Hello and welcome to legends number 31 this legend is a legend in more ways than one . He is a legend because of his musical virtuosity but also because of his technical virtuosity when it comes to pioneering new ideas etc . This man im talking about is Les Paul .




Submitted By Lowden

Everyone wants one, and old Gold Top preferably, but does anyone think about the real Les Paul?

Les Paul is the reason we have music............sounds unbelieveable? but its true.

You all thinks guitars, but that's only a small part of the man who is probably the greatest ever 'musician' who ever lived.


Les Paul was born Lester William Polfus in Wisconsin in 1916 and started playing music at the age 0f 9, did his first semi-pro gig at 13. But during the war, in 1941, this guy who was interested in music and electronics started to develop a solid body guitar, using some 4 by 2 and a door hinge as a bridge, but by 1948 had a solid guitar built to amazing specifications for it's time.

He had approached Gibson with his design pre 1948 but they felt demand and production costs were not viable for it's manufacture. They saw sense in 1952 with the relaease of the first Gibson Les Paul, which I believe is in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Museum.

Pre the release of The Gibson Les Paul he had established himself as the top guitarist of his generation and had 2 no.1's in 1952 with his wife 'Mary Flood', 'How High The Moon' and 'Voya Con Dias' .

The Les Paul Trio also had hits like 'Tennesse Waltz' and 'Mockin' Bird Hill'.

He started experimenting with recording techniques in 1948 and by 1953 had devoloped 'The Sync Head' for multi-track tape machines. This invention allowed over-dubbing which has become the mainstay of the modern recording industry. Pre this invention a band had to play live into a few mics direct to a tape machine - you could record as much as you wanted but if someone made a mistake then it's back to the start. Les Pauls invention meant that each instrument could be recorded seperately and 'blended' or 'mixed' to create the full sound, thus opening the door for modern recording techniques.

In 1977 Les Paul was awarded a Grammy for his album with Chet Atkins called Chester and Lester', which you all should buy (even if you're not a old timer ) This album is two geniouses at work and might not appeal to all (i.e. you detuned distorted axegrinders) but remember without this guy your so-called guitar Gods would be pissing against the wind.

In 1988 Les Paul was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, basically about 30 years too late.

So next time you oogle a Gibson worth a few grand remember Les Paul lived completely for music and it's development, not only to create a guitar that will continue to endure the test of time. Since his first Les Paul in 1952 there have been very few modifications to his design, the bridge has changed slightly and Humbuckers became the norm, but the basic design of construction has remained unchanged.


Les Paul, without him, we would be playing into cones and recording on wax and looking like dumbasses with single coil aluminium sticks as guitars.


Zak

I still can't get over his over-dubbing effects. The first time I heard him I thought he was playing a guitar under water. I also heard that when he was recording in the basement of his house, he'd get his wife to come down and sing in some of the recordings.

Seeing him live (and getting an autograph ) a couple of weeks ago was a godly experience. This is a well-deserved legends post.

very good read well done once again

what'a f.... I didn't even know that Les Paul was a guitarist. I thought it was just a guitar. Didn't know it was named after a humanbeing! Damn! Well, it all comes to me someday.

you are a pro

One of a kind.

Not only is it named after a human being, he designed it. His initial guitar was coined "The Log".
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/paul/index.asp
His first prototype consisted of a railroad tie to which he attached an Epiphone guitar neck that he nicknamed “The Log.” Paul approached Gibson Guitars in the 1940s with his ideas for a solid body electric guitar, but the company expressed little interest in Paul’s design until the early 1950s, when Gibson approached Paul to help launch their prototype. The Les Paul Model Gibson guitar debuted in 1952.

He is the inventor of the electric guitar. Many people mistakenly attribute the invention to Leo Fender. Leo Fender was the person that was key in getting the electric guitar to the public almost 10 years earlier.... because Gibson stalled, Fender got the acclaim.

The ES (electric spanish) guitars like the ES335 came before the solid body. It basically spawned from Les Paul trying to put on a show w/ "The Log" but the audience booed him offstage. They didn't want to listen to some contraption said to be a guitar. Les Paul then put "wings" on it and it was the birth of the Electric Spanish guitar. To this day, the ES maintains the original concept of a solid block from head to tail w/ hollow wings thus the term semi-hollow.

In a big way, Gibson wouldn't be where it is today w/ out Les Paul.

The Les Paul model is my favorite model so I ended up owning 5 of them and I have my eye on a Supreme within the next year or so.

Hi ~

Let's get some facts straight here... k?

Les Paul didn't invent the electric guitar. Several companies had them back in the 1930's including Gibson and Rickenbacker.

Les Paul didn't invent the LES PAUL either.
The Gibson LES PAUL guitar was designed (invented) by Theodore McCarty (then President of Gibson). Les Paul was brought in as a consultant.
I suppose Leo Fender and Paul Bigsby were there ahead of that too.

Les Paul didn't use stock Gibson LES PAUL guitars, either. He used the bodies, and installed his own hand-wound low impedance pickups on them. If you are listening to Les Paul's music, you are not hearing Humbuckers or P-90's.

Thank you,

Louie Seven

HEY... not trying to knock good 'ole Les Paul.... he's tops in my book. Just need to clarify a bit. Plenty of urban myths surrounding that geezer (most of them created by the man his own self *hehehe*

I heard Gibson only pulled back Les Paul when Fender's Tele (then Broadcaster) proved to be a big solid body hit