An informative speech on electric guitars

Try this for starters
http://www.squidoo.com/electricguitarsblog

ya beat me to it by a hair

Go to www.gibson.com for a history of the Gibson and Epiphone brands. Also it's just a real cool site

If'n you are gonna do a informational speech on the electric guitar from the very beginning up until modern times then you must start with the acoustic guitar and it's transition into what was to become the electric guitar. While Les Paul and Leo Fender are excellant choice' for some information I would start with Christian Fredrick Martin and his developement of the acoustic guitar in the early 1800's. Orville Gibson came into the picture in the mid 1800's. You will probally want to check out Lloyd Loar who was an engineer for Gibson and began working with magnetic pick-ups in the 1920's. Also check out Rickenbacker who produced the 1st production electric guitar in 1932, the "Electro Spanish". Before that Rickenbacker worked on a instrument called the "Frying Pan" which was not really a guitar but had 6 strings and a magnetic pick-up. And before you get to Les Paul you just gotta go into what the early jazz and blues musicans did for the electric guitar. Anyway, some of this might help.

Nela

What came first, the chicken or the egg? You would not have electric guitars if it wasn't for the improvements made to acoustic' with the addition of magnetic pick-ups. Since you have only 5 to 8 minutes to highlight the electric guitar it might be worth taking a crash course in speed talking.

Anyway, check out Lloyd Loar as a starting point. From the little bit I read he lead the way in the developement of the electric guitar.

nela