The Basel fathers of the electric guitar

The pop music wave of the 1960s would have been unthinkable without the signature sound of electric guitars. What would Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones have been like without the fullness of the sound of their stirring music? Marshall– Amplifiers sounded good?

Even the American folk singer Bob Dylan could not escape the fascination with electric guitars. At the Nieuwpoort Folk Festival In 1965, he put his acoustic guitar in a corner and plugged it in, much to the dismay of folk purists. Fender Stratocaster A. He was booed by the fans and had to stop the concert. From that day on, the singer-songwriter increasingly transformed into a rock and pop musician.

The roots of pop music lie in the US about 100 years ago. Technical developments such as sound films, the record player and the radio made possible the rapid spread of new forms of popular music at that time Roaring Twenties. From ‘black’ jazz and ‘white’ pop music, swing developed in America and – performed by big bands – began its triumphal procession around the world. In addition, genres such as western, country and Hawaiian music emerged. And the technical developments did not stop with the distribution of the music, but also reached the stage itself.

Texan guitarist George Beauchamp is considered the inventor of the electric guitar. He tried out a loud guitar that could hold its own in a big band. With a pick-up (To retrieve), which converts the vibrations of the steel strings into an alternating voltage, the sound could be made as loud as desired with a tube amplifier. This laid the foundation for the electric guitar, the so-called electric guitar.

In the US, engineer Adolph Rickenbacker is known as the “father of the electric guitar”. The roots are in Switzerland. In 1887, Adolf Adam Riggenbacher, as he was called according to the baptismal register, was born in poor circumstances at Gemsberg 7 in the old town of Basel as the son of a carpenter. The family emigrated to the US in 1891 with three children. The young Adolph Rickenbacker, as he now called himself in America, founded a company in Los Angeles.

In mid-1931, Rickenbacker released the first electric guitar, which was popular because of its shape Frying pan was called. The patent application was filed in 1932 and the US patent was finally granted in 1937. The company soon supplied guitars labeled “Rickenbacker” to music stores throughout the country. It still exists in Santa Ana, California. It was not until 1936 that Rickenbacker faced competition from the Gibson Guitar Corporationwho introduced an industrially mass-produced electric guitar.

The first American jazz big bands came to the concert halls and clubs of European cities before World War II. In the old town of Basel, not far from Rickenbacker’s birthplace, lives Karl Schneider, a young violin maker Meinel music store, seeing an American electric guitar for the first time. Fascinated by the technology and the full sound of the instrument, he conducted experiments with pickups himself. As a result, the electric guitar never left him.

Karl Schneider was born in Heilbronn in 1905. The father worked as a master brewer and the family moved regularly. From Heilbronn to Mulhouse, then into the Swiss Jura to Porrentruy and back to Oggersheim in Germany. The constant changes of location and language proved detrimental to the three children’s education. When his father died in 1918 as a result of an accident at work, the family moved to Lörrach-Stetten, near the Swiss border.

Young Karl was interested in everything related to technology. He wanted to become an engineer. However, studying was not possible due to his schooling and the family’s financial circumstances. An uncle of Karl, who worked as a concert cellist in Bern, recognized the young man’s good technical skills. He found an internship as a violin maker with the renowned master violin maker Paul Meinel in Basel.

In 1923, Schneider successfully completed his apprenticeship as a violin maker and remained in his teacher’s studio until his teacher’s death in 1928. After Meinel’s son-in-law, music dealer Hugo Schmitz, took over the business in Steinenvorstadt and became the violin making studio Meinel music store expanded, Schneider remained the sole instrument maker in the company.

In the crisis period after 1930, the demand for stringed instruments collapsed. Looking for a new business area, Karl Schneider started building guitars. He designed models of concert, jazz and Hawaiian guitars, which he produced in… Meinel music store manufactured and under the guitar label “Awesome” his boss, put on the market.

In the late 1930s, an American guitarist in Basel sought help for his defective electric guitar. In the Meinel music store he found what he was looking for. During the repair, Karl Schneider was able to get the instrument from the USA, probably one Gibson ES-155, inspect. The first ones appeared a short time later Awesome-Electric guitars, which on closer inspection showed certain similarities with the American Gibson models, in the window of the music store. This Awesome-Models from Basel are considered the first commercially available electric guitars in Europe.

Schneider continued to tinker and slowly came to the decision to become an independent entrepreneur. In 1945 he finally founded his own company in Riehen K. Schneider instrument building. With great enthusiasm, the young entrepreneur designed a wide range of acoustic and electric guitars, which he now sells under the new brand “Rio” brought on the market. The previous label Awesome He couldn’t use it anymore because it belonged to his former boss.

Karl Schneider further developed his models, made technical improvements and strove for high quality of his products. His jazz guitars all had a metal rod in the guitar neck. This made it possible to counteract the tension of the steel strings and prevent a gradual curvature of the neck.

The commercial success of the new company was inevitable. The instruments were delivered to music stores throughout Switzerland and nearby countries. Although the sale of musical instruments was still subject to a luxury tax in the post-war period, the demand for guitars from Riehen increased rapidly. To create sufficient space for the company and the young family, a residential and commercial building was built in 1945 on the edge of the village of Riehen. The first employee was hired in 1947.

The spread of popular music in post-war Europe allowed the electric guitar industry to flourish. A wave of new styles from the US, such as Hawaiian music and western or country songs, reached Europe.

Several jazz and Hawaiian bands emerged in Basel, whose performances with the loud howling sounds of electric guitars celebrated success in clubs and at public events. These were an example Hula Hawaiians, a successful band that performed exclusively with guitars and ukuleles from Riehen. Well-known jazz musicians such as Django Reinhard also played occasionally Rio Electric guitars.

In the years after its founding, the company’s premises had to be adapted several times to meet the demands of the growing company. In the 1960s, instrument production increased to 1,000 pieces per year. As musical styles changed, so did they Rio-Guitars. Karl Schneider adapted the shape and colors to current trends and was always open to special requests. For example from the Minstrels, who have their hit “Grüezi, Mrs. Stirnimaa” recorded with Riehen instruments.

After the oil crisis of 1973, economic conditions for instrument making in Switzerland became increasingly difficult. On the one hand, more and more cheap competitive products from Asia entered the market. On the other hand, prices for the required tropical wood rose. Although Schneider made great efforts to rationalize commercial production through the use of machines, product margins decreased. Guitars were still produced in Riehen until 1982.

After Karl Schneider handed over the company to his daughter and son-in-law, he returned to his roots and continued to build violins until the end of his life in 1998. In a small setting in a small studio at his home.