jmh151
Active member
Re: Why are Les Paul DC's so overlooked?
From what I read, Les Paul came up with the idea of a solid body electric guitar, and the idea was a neck through body with semi hollow side body wings attached. He went to Gibson several times, his ideas were rejected. Ted McCarty designed the Les Paul solidbody for Les Paul. They wanted Les Paul's name on it since he was on television quite a bit (in the beginning of television) with Mary Ford, and wanted him to play the guitar on television. Gibson went to Les Paul witha ferw prototypes and he just signed off on it. He had little to do with the design of the Les Paul, other than it being a solid body electric with pickups. There was also reportedly a fallout between Les Paul and Gibson for years since they refused to listen to his designs. His favorite Les Paul has been the Les Paul recording model, which he had more of a hand in designing, and is always seen playing.
The Les Paul Custom Black Beauty was designed cosmetically to match the tuxedo's he's wear on Black and White TV. The original Gold Top paint, found on the models up until '58, was very expensive and only used on the top of the guitars, not the back and sides due to its cost. The Sunbursts were actually cheaper to produce
From what I read, Les Paul came up with the idea of a solid body electric guitar, and the idea was a neck through body with semi hollow side body wings attached. He went to Gibson several times, his ideas were rejected. Ted McCarty designed the Les Paul solidbody for Les Paul. They wanted Les Paul's name on it since he was on television quite a bit (in the beginning of television) with Mary Ford, and wanted him to play the guitar on television. Gibson went to Les Paul witha ferw prototypes and he just signed off on it. He had little to do with the design of the Les Paul, other than it being a solid body electric with pickups. There was also reportedly a fallout between Les Paul and Gibson for years since they refused to listen to his designs. His favorite Les Paul has been the Les Paul recording model, which he had more of a hand in designing, and is always seen playing.
The Les Paul Custom Black Beauty was designed cosmetically to match the tuxedo's he's wear on Black and White TV. The original Gold Top paint, found on the models up until '58, was very expensive and only used on the top of the guitars, not the back and sides due to its cost. The Sunbursts were actually cheaper to produce