The 1940s were the beginning of Sears, Roebuck & Company's decades-long association with electric guitars.  The late 30s had seen plenty of 'Hawaiian' lap steel instruments and amps to go with, but 1941 marked the first year you could get a strummable, pickable electric six-string in the Sears catalog. The selections were limited, the technology primitive, the styling a little klunky, but the seeds were sown.

From these humble beginnings, Sears became the company to go to for inexpensive, easy to play, easy to pay electric guitars.