Paul Adelburt Bigsby (1899–1968)[1][2] was an American inventor, designer, and pioneer of the solid body electric guitar.
Paul built an early steel guitar for Southern California steel guitarist Earl "Joaquin" Murphy of Spade Cooley's band, as well as Jack Rivers, and then built a solid body electric guitar conceptualized by Merle Travis which would possess comparable level of sustain as a steel guitar.
Bigsby also made a doubleneck model for Nashville guitarist Grady Martin and an amplified mandolin for Texas Playboy Tiny Moore.
Bigsby also built a pedal steel guitar for Speedy West that West used on many of Tennessee Ernie Ford's early recordings as well as records by Travis, Red Ingle, Jean Shepard, Johnny Horton, Ferlin Husky and Merrill Moore.
The vibrato tailpiece unit, however, was what made Bigsby's reputation, as it was used by Gibson, Gretsch and other guitar companies.