[DoctorBeaver]

Indeed, so it's rather strange that in nearly every photo of him he's playing Gibson Les Paul.

[dentstudent]

how do you rate Billy Sheehan as a bassist? He seems to have gained a lot from Mr Vai.

[Starman]

The first 6 string electric guitar "solid body"
Wasn't Less Paul,, though close
George F and Leo of Fender beat em to the punch!
It was a tele for the most part,, square head stock, and only I single coil pickup
in the lead position.... Prototype started in 1939, delivered 1940
they changed to which is now the same headstock , before production
In 1941, using the name broadcaster,, they were forced to change the
Name to the Telecaster,,, adding a lipstick pickup in neck position,, at this time in
Late 1941 , the less Paul was revieled

[Starman]

But... back to the original question.

No-one really knows who invented the electric guitar. Adolf Rickenbacker was the self-proclaimed "Father of the electric guitar", but there are others who also lay claim to having invented it.

George Beauchamp was a guitarist who played Hawaiian music. He is said to have made the first electric guitar on his dining room table.

Lloyd Loar, who worked for Gibson, developed a pickup as early as 1923. This type of pickup was used on the first commercially advertised electric guitar which was made by Stromberg-Voisinet in 1929. In 1933 Loar himself began marketing electric guitars under the Vivi-Tone label.

Les Paul began experimenting with electrical amplification of guitars in 1929.

Rickenbacker made the first commercially viable electric guitar. The company was founded by George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker. This guitar was an electro-Hawaiian guitar that resembled a banjo with its round body (it was named The Frying Pan). The pickup, made by Beauchamp, consisted of 2 U magnets placed together to form an oval with the strings running through the middle. The coil was placed under the strings.

[Starman]

It was George Fullerton , and Leo Fender,,,