“Even though the NMM’s permanent galleries are still in the process of development, we simply could not wait any longer to let everyone into our beautiful new facility,” Arian Sheets, NMM’s curator of stringed instruments, said. “Temporary exhibits in the new Groves Gallery will allow us to enhance our public programming and share more of our collections and enlightening stories.”

“NMM Goes Electric” showcases a variety of electric stringed instruments from the NMM’s permanent collections, including many that have never previously been highlighted. The exhibition explores the following eight main themes.

  • “Early Days” peers into the past with some of the earliest electric stringed instruments brought to market in the 1930s, some of which have pivotal roles in the development of their types.
  • “Going Low” focuses on electric basses, which posed their own challenges for electrification.
  • “The Classics” will illuminate some of the NMM’s most celebrated vintage electric guitars.
  • “Eddie Peabody and the Banjoline” spotlights one of the most fascinating and successful virtuoso banjo players and the electric instruments he created with major American manufacturers.
  • “Electric Guitars Behind the Iron Curtain” uncovers the little-known history of the Jolana company of Czechoslovakia that produced electric guitars during the communist period.
  • “The Electric Guitar Heads to East Asia” examines the gradual migration of electric guitar manufacturing eastward, from early manufacturing in post-war Japan, to a Vietnamese guitar made for an American serviceman, to Fender’s Japanese division, and then to China, with a beautifully sleek, hardwood electric ukulele.
  • “The Independents” shines light on the work of smaller American companies, some defunct, and others thriving.
  • “Digital Revolution” explores the use of computers with guitars, as MIDI technology challenges the definition of a musical instrument.

“Visitors can expect this galvanizing exhibition to illuminate both the fusion of electricity with acoustic musical instruments, as well as the introduction of powerful and dynamic new forms favored both by celebrities and their fans,” said Margaret Banks, Ph.D., NMM senior curator and associate director.

In addition to the temporary exhibition, the NMM museum store and NMM Live! concert series will also be in full swing this fall. More information can be found on the NMM Facebook page or online at nmmusd.org.

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