Manufactured by Ro-Pat-In Corporation, Rickenbacker, the Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts is considered the pioneering "grandfather" to the modern electric guitar as it was the first commercially produced, full-scale (twenty-five inch) electric guitar ever produced.[1] It was the first artist signature model having been named after Ken Roberts, a friend of (Ro-Pat-In President) George Beauchamp. In addition, the instrument was the first electric guitar to provide a stock appointed tremolo arm; designed & patented by Doc Kauffman. The Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts holds the current world record for the highest price paid for a guitar, after selling in 2017 for $7.5 million. [2][3]
Quick Facts Rickenbacker Electro Instrument company electric Spanish Ken Roberts Model, Manufacturer ...
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Dan Orkin, Director of Content with Reverb.com stated in 2017: "What makes this guitar special is that it is what most people consider the first modern electric guitar. There's a lot of debate about which was truly the first one of course. This was the popular guitar music of the time. Electric guitars like this, the Spanish style, really took off with jazz and a lot of the big band music of the time. You had the Vib-Rola system, designed by Doc Kauffman, who went on to collaborate with Leo Fender, and a body produced by Harmony, which was another big instrument manufacturer of the time. So this guitar was a really unique piece of guitar history. Only around 50 of these guitars were produced, and six or seven are known to exist today."[7]
In 2014, a popular vintage instrument boutique in New York City's Brooklyn neighborhood, RetroFret Vintage Rare & Unusual Fretted Instruments, composed a historical evaluation on a surviving Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts guitar. RetroFret stated: "Rickenbacker were the undisputed pioneers in the commercialization of the electric guitar, and the early Ken Roberts electric Spanish model is one of the most important, if relatively unknown, of their early creations. Although mostly forgotten by history, the Ken Roberts represents a fascinating and important step in the evolution of the modern electric guitar."[8]
Historian and author Rich Maloof stated in his 2017 article titled "Who Really Invented the Electric Guitar" featured on Reverb.com: "With less than 50 built, the Ken Roberts guitar was, in many ways, the first modern electric Spanish–style guitar ever produced."[9]