The Most famous Les Paul of the 80's era was Slash's Les paul, Which was a copy of a Gibson Les Paul, which Gibson then went on to copy and market as the Slash Les Paul....Play authentic
@@andymullarx6365 In 1986 a gentleman named Kris Derrig made the Les Paul copy that Slash's manager brought to him back then, for the Appetite For Destruction recording session. Is still the Slash's favorite Les Paul that he still use today for the studio recording (Guns n' Roses, Slash's Snakepit, Velvet Revolver, Slash & Myles Kennedy and The Cospirators). Once this was the main guitar that he used to the live shows, but now he play the Derrig Les Paul only in a safe enviorment and for the recording sessions. You can see the Derrig Les Paul in the Live At The Ritz of New York (February 2, 1988), the best GnR concert of all time (in my opinion).
A friend from Jr. high school came by one day in the early 80’s with a Les Paul Custom Black Beauty with three pickups and the tuners that has flip out winders built in. He wanted to trade me for my red Kramer Pacer series, one H pickup w/standard fender style trem. The Les Pauls case had to cost more than my Kramer with 3/4 size neck plate. I was reluctant to do it so he threw in the Patterson 24” racing cruiser he rode up on. So we shook on it and he walked away with the Kramer and crappy case they threw in when I bought it. By then I could squeak out the solo to stairway to heaven and with the Gibson i sounded identical to Jimmy Page in my mind. (It was probably a Tele he played on the track) I started envisioning myself as Jimmy Page instead of EVH. (There we’re already three kids at Ridgemont that dressed like Eddie, anyways) I fell in love with that guitar. Just looking at it in that plush case it was like the Holy Grail. At Guitar Showcase they had never even seen the flip out tuners before. (As I play the beginning of stairway to heaven in the store) Believe it or not I was more jazzed about the bicycle. Life was grand! Then a few weeks later I hear a knock at my door. I knew exactly who it was and my heart sank. I look through the peep hole not making a sound. And what do you know, it’s my school friend with my Kramer case in hand and he’s balling his eyes out with his mom waiting in the car. I thought about switching schools and going in hiding BUT I considered him my friend so I opened the door. He’s obviously been crying because snot was hangin from his nose and his eyes were bloodshot. I asked what was the matter? He said his mom flipped out when she found out about our trade. She paid big money for that Les Paul for his b-day. The band he was in, all older guys, pointed out all the shortcomings of my $299 Kramer and that the Les Paul cost as much as a car. (She had asked them what guitar to get him and that was the best guitar in the store) My friend was like the coolest kid in my class and to see him bawling like that I knew he was in a lot of pain, so I reluctantly traded the guitars back. He let me keep the bike saying he was sorry. He was happy with the trade but everyone was making him get that Gibson back and that’s why he was crying. I’m 54 now and I still have that Kramer. I also have a LP black beauty and a LP Classic 1960 and about seven Strats, an Esquire and a real 58’ a Les Paul Jr. Marshall & Fender amps, etc. etc. I think about that Les Paul every once in a while but I don’t regret opening the door that day. I still consider him my friend and I’d like to think he still thinks of me as his friend. He better.
Wow you REALLY ARE A FRIEND!! Great story. An awesome that you still have the Kramer. Cool guitar in it's own right.. Myself I have an epi les Paul custom silver burst. With the new/Kalamazoo headstock and finally ebony fretboard. A great fiddle but no Gibson.
Wow. Great story! Glad I rewatched this video for the information and quality narrative just to see this comment. We are the same age, so I can relate! You’re a good man that grew from that great kid! BTW; you should be in your buddy’s will!😬👍
It almost parallels with the foolhardiness exhibited by Capital Records between the time when the Beatles were first getting stoked to come to the United States and roughly 20 years later when the label resisted signing or promoting Tina Turner. People wanted the Beatles, and people wanted Tina Turner, but Capital Records feigned deafness.
