The electric guitar hasn't been around that long. It is only 70 years old, but it had gone through many changes during it's first 20 or so years. The first electric guitar was manufactured by Adolph Rickenbacker in the 1930s. The original electric guitars had pick-ups that used tungsten. Pickups convert the vibration from the plucked guitar string into electrical current, which is fed into an amplifier that produces the sound.

Early guitar bodies were semi-hollow and were mainly acoustic (do not have pickups) which had a small hole in the body for the sound to flow through. They were used extensively during the Big Band era between 1930 and 1940 and the electric guitar was gaining in popularity. However, the problem with an acoustic guitar in a big band was that the brass section and drums were so loud that the guitar was inaudible. That is when the amplified, electric guitar became popular among the guitarists. The guitar's sound could now cut through and be heard.

As the semi-hollow electric continue to reign in the big bands, the solid body electric guitar began to gain traction in popularity also. The solid-body electric created by Les Paul, in 1941 was simple in design. He created a body that is made from the 4” by 4” solid block of pine which he then had inserted between the sawed halves of the guitar body that he’d just dismembered. He then carefully re-joined the neck to the pine log, using some metal brackets. He then attached some pickups that he designed on it. Gibson would later manufacture a cleaned-up version of Les Paul's design, with his endorsement and it would become one of Gibson's best selling model. It is the number one selling solid-body guitar.

During that time, Leo Fender was creating his version of a solid body guitar as well. The Fender Telecaster, which was somewhat box shaped was a very a popular model, popularized by various country music musicians and singers. A few years later,  Fender's Stratocaster would hit the market. Fender had found a niche in the market where he altered the shape of the solid body itself. He modified the area around the neck of the instrument that will allow access for guitarist to play the higher notes on the frets. Also the body was contoured to fit around the guitarists body and soften the top of the guitar where the arm that picks the strings rests. Compared to Gibson's Les Paul model, the weight of the Stratocaster is much lighter which made the guitar actually "comfortable" to play while either sitting or standing. The Stratocaster is the second best selling solid-body electric guitar.

The electric guitar hasn't changed much since Fender and Gibson had pretty much perfected the instrument. But there are other manufactures who manufacturer their solid body guitars that has their own tone, sound, electronic components and quality. Some of the manufacturers are Paul Reed Smith (PRS), Ibanez, Carvin, and Peavy.