“British musicians were enthralled by anything black and from Chicago. “You can't deny the influence of Chicago blues and Chicago-built guitars on contemporary rock," says Ivankovich. More important, the ready availability of these guitars led to their prevalence in blues, country, early rock 'n' roll, and the British Invasion. Some of their instruments were of dubious quality, often dismissed as “dime store guitars," but others were-and are-excellent. Due to the low cost and wide distribution of their instruments, they produced far more guitars than Gibson or Fender. Those companies and others headquartered in Chicago shared and swapped parts and designs and sold to the same distributors. When the guys in England heard and saw these blues guys with their crazy guitars and outfits, they were copying every piece." -Daniel Ivankovich, Chicago musician/guitar collector “National, Supro, Harmony, Kay, Silvertone-they were all made here by the hundreds of thousands." “From the 1930s through the early '60s, Chicago was the world capital of guitar making," says Daniel Ivankovich, AKA Chicago Slim, guitarist for the Chicago Blues All-Stars, orthopedic surgeon, and medical director of the OnePatient Global Health Initiative. (for many decades America's largest retailer), Montgomery Ward, Spiegel, and others were founded there, and that these retailers played a critical role in the creation and distribution of guitars, amplifiers, and other musical instruments.
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It's no accident that catalog and retail giants Sears, Roebuck & Co. Lawrence Seaway, and later the rails and highways-made the city a major manufacturing, commercial, and distribution center. Chicago's centrality-with access to the Mississippi River, the St.
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Chicago built guitars the way Detroit built cars.įor much of the 20 th century, the United States was largely rural and people tended to buy guitars and other musical instruments from catalogs.