Electric Guitar patent 1949

Hollow body Electric Guitar Patent 2,468,374 April 26 1949. 
This patent by William Nelson for the Vega company was designed to address the concerns people had about adding controls and wiring to the body of an acoustic guitar, thus changing - detracting- from the sound.  The controls would be placed in the tailpiece, leaving the body untouched. 
It never caught on, turns out people just bought separate guitars for each purpose.