What parts of the Les Paul did Les Paul design?
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eclecticsynergy
Well-known member
I believe it's widely recognized that the original trapeze wrap bridge was Les' idea.
Also the goldtop finish, and the black/gold "tuxedo" look on the Customs.
I think the stud-mounted wrap bridge was Ted McCarty's improved design but I'm not positive of that.
I don't think the control layout was Les' idea either - same arrangement was already in use on hollowbody electrics.
Also, the guitars that Les played himself mostly had different, more complex control setups.
Pretty sure he only posed with the stock guitars for Gibson promotional photos.
I don't think I ever asked him about it. But of all the times I saw him play, I don't think I ever saw him use a stock guitar.
Les wasn't shy about claiming credit whenever he could.
Of course, mostly it was well-deserved. But he didn't suffer from an excess of humility either.
One thing to remember: he rose in the music business during the 30s and 40s. In that era if you wanted to get ahead, you not only had to work hard and be ambitious, but you also had to be an aggressive self-promoter. I think that approach probably established itself early on, and of course it worked for him. IMO his later success, with fame as a musician, inventor & tech wizard, served to reinforce it further. And the attitude persisted into his later years - by which time, to be fair, his memories from the time of the first LP model were decades old.
Also the goldtop finish, and the black/gold "tuxedo" look on the Customs.
I think the stud-mounted wrap bridge was Ted McCarty's improved design but I'm not positive of that.
I don't think the control layout was Les' idea either - same arrangement was already in use on hollowbody electrics.
Also, the guitars that Les played himself mostly had different, more complex control setups.
Pretty sure he only posed with the stock guitars for Gibson promotional photos.
I don't think I ever asked him about it. But of all the times I saw him play, I don't think I ever saw him use a stock guitar.
Les wasn't shy about claiming credit whenever he could.
Of course, mostly it was well-deserved. But he didn't suffer from an excess of humility either.
One thing to remember: he rose in the music business during the 30s and 40s. In that era if you wanted to get ahead, you not only had to work hard and be ambitious, but you also had to be an aggressive self-promoter. I think that approach probably established itself early on, and of course it worked for him. IMO his later success, with fame as a musician, inventor & tech wizard, served to reinforce it further. And the attitude persisted into his later years - by which time, to be fair, his memories from the time of the first LP model were decades old.
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Ashurbanipal
Well-known member
^^ The Log was something Les put together in 1939-40 at the Epiphone shop, as he was friends with the owner. He approached Gibson around 1941 but they weren't interested.
The LP itself was an in-house job, for the most part, from what I've read, based on some initial designs drawing on their acoustic archtops. One of these was called the Ranger, a solid-body non-cutaway guitar with a single P90. Not long after that, they added a florentine cutaway à la ES140 - there's less than a handful of these still floating around.
Other guitars which came about before that probably had some influence, though nobody from Gibson has confirmed this, not that they would now either. The Bigsby Travis guitar from 1948, with its single, florentine cutaway body, probably also had an influence. There's also the story of O. W. Appleton, a player who built his own single cut solid body guitar in 1941 and supposedly approached Gibson with it in 1943, but they blew him off. Gibson only became interested when Fender started making waves with their new solidbody guitar.
Regarding the guitars Les himself used, they were pretty much all modified. If you look at old pics of him and Mary Ford from the 50s, all the guitars have been hacked up in various ways, different pups, Kauffmann vibrolas etc. Certainly, with the first ones which had the factory wrap-under tailpiece, he corrected them with a separate bridge and tailpiece which allowed for palm muting. Example:
The LP itself was an in-house job, for the most part, from what I've read, based on some initial designs drawing on their acoustic archtops. One of these was called the Ranger, a solid-body non-cutaway guitar with a single P90. Not long after that, they added a florentine cutaway à la ES140 - there's less than a handful of these still floating around.
Other guitars which came about before that probably had some influence, though nobody from Gibson has confirmed this, not that they would now either. The Bigsby Travis guitar from 1948, with its single, florentine cutaway body, probably also had an influence. There's also the story of O. W. Appleton, a player who built his own single cut solid body guitar in 1941 and supposedly approached Gibson with it in 1943, but they blew him off. Gibson only became interested when Fender started making waves with their new solidbody guitar.
Regarding the guitars Les himself used, they were pretty much all modified. If you look at old pics of him and Mary Ford from the 50s, all the guitars have been hacked up in various ways, different pups, Kauffmann vibrolas etc. Certainly, with the first ones which had the factory wrap-under tailpiece, he corrected them with a separate bridge and tailpiece which allowed for palm muting. Example:
Les Paul did virtually nothing in the LP's design stage. The very first LP prototypes were a friggin sunburst after all. Oh, and Bigsby's singlecut was clearly an inspiration to Ted McCarty and Leo Fender. As if Ted took the bottom and Leo the top.
I wrote a huge piece about the early LP's on THIS FRIGGIN COMPANY'S BLOG a decade ago but it's all gone. All my work, thrown in the garbage like a piece of moldy bread.
I wrote a huge piece about the early LP's on THIS FRIGGIN COMPANY'S BLOG a decade ago but it's all gone. All my work, thrown in the garbage like a piece of moldy bread.
Me too, man.
GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
The fact that this guy has crossed his pinky and ring finger while fretting that open G is kinda tripping me out.
To put it mildly: a few higherups didn't find it valuable enough to keep stashed on a server somewhere. Instead, now, we get 'how to solder 1010101010101' ad nauseum.
Mincer: those were the days, man. When I was young, full of dreams and enthousiasm. :fest7:
Ashurbanipal
Well-known member
Yes, haha, I also did a double take the first time I saw that photo.
Hope you kept some of that stuff. There might be another company that would value it.
NegativeEase
New member
Les Paul designed the Mojo of course!
beaubrummels
Well-known member
Of the current Les Pauls designs, Les Paul didn't design any of it, except his signature on the headstock, and perhaps inspired the concept of an all solid-body electric guitar.
The first Les Paul, he designed a wrap-around trapeze bridge, which he patented, and which Gibson implemented upside down, where the strings wrapped under the bridge, and of course was a failure which wasn't ever repeated on models after that first year.
The first Les Paul, he designed a wrap-around trapeze bridge, which he patented, and which Gibson implemented upside down, where the strings wrapped under the bridge, and of course was a failure which wasn't ever repeated on models after that first year.
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