Paul Barth . It is believed they wound the protype pickup using the motor from a sewing machine .
Once their plank guitar prototype was functional ( built on a 2x4 ), the duo reached out to Harry
George Beauchamp Pickup Patent
John Dopyera Resonator Patent
Marketed under the National brand , the first batch of the aluminum-bodied Resonators were hand crafted by Dopyera and his brothers . The bodies for the second batch were outsourced to machinist Adolph Rickenbacker ( originally spelled Rickenbacher ). Rickenbacker ’ s skills soon earned him a place in the company .
Watson ( another National expat ) to craft a body and neck from maple . The resulting instrument was dubbed the frying pan because of the shape of the body . It is also the first known fully functional Electric Hawaiian guitar in existence . Shortly thereafter , Beauchamp , Barth , Rickenbacker , and several others then cofounded Ro-Pat-In Corporation ( an abbreviation for Electro Patent Instruments ), soon renamed Electro String . Ironically the line of guitars were labeled Rickerbachers because the name was easier to pronounce than Beauchamp !
Beauchamp ’ s relationship with Rickebacker was a good one . The same could not be said for the Dopyeras who departed National in 1928 , although John retained an ongoing share holder interest . The Dopyeras went on to found the Dobro ( as in Dopyera Brothers ) Manufacturing Company , and saw success in so doing . But claims of patent infringement soon brought things to a head . Bad went to worse when Beauchamp ’ s millionaire cousinin-law ran out of money and sold his interest to Louis Dopyera . Shortly thereafter Beauchamp was shown the door .
National Style 4 Tricone Squareneck Resophonic Guitar ( 1929 ) Courtesy of Retrofret Guitar
In another twist of fate , Beauchamp ’ s guitarplaying friend Gage Brewer decided to swing through town after a tour of the South Pacific . After playing the prototype , he became Ro- Pat-In ’ s first and second customer when he commissioned them to build the second frying pan and the first-ever Spanish Electric guitar !
In 2018 , Carter Vintage Guitars brought this amazing and truly one-of-a-kind instrument to market . As demonstrated in the video , it has more than withstood the test of time . The firstever commercially available Spanish Electric