Frying Pan (guitar)

Rickenbacker Electro A-22 "Frying Pan"
Manufacturer	Ro-Pat-In Company (later renamed to Rickenbacker)
Period	1931/1932 – 1939
Construction
Body type	Cast aluminum
Neck joint	Set
Woods
Body	Cast aluminum
Neck	Cast aluminum
Fretboard	Aluminum
Hardware
Bridge	Aluminum
Pickup(s)	One Rickenbacker horse-shoe magnet pickup
Colors available
Bare metal

The Rickenbacker Electro A-22, nicknamed the "Frying Pan" is the first electric lap steel guitar, also widely considered the first commercially successful electric guitar. Developed in 1931/1932, it received its patent in August 1937.^[1] A previous attempt, the Stromberg company‘s transducer-based "Stromberg Electro", was introduced in 1928. It used a "vibration-transfer rod" from the instrument's sounding board attached to magnets inside the guitar, and was not successful.^[2] George Beauchamp created the "Fry-Pan" in 1931, and it was subsequently manufactured by Electro String Instrument Corporation under the name Electro, later named Rickenbacker. The instrument gained its nickname because its circular body and long neck make it resemble a frying pan.

It was designed to capitalize on the popularity of Hawaiian music in the 1930s. The instrument was made of cast aluminum, and featured a pickup that incorporated a pair of horseshoe magnets that arched over the strings designed by Paul Barth with George Beauchamp. Beauchamp and machinist Adolph Rickenbacker began selling the guitar in 1932, but Beauchamp was not awarded a patent^[3] for his idea until 1937, which allowed other guitar companies to produce electric guitars in the same period.