Rickenbacker Electro A-22

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.

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. 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.