Recommended viewing: Les Paul Chasing Sound, a PBS documentary from the American Masters series. It goes into final detail about how Les Paul hit upon the concept of multitrack recording, both before Ampex started building magnetic tape machines and after Les got his first Ampex. Wouldn’t mind knowing which innovation has proved more historically fruitful, multitrack recording or the solid body electric guitar.
@@leelaurence4850 Did I even mention gibson? I was talking about Les Paul. Dude did a lot aside from having his name on a Gibson. Also, I think you're vastly in the minority on that stance. Merry Christmas tho
Les Paul invented multi-track by wiring 4 tape decks together. He also invented the first tape echo by placing several playback heads in series on a tape recorder (basically the echo plex). Also a lot of people don't know Bing Crosby started the recording industry back in the days of live radio. He saw the future of radio was in recordings not live. He invested a lot of money in a company called Ampex. The rest is history.
@@TjSi there's lots of badly made Les Paul's out there. Badly filed nuts, bad glue joints, wrong neck angles, inconsistent finishes, terrible fret crowning, terrible fret leveling, terrible fret polishing, horrible set ups from the factory, cracks etc. The list goes on and on. You name it, and Gibson has repeatedly fucked it up over and over again. Especially over the last couple decades.
@@TjSi They're so not the same in construction. 50's LP's had single piece bodies, long tenon joints, hide glue, light ABR1 bridges on posts that went into the wood, lightweight aluminum tailpieces. The traditionals have 2 piece bodies, short tenon, titebond, ABR bridges that sit on metal nashville studs (kills sustain) and heavy zamac hardware.
@stephentherarabear This guy gets it. I thank God every day that I've got an R9 which perfectly meets my needs, and my quest is over. I don't care what dye it's got.
@@youme112233 nah bro it happens. We recently changed our lunch dates so I forget my kit all the time... only issue is I'm lefty so I have to play Hendrix style. Nightmare
I finally looked up some of Les Paul's music with the sped up parts an octave higher. It's definitely different than anything else from that time. I'm sure Les was ecstatic when he figured that all out. Imagine being the first to pioneer a sound that makes you stand out from literally everyone else. Not only a sound but an entire recording and production process. He was an innovator, that's for sure.
Les Paul said that he invented the four track recorder, The Beatles showed him how to use it. Check out the two albums with Chet Atkins and Les Paul: "Chester and Lester" and "Guitar Monsters".
Great video! Great piece of research! I really appreciate the way you do your videos. Congrats, and please keep them coming! I am a happy subscriber to yoyr channel, always looking forward to the next videos to come because I learn a lot from them. Regards from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!
@@fivewattworld poor research, you missed where they got the idea for the shape and look of the guitar. an inventor came to gibson in 1941 and presented a solid body guitar that looks very similar to the les paul.
@@fivewattworld And we appreciate it, mate. Been a subscriber myself for quite awhile and I like to re-watch these (strat, tele and Lester) every once in a while. Cheers from Lisbon
@@olecranonrebellion9976 Yeah, "volute sucks" - Olecranon and I just love taking our broken headstocks down to the local guitar tech, thinking he'll just glue it back together that afternoon, after he does a couple of setups... 🙄
The Super-400CES at 6:24 used to be mine, the shot taken on my sofa ..... It belonged to a pro player in Britain, who bought it the US, already re-finished (by the looks of it a factory refinish) but with all the original parts. Now it's with a collector in France.
Gibson didn't create the original concept of the les Paul solid body guitar it was Les Paul in the Epiphone facility in New York and long before Gibson and McCarty..its all on line so you can't lie about anymore
I love Les Pauls. This is a great teaching on the history of this great guitar. My 2 favorite electric guitars are the Les Paul and the Fender telecaster. Both guitars tones are unique and can be picked out in any mix!! But there is just something fabulous about the Les Paul. Thank you for another great informative video
Les Paul was so far ahead of his time in many ways. The “log” he built in the early 30’s had stacked coils that were reverse wind and polarity making them the first stacked humbucker. His 54 Custom that was the prototype for the LP Custom had a cavity he routed between the P90s with dummy coils for each pickup and a cover to hide them.
