
The electric guitar and its Basel origins
In the early 20th century, Karl Schneider and Adolph Rickenbacker turned a conventional string instrument into an electric super device for hard sounds and the big stage.
Bob Dylan playing electric guitar was not to everyone’s taste... YouTube
Texan guitarist George Beauchamp is known as the inventor of the electric guitar. He happened across a high volume guitar suited to a big band. Using a pick-up, he converted the vibrations of the steel strings into alternating voltage, so the sound could be turned up using an amplifier. That sowed the seed, which developed into the electric guitar.



Starting out as a violin maker
Schneider successfully completed his apprenticeship in 1923 and continued working for Meinel until the violin maker died in 1928. Meinel’s son-in-law, music retailer Hugo Schmitz, took over the business at Steinenvorstadt and expanded the violin maker’s workshop into a shop for musical instruments Musikhaus Meinel. Schneider remained as the sole instrument maker in the business.

Towards the end of the 1930s, an American guitarist in Basel was looking for help repairing his defective electric guitar. He found it in Musikhaus Meinel. When working on the guitar, Karl Schneider was able to examine the instrument from the US, probably a Gibson ES-155. Shortly afterwards, the first Grando electric guitars, which bore certain similarities to the American Gibson models on close inspection, appeared in the music store’s display window. These Grando models from Basel were the first commercial electric guitars in Europe.

Karl Schneider kept refining his models, made technical improvements and aimed for high quality in his products. His jazz guitars all came with a steel rod in the neck to counter the tension of the steel strings and prevent any bending of the neck.

The spread of popular music in Europe during the post-war years contributed to the flourishing electric guitar business. A wave of new musical influences from the US, such as Hawaiian music and country and western songs reached Europe. In Basel, a number of jazz and Hawaiian bands emerged and found success performing in clubs and at public events with their sonorous electric guitar sounds. One example was the Hula-Hawaiians, a successful band that also performed with guitars and ukuleles from Riehen. Famous jazz musicians, such as Django Reinhardt also played Rio electric guitars on occasion.

The Minstrels also swore by Karl Schneider’s instruments. YouTube
After Karl Schneider transferred ownership of the business to his daughter and son-in-law, he returned to violin-making until his death in 1998. This time, however, on a smaller scale in a workshop in his house.
