Les Paul was more than a Guitar
A Young Les Paul
Les Paul, born Lester William Polsfuss passed away August 13th, 2009 at the age of 94. The modern music world has lost one of, if not the most creative and influential inventors and musicians of our time. I say our time, but his music and inventions covered many generations of music lovers and musicians. I don’t know if he was more of an inventor that played music or a musician that invented things. He definitely had an impact with both.
Young up-start does it his way
At the age of eight in 1923 Les Paul learned to play the harmonica. After a brief stint with the Banjo he soon turned his attention to the guitar. Not being satisfied playing one instrument at a time he devised a holder for the harmonica that hung around his neck that allowed him to play it while accompany himself while playing the guitar. The harmonica holder is still manufactured today using his design. Invention number one.
Professional musician at the age of 13
At the age of 13, Les was performing semi-professionally as a country-music singer, guitarist and harmonica player. At the age of 17, Paul played with Rube Tronson’s Texas Cowboys, and soon after he dropped out of high school to join Wolverton’s Radio Band in St. Louis, MO on KMOX.
This was a big one
1957 Gibson Les Paul
Unhappy with the acoustic guitars available in the mid 1930’s, Les decided to do something about it, so at his home in Mahwah, New Jersey he started experimenting with his version of an electric guitar. His design included a common piece of 4 x 4 lumber, guitar neck, bridge and pick-up. He attached the semi-hollow body of an Epiphone guitar sawn in half with the 4 X 4 in the middle so it would resemble somewhat of a guitar. With the 4 X 4 in the middle he solved two problems, feedback and sustain. The feedback was eliminated because the acoustic body no longer resonated with the amplified sound, and sustain was created because the energy of the strings were not dissipated through the guitar body. By 1939 Paul had invented his version of the electric guitar known as “The Log”. It is considered to be one of the first electric guitars. Invention number two.
The birth of the Gibson Les Paul Standard
1961 Gibson SG
Rickenbacker marketed a solid body guitar in the 30’s and Fender created one in the late 40’s. Although Les Paul had approached the Gibson guitar company with his electric guitar design, they did not become interested until Fender produced theirs. In the early 50’s Gibson produced a guitar per Paul’s design suggestions and when they presented it to him to try, he was so impressed with it he signed a deal for the first Gibson Les Paul guitar.
A rock legend is born
The original Gibson Les Paul called “The Standard” was gold on top and Paul agreed not to be photographed playing anything else. In 1961 with sales slumping Gibson redesigned the Les Paul without Paul’s knowledge. It was thinner and had cutaways on the top and bottom. The first time Paul saw the guitar was in a music store window, and he didn’t like it. He asked Gibson to take his name off the headstock because it was not “his” guitar. Gibson complied and the Gibson SG was born. The SG stood for “solid guitar”.
Recording doubletime
In 1948, Capitol Records released a recording of a song titled “Lover (When you’re near me)” that was recorded in Paul’s garage, which featured Les playing eight different parts on electric guitar, some of them recorded at half-speed, so they were twice as fast when played back at normal speed on the master. This was the first time muti-tracking was used on a recording. Invention number three. These recordings were made with acetate disks. Paul would record a track onto a disk, then record himself playing another part with the first. He built the multi-track recording with overlaid tracks, parallel tracking would be used later. He would later work with Ross Snyder in designing the first 8 track recording deck, which Ampex built for his home studio.
Advanced recording technology
Ampex 200 Reel to Reel
Ampex created the Ampex Model 200, the world’s first commercially produced reel-to-reel audio tape recorder. Paul saw the value in this technology for creating overdubbing, reverb and echo. Using this machine, Paul placed an additional playback head, located before the conventional Erase-Record-Playback heads. This allowed Paul to play along with a previously recorded track, both of which were mixed together on to a new track. Invention number four. This was a mono tape recorder with just one track across the entire width of quarter-inch tape so the recording was ‘destructive’ in the sense that the original recording was erased and replaced with the new recording. Les Paul’s need for multiple non-destructive tracks was obvious and his re-invention of the Ampex 200 inspired Ampex to develop two-track and three-track recorders. These machines were used in professional recording, radio and television studios in the 1950’s and early 1960’s.
Les Paul and Mary Ford
Les Paul and Mary Ford are a hit
In the early 50’s Les Paul recorded many songs with his wife, Mary Ford, who sang. Their hit songs included “How High the Moon“, “Bye Bye Blues“, “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise“, and “Vaya Con Dios“. These songs featured Mary harmonizing with herself using Paul’s innovative recording equipment. In December 1962 Les Paul and Mary Ford (born Iris Colleen Summers) divorced, as she could no longer cope with the traveling lifestyle their act required of them. In the late 1960’s, Paul went into semi-retirement, although he did return to the studio occasionally. Paul was the godfather of rock guitarist Steve Miller of the Steve Miller Band, to whom Paul gave his first guitar lesson.
Les Paul
Back in the saddle
In the late 1980’s, Les Paul returned to performing live. In 2006, at the age of 90, Paul won two Grammys for his album Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played. He also loved to perform every Monday night at the Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway in New York City. He performed with guitarist Lou Pallo, bassist Nicki Parrott and pianist John Colianni, He continued to perform right up to his death.
Les Paul’s contribution to rock music is invaluable. Even though he didn’t perform rock music, his guitars were used by many legendary rock guitarists, the likes of, Jimi Page (Led Zeppelin), Jeff Beck (The Yardbirds), Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Slash (Guns n Roses) and Zack Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne), just to name a few. And his recording innovations and techniques have been and are still used today by recording studios, engineers and musicians all over the world.
Thank you Les Paul, all world legendary musician and inventor. You will be missed.
Check out the documentary on Les called “Les Paul, Chasing Sound“
5 Responses to “Les Paul was more than a Guitar”
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To learn how to play the guitar, this is the stuff you need to know. thanks for that.
Hi,
You have a Great Blog, I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep it up.
Jenny
Only thing that put me off is how the fretboard and headstock are heavier than the body itself, sometimes making it awkward to hold. It’s something small in the overall experience however.
I bought this guitar as a Christmas present to myself, and I’m very pleased with it. I use a Digitech SP50 modeling pedal and this guitar works perfectly with it. It’s solid but not a backbreaker like other Les Paul models, but still delivers a great consistent quality sound. I have no trouble keeping it in tune, though I did put new Super Slinky strings on it as soon as I got it. I play in a church worship band every Tuesday and Friday and this guitar has turned a lot of heads both in the band and the audience. Many people have noted it’s great sound and sleek looks. I’m 100% satisfied. Great job Epiphone!
I highly recommend the guitar to anyone learning, heck, even those who have been playing for a while!