That bobbin bit got a chuckle out of me. Just proves that guitarist will reach beyond the realm of reality to explain why another guitarist sounds better instead of just practicing lol. “He’s not a better player, he has better bobbins!”
Yes I remember seeing him show up at the NAMM show they would have in New York every year, This was back in the 80s and someone asked him if synthesizers would be a threat to the electric guitar and he immediately said No, ,,,,,, and he was right, RIP Les Paul
I just purchased a Gibson Les Paul Classic (Translucent Cherry). I don’t know how to play guitars if my life depended on it, but I’ve always wanted one since I was little and I’m determined to learn how to play this guitar. I’m so happy I was able to afford this guitar and one item on my bucket list is complete.
I just got my first Gibson Les Paul Classic, after 20 yrs playing Epiphone. The quality and the sound of Gibson is stunning. This video also shares so much information that is priceless.
I worked in Kalamazoo last year & stopped by Heritage Guitars, tho I was too late that day for the tour. Nice folks. I kind of felt sad that Gibson had left K'zoo...a lot of history there.
That operation is no longer similar to the Gibson operation. Heritage was bought by another group and the production was shifted to a different site and modernized - a bunch of the original employees were either fired or walked out. wwmt.com/news/local/14-heritage-guitar-workers-off-the-job-as-company-heads-in-new-direction The youtube video of the modernized production makes it look like any other guitar factory (my opinion), but I'm sure as with many things, modernization of production brings costs down. Not so great for nostalgia and wondering if your guitar is being made the same way as don felder's burst.
He also told Gibson, they should buy up Epiphone, “ they are good folks.” As les said .he never forgot what epiphone did for him. Also the first run of les Paul’s were epiphones with the name scrubbed off!
When Gibson does something right, nowadays, it is only because they are forced to by the excellent craftsmanship that was produced in the past, a legacy created by past owners and craftsmen that took pride in what they did, which forces their hand to try to replicate those standards, not by CEOs worried about stock options. And I want to make clear, it has nothing to do with their workers, it has to do with management and chasing profit for stockholders. If Gibson was a new company, they wouldn't be judged by their past and I think they would just produce a lot mediocre at best product. I have seen product come out of Gibson not too many years ago so shocking that even the cheapest Chinese company wouldn't have let leave their factory. Gibson seems to be getting better, but I think that Gibson still gets by mostly by leaning on their name and they charge ridiculous prices considering the advancements in production methods that should bring costs way down. If you want to figure this out, just figure out what a '59 cost back in the day, adjust for inflation, and then adjust for cost saving production methods and raw materials and you can come closer to what the real price should be. (So I just saw in this vid, that adjusted for inflation, the price would be $2200. But you have to figure it is cheaper to build now because of CNC machines, etc. Gibson now is charging triple that on their better guitars that would be comparable.) My guess is that too much of the cost of the product is going to shareholders and people at the top. These guys always want to whine about competing with overseas salaries as an excuse to further try to cut salaries and extract more profit. The greed never ends and the company and workers are negatively impacted. Think of what kind of amazing instruments Gibson could produce with the happiness and better productivity of workers, and charge less due to advancement in production methods, if all the profit went to necessary management and the workers.
The history of Gibson is so fascinating. Ups and downs as demand surges and wanes and new management comes in to either go back to its roots or cut costs. There never seems to be an in between period. Either they are doing great or cutting costs and their guitars suffer.
