Les Paul Guitars - What Makes Them Special?
Executive summary about Les Paul Guitar by Ricky Sharples
les paul electric guitar
The Gibson Les Paul guitar was conceived at the very beginning of electric guitar history and has held its place at the forefront of guitar technology ever since.
The moving force behind the financial and artistic success of the Les Paul guitar was the desire of the Gibson Guitar Corporation to market a solid body model electric guitar under the name of an established guitarist.
The strings on a Les Paul guitar are mounted “hollow body style” on top of the guitar instead of passing through the body as is common with other brands of solid body guitars.
As we should expect from a guitar endorsed by the man whose own guitar design was nicknamed “the log”, Les Paul guitars are also heavier and thicker than other solid body guitars.
The Gibson Guitar Corporation has made many models under the Les Paul brand. Between 1969 and 1979 Gibson even marketed a range of Les Paul bass guitars. The Gibson Les Paul guitars have also been imitated by other companies such as Ibanez and Tokai.
Les Paul and the Les Paul Guitar
Executive summary about Les Paul Guitar by Mike Furlong
Les Paul is the legendary guitarist responsible for the Les Paul guitar. The electric guitars of the 1930s were usually acoustic arch-top guitars fitted with pickups.
Les Paul invented a solid body guitar called “The Log” which was just a 4×4 fence post with a bridge, pickup, and guitar neck attached.
Career
Les Paul was also a noted jazz guitarist. And as his fame grew he recorded with a number of popular artists. He also recorded solo efforts.
Electronics Innovator
Les Paul was also an early innovator in recording technology. He designed equipment to allow multi-track recording.
The Les Paul Guitar
In the early fifties the Gibson Guitar Corporation designed a solid body electric guitar using Les Paul’s ideas and suggestions. This guitar was the Les Paul. The Gibson Les Paul features strings and bridge mountings on top of the guitar, as opposed to the through-the-guitar design of many Fender guitars. The original Les Pauls had two single coil pickups. The Les Paul guitar is very thick and hence is very heavy.
The Future
The Les Paul will be a world-class guitar for years-to-come.
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Tags: epiphone les paul guitar, gibson les paul guitar, les paul electric guitar, les paul guitar
