# How the Frying Pan Guitar Created the Electric Guitar > George Beauchamp's 1937 patent for the first commercially successful electric guitar, which used a magnetic pickup to turn string vibrations into electrical signals. - **Patent:** US 2089171 - **Original title:** Electrical stringed musical instrument - **Owner:** ELECTRO STRING INSTR CORP - **Granted:** 1937 - **Status:** Public domain (expired) - **Times cited:** 24 - **Field:** consumer_electronics, mechanical ## What it does The patent describes an electrical stringed instrument that captures the vibrations of metal strings using a magnetic pickup. This pickup consists of a coil of wire wrapped around a magnet, which creates a magnetic field. When the metal strings vibrate, they disturb this field, inducing an electrical current in the coil that can be amplified by an external speaker. This design allowed guitars to finally be heard clearly in loud big-band settings. ## What it does NOT cover - Does not cover acoustic guitars that rely solely on a hollow body for sound amplification. - Does not cover modern digital modeling or MIDI-based guitar synthesis. - Does not cover piezo-electric pickups that rely on physical pressure rather than magnetic induction. ## The clever bit By using a magnetic pickup, Beauchamp bypassed the need for a large, resonant wooden body, which was the primary source of feedback issues in earlier attempts to amplify string instruments. ## Real-world examples 1. Rickenbacker A-22 Frying Pan 2. Modern electric guitars from Fender and Gibson 3. Electric lap steel guitars ## Why it matters This invention fundamentally changed popular music by allowing the guitar to move from a quiet rhythm instrument to a loud, expressive lead instrument. It paved the way for the development of rock and roll, blues, and jazz as we know them today. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does How the Frying Pan Guitar Created the Electric Guitar cover? George Beauchamp's 1937 patent for the first commercially successful electric guitar, which used a magnetic pickup to turn string vibrations into electrical signals. ### Who owns patent US 2089171? ELECTRO STRING INSTR CORP owns this patent, granted in 1937. ### When does this patent expire? This patent has expired and is now in the public domain — anyone can use the invention freely. ### What is patent US 2089171 cited by? This patent has been cited by 24 later patents that build on its ideas. ### What problem does this patent solve? This invention fundamentally changed popular music by allowing the guitar to move from a quiet rhythm instrument to a loud, expressive lead instrument. It paved the way for the development of rock and roll, blues, and jazz as we know them today. ### What does this patent NOT cover? Does not cover acoustic guitars that rely solely on a hollow body for sound amplification. **Full plain-English explainer:** https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/2089171/electric-guitar-frying-pan **Original patent:** https://patents.google.com/patent/US2089171 --- _Source: PatentBrief — https://patentbrief.org. Patent facts are from public records; the plain-English explanation is PatentBrief's._ ## Related patents Semantically similar inventions in the PatentBrief corpus: - [How Laurens Hammond Invented the Electric Organ](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/1956350/hammond-organ) — Laurens Hammond's 1934 patent for an electrical musical instrument that used spinning tone wheels to generate sound, forming the basis of the iconic Hammond organ. - [How Leo Fender's Tremolo Bridge Changes Guitar Pitch](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/2741146/fender-stratocaster-tremolo) — A mechanical bridge system for electric guitars that allows players to temporarily change the tension and pitch of all strings simultaneously using a manual lever. - [How the Theremin Makes Music Without Touching Anything](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/1661058/theremin-leon-theremin) — Leon Theremin's 1928 patent for an electronic musical instrument that generates sound based on the proximity of a performer's hands to metal antennas. - [Henry Seely's 1882 Electric Flatiron](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/259054/electric-iron-seely) — An 1882 patent for the first electric flatiron, which used internal heating elements to replace the heavy, fire-heated irons of the Victorian era. - [How Robert Moog Used Transistors to Shape Synthesizer Sounds](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/3475623/moog-synthesizer-ladder-filter) — A 1969 invention by Robert Moog that uses the internal resistance of transistors to create the iconic filters that define the sound of analog synthesizers.