They lost me with the move to Nashville which was for no reason but to remove employees from having any collective bargaining power ie: The South, where I lived and worked my whole life, is full of "Right to Work" states, which is a euphemism for "Employees have no rights, security, or hope to make a living wage" Typical Republican double talk. I may be a hillbilly, but I'm a militant Democratic Socialist hillbilly and there's no middle class because of the bad faith actions of "patriotic conservatives" who are really greedy sociopaths who do the bidding of the corporate donors/masters and forsake their constituents , many of who are dumb enough to puppet their bosses propaganda and denounce unions and socialists when they no nothing about either. But I digress,....
Les Paul, Leo Fender, Bob Moog and Dave Smith are deserving of Mt. Rushmore status. Probably a few others too, but those four... No brainer! Thanks Keith!
the image of Mike Bloomfield playing a white tele @ 21:49 is an eerie image of things to come, the string from his strap drapes over the upper bout of the guitar to resemble a double cut away . Which is what happened when he sold the Tele to a left handed friend of his ,who ended up cutting his own cut away which ruined the guitar..
You could do an entire episode on the Lover P.A.F. Pickup. A fascinating subject. I don’t know exactly how or why but there have been hundreds, maybe thousands of contemporary pickup manufacturers who’ve attempted to capture the magic of the originals but none have been able to.
Les Pauls -The custom, the standard, the traditional, the jr, the studio, the bells, the whistles, the wank. Fender - A Strat is a Strat you know what your getting.
@@croweater6814 not really. Did they figure by now that 2-screw bridge shouldn't be premium feature? Or saddles without sharp screws sticking out? Or spring cover with big convenient hole, instead of stupid 6 tiny holes? Or proper tremolo arm with retainable spring? And don't get me started on retarded wiring which basically makes bridge pickup unusable. Yeah, all that shit can be fixed by modding or buying high-end models (which cost even more than LP Standard) but don't make idol of Fender. I'd say that all players should try both LP and Strat and then pick what is not best, but what fits their playstyle. Or just have both, which is option I took myself.
@@croweater6814 not really. a les paul is also a les paul. the others aren't as much variations on the les paul as they are different models. when you say 'les paul', the average person will assume 'les paul standard', unless said person is a scumbag Fender purist like yourself.
@@LfunkeyA _Fender purist_ I'm not a Fender purist, I just recognise the fact that Les Pauls attach far more wank to their range than fender. A strat is a strat. A cheap Strat is a cheap Strat an expensive strat is an expensive strat, but they are both strats. The LP range is far more convoluted and never as clear cut.
Just want to say this channel is quickly becoming the coolest guitar channel on the Web! Seriously, this was a great short history of one of the greatest guitar designs ever. Les Paul guitars have always held a special place in my guitar journey. My first was a '55 Les Paul Junior sunburst, that I one day gave away to a friend. Now that I am downsizing, I sure miss that guitar. C'est la vie! Your videos are setting a new bar of excellence for the guitar channels on YT. Thank you for your efforts,
Joe' s in a bad spot. Do you think anyone could have thought that those guitars would be selling for 500k? That stolen guitar has probably passed through a few owners over the years. Is the guy gonna just gibe the guitar back to EC? Who's gonna compensate the current owner?
The current owner knew it was stolen when he acquired it so not much sympathy there. Still, he could work something out with Clapton while Clapton is still alive where Clapton could pay to reacquire it for the remainder of his life and set up a legitimate purchase after his passing. Clapton would get his guitar back for the remainder of his life and the bloke would own it legitimately. As it is yeah...the guy owns a known Clapton guitar but can't really tell anyone about it and when it surfaces again (as it will some day) it will still be a stolen guitar and the property of Eric's estate. As an aside it seems ironic that the person who desires it because of his supposed deep respect and admiration for Clapton doesn't respect and admire him enough to do the decent thing and return stolen property that is deeply meaningful to him.
@@nunyabidness117 Who's to say it's the real one anyways? There have been a lot of Beano LPs oit there. But knowing the nerd thinks it's the beano one. It probably is.
I grew up in Milwaukee and remember hearing of Les Paul's passing (I was 12 at the time). My dad took my friend and I to his visitation at Discovery World, attached to the Les Paul exhibit. Wisconsin has got some great musicians and inventors but he by far eclipses the great many of them.
The Les Paul is a love-hate thing for me: I love the look, i love the scale length, radius and general playability, I love the control layout....I hate the ergonomics and limited adjustability of the tune-o-matic and neck. *Super* legit video as usual!
? neck is adjustable with trussrod. tune-o-matic is one of the most adjustable and easy to use bridges around. sure you can't raise saddles separately, but what's the point when you would want them radiused either way.
@@LfunkeyAfor me thr strat type bridge is superior in every way from ergonomics to dual function as a vibrato and ease of adjustment. And you can adjust the neck angle of a bolt neck far more easily should the need arise...or just replacement in general. That's what I was referring to
@@sonsauvage the vibrato is fun but sloppy, it's pointless to adjust saddle height individually unless you have some super specific play style. the need to adjust a neck or replace it hardly ever arises. yes, a gibson head stock can break if you're negligent, but that can be fixed. i think fenders are just as flawed if not more than gibsons. it's all about feel in terms of what you love. i love an LP because of the mellow tone and nice neck/scale feel.
This is getting predictable, I see a post from Five Watt world and I immediately press like. Great work, keep them coming. The effort you put into these videos is appreciated. Great bite sized histories that are incredibly informative and easily accessible.
Watched your stories of Tele, Strat, and now Les Paul in that order. Such an amazing series and best digestible summary I've ever come across on this subject. So much mystery and fog for many years has been cleared from these three essential videos! Much thanks from Fine Grit Music!
McCarty's story is the true story. Les had next to nothing to do with the design of the original Les Paul. The story is best told in Tony Bacon's book: "50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul: Half a Century of the Greatest Electric Guitars."
When I was 19 (1979) I had a guitar teacher who said I needed a "real guitar" he arranged for me to buy a 1969 les paul sunburst guitar for $400 with the understanding that it would soon need a fret job. It was VERY heavy and it had a thick 3 piece maple top. the body and neck were mahogany. I showed it to a friend who was a real good player and he said I would need to replace the bridge pickup or have it fixed. My rig was a silver faced fender deluxe and an original tube screamer. Unfortunately I was stupid and some guy talked me into trading the les paul for an ibanez jazz guitar (oooops) since I have become a luthier I made a Les Paul out of Warmoth parts that has a chambered body a real maple top with a decent flame and a bolt on gibson style neck with a gibson profile headstock. I kick myself for trading the real gibson but I love my warmoth.
www.owappleton.com/ " In 1943 Appleton took his guitar to Gibson, to see if they had an interest in manufacturing the model. They told him that they couldn't imagine someone playing a solid-body electric guitar. App attempted to patent his instrument, but as a musician from the small town of Burlington, Iowa, he didn't have access to a patent attorney. He sent letters and money to folks who advertised themselves as patent attorneys in the back of Popular Mechanics Magazine, but they merely took his cash. During World War II, as manufacturers dedicated their factories to the war effort, all guitar production ceased. Appleton stopped pursuing a patent. Almost ten years later, in 1952, Appleton received a letter from a friend at Gibson. The letter read, "Well, App, you see our competition (editor's note: that would be Fender) has finally forced us to come out with your solid guitar. Sure wish we had listened to you back in 1943." Included with the letter was a brochure for the new Gibson Les Paul Model. In frustration, App threw the letter out. "
I have an Epiphone SG plays as smooth as silk and sounds even better I also have an Epiphone Les Paul PRO series also smooth as silk and the sound is awesome But a bit heavy I love them both.
Wow. I’m exhausted and satisfied. Gimme a cigarette. ☺️ This is the first time I’ve heard the trapezoid inlays referred to as crown inlays. But there you are…the sides really are concave, and have the rough silhouette of