Imagine living in 1931, a decade where jazz players such as Fats Domino, Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong dominate the music scene and big bands were just becoming popular. String instruments were high in demand and wanted by big band leaders to create that unforgettable swing music sound. Rock ‘n’ Roll didn’t even exist (hard to believe right?) except in country blues music sparingly.
It was in the year 1931 that Adolph Rickenbacker and George Beauchamp decided that the world needed a fully electric musical instrument. The Rickenbacker International Corporation (RIC) blossomed from the first company founded out of the sole purpose of creating fully electric instruments and amplifiers, the L.A. based Electro String Instrument Corporation. What Rickenbacker and Beauchamp did was create the first modern electric guitar, later to be used by world famous musicians and become one of the best sounding instruments of all time.
