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As long as an aural record of our time exists, the soundtrack of the second half of the twentieth century will forever be associated with the sound of the electric guitar. Exploding forth from Chuck Berry's first recording sessions at Chess Studios, Rock and Roll music signaled the ascendency of American popular culture, as it rolled like a juggernaut across the globe (and beyond).
Previous to World War II, the technical problems associated with amplification relegated the guitar to a supporting role in high volume ensembles. When tinkerers like Les Paul and Paul Bigsby made the refinements that enabled unrestricted amplification, the electric guitar was able to overpower all other claimants to the throne of loud, delivering the raw power of the pipe organ or mass orchestra into the hands of Everyman (and, lately, Everywoman). With a mass-produced guitar, easily obtainable amplification, a rudimentary musical knowledge and minimal hand-eye coordination, Joe Pimply Teenager is instantly transformed into Thor, God of Thunder. If you've ever plugged in, you know what an incredible rush it is to create a screaming, piledriving wall of sound with that wood and metal artifact, a just about perfect combination of art and science.
In a bow to popular culture, and in acknowledgment of the pervasive effect of a handful of American technological innovators on global culture, the Brahmins of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC, are presenting an exhibit at the Museum of American History entitled "From Frying Pan to Flying V: The Rise of the Electric Guitar". The bulk of the exhibition is a selection from the personal collection of the deep-pocketed Scott Chinery, of Tom's River, New Jersey, supplemented by about a dozen instruments, presumably from the pharonic storerooms of the "Nation's Attic".
Starting down on the ground floor, there are two wall mounted glass cabinets (right across from Archie and Edith's chairs) with a few instruments. Of particular interest is a Fender Stratocaster with serial number 0100, thought to be the first Strat produced for retail sale. Around the corner in another cabinet is a unique instrument, "The Log" , built by Les Paul from a 4" by 4" (with the sides from another guitar bolted on to make it look like a guitar) to test his theory that you could get good amplification by ignoring top vibration and amplifying string vibration only.
The bulk of the exhibit is up a couple of floors. Outside the main hall is a case holding five guitars, including a spectacular double-necked harp guitar built by Joseph Bohmann, circa 1910. The main part of the exhibit is displayed inside a room with a worn woodplanked floor, large windows at one end, and a stage with some old pianos at the other. Glass cases lining the other two sides of the room display the cream of the Chinery Collection'. There are both unique and mass produced instruments here, with a few acoustic guitars thrown in. Most of the instruments are not here because of who played them (you know, the Hard Rock Cafe thing), but rather because they are beautiful and/or significant instruments.
There are instruments of unsurpassed beauty here, if you like this sort of thing (of course, if you don't, are they merely gaudy objects of curiosity?) Some highlights - An archtop, carved personally by Orville Gibson in 1898 to prove that an arched top would produce a louder sound; it sits next to a C.F. Martin steel string from 1852 - An instrument described as the "Holy Grail" of guitar collectors, the Teardrop New Yorker, built by legendary luthier John D'Angelico in 1957/58 - One of the lesser grail, a mint 1956 Gretsch White Penguin; fewer than 100 were produced. The oddball of the show was one guitar from a set of three made by Semie Moseley in 1967 for the Strawberry Alarm Clock. I had never seen it before, and it was a real eye-opener - Ornate, lime green, with outriggers - an artifact that still appears to have fallen out from a time warp to the future.
Of course, as valuable (and appreciating!) collector's pieces, these wonderful instruments aren't being used for what they were intended - playing music. But they are being saved for future generations, who will at least get a look at some of the more representative objects produced by our loud, chaotic, individualistic, technologically headstrong culture. Will Rock and Roll (or any music played on organic/analog instruments, for that matter) still be a populist art form at that time? That question, or any other, won't be answered by this bare-bones exhibition. There is little organization or central thrust here, it's mostly just some shiny objects stuck in glass cases in a dusty room. It isn't worth a trip to Washington, but it's worth a look if you're in the neighborhood.
The exhibit will run through 30 Sept. 1997.