Guitarra Baiana

One of the very first solid body electrics was invented in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil back in 1942.

Osmar Macêdo and Adolfo Nascimento were two musicians from Bahia. They played steel string acoustics with soundhole magnetic pickups. They had seen Benedito Chaves, who used to perform as "Bendito Chaves and his Electric Guitar" and Adolfo, or "Dôdô", as he was known, decided to wind his own pickups. Dôdô and Osmar played on parties with this setup, but they had problems with feedback at high volumes (of course). Osmar noted that if the soundhole was closed there would be less feedback, and decided to make a solid body instrument. He took a piece of wood, put a screw at each end, put a pickup and a single string wound on the two screws. He cranked the volume and... there was no feedback! The first actual instrument was a piece of wood with a "cavaquinho" (instrument like a ukelele) neck. It was nicknamed the "pau elétrico" or "electric stick".

The instrument still exists and is in playing condition, as you see on the above photo. Not only it was a solidbody electric but it was headless, and that was 1942! Altough it had a cavaquinho neck it was not tuned like a cavaquinho (DBGD) but as mandolin (EADG). Dôdô and Osmar decided not to use double strings like in a mandolin because they liked to bend the strings and that was easier with single strings. Unfortunately, they didn't patent it.

Some years later (1950) Osmar powered their amplifiers from a car battery and they went to the streets, playing frevo (an uptempo brazilian dance music that was usually played by a big band) on top of a Ford 29. This was on Carnaval, and many people followed them. This was the birth of the "Trio Elétrico" or Electric Trio (because there were two electric guitars and a singer).

Some years later (70's), the "electric stick" evolved to a Strat shape and was renamed "guitarra baiana".

Here's a sample of him playing the frevo on a guitarra baiana.

Dôdô died in 1978 and Osmar died in 1997.