By CLAYTON PARK

Paul Tutmarc Sr. never had a hit record and didn't even like rock 'n roll.

Nevertheless, visitors to the new Experience Music Project museum, Paul Allen's multi-million dollar tribute to rock music, will find an exhibit about the late Tutmarc Sr., who died in 1972 at the age of 76.

It's no mistake. If it hadn't been for this Seattle musician, the world might never have heard of Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain or Pearl Jam.

That's because, in 1931, Tutmarc, with the help of friend Art Stimson, invented what some believe was the first-ever electric guitar - a feat accomplished in the basement of Tutmarc's North Seattle home (8217 8th Ave. NE).

Tutmarc's son, Paul "Bud" Tutmarc Jr., said his father wanted a way to make acoustic guitars louder so they wouldn't be drowned out when playing in big bands.

Unfortunately for Tutmarc Sr., his application to patent his invention was rejected because Ma Bell, the phone company, patented the telephone receiver technology which served as the basis for his guitar pickup.

While the debate rages on as to whether Tutmarc Sr. and Stimson were truly first - several others also claimed to have invented the electric guitar around the same time period - Tutmarc Sr. went on to invent what music historians now acknowledge was the world's first electric bass in 1935.

Tutmarc Jr., who learned to play guitar at the age of six, recalls performing with his dad as early as age nine. One memorable gig was in the early '30s, when he and his dad played at the grand opening of Fiddler's Inn, a Wedgwood tavern started by Walter Haines, a musician himself who used to play in a big band with Tutmarc Sr.

Tutmarc Jr. was recently invited to attend a special VIP event at the Experience Music Project.

Tutmarc Jr., who was a young child when his father invented the electric guitar, was thrilled to see a life-size photo of his father on display, along with one of his father's first electric basses. "They've also got a thing where you can go on the computer and read the different stories about my dad as well as one about my mother, who they think might have been the first electric bass player in the world," Tutmarc Jr. said.

For Tutmarc Jr., seeing his father honored as the inventor of the electric bass was a moment of vindication after decades of frustration hearing people bestow that honor on Leo Fender, who didn't introduce his electric bass until 1951.

While Fender went on to fame and fortune, Tutmarc Sr. never achieved commercial success with his inventions.

Tutmarc Jr. guesses his father sold only 100 each of his electric guitars and electric basses during his lifetime - mainly to his students.

Tutmarc Jr., who came out with his own line of electric basses called The Serenader in the '40s, switched careers in 1948 to become a full-time Realtor, at the urging of his mother. For many years he ran Tutmarc Realty at 6814 Greenwood Ave. N. until his retirement in 1993.

Today, Tutmarc Realty is run by Tutmarc Jr.'s son, Gregory, who moved the business to Kirkland in 1994.

Until just recently, Tutmarc Jr., who lives near Sand Point, continued to perform music as a Hawaiian steel guitarist. He has more than 30 albums to his credit, mostly of gospel music. He was also the longtime music director at Calvary Temple, a church in the Roosevelt neighborhood.

Building a better mousetrap, or in Tutmarc Sr.'s case, the first electric guitar and electric bass, didn't result in the world beating a path to his door, but that didn't bother him much, says Tutmarc Jr.

Tutmarc Jr.'s wife, Opal, described her father-in-law as a "happy go-lucky guy" who loved to entertain, and once sang to movie star Jean Harlow. He also loved to tinker with new inventions.

Retired Outlook publisher Stan Stapp remembers Tutmarc Sr. as a good friend of his older brother, Milton, who was also an inventor. Milton Stapp showed Tutmarc Sr. how to grind his own telescope lenses, Stan noted. Tutmarc Sr. later put that skill to good use when he invented the "world's largest binoculars" (a pair of lenses six inches in diameter) and built an observatory on the back of his house!

Tutmarc Sr. said this of his greatest accomplishment in an interview shortly before his death in 1972: "A lot of fathers and mothers probably would like to kill me" for inventing the electric guitar. "Then again, if it hadn't been me, it would have been somebody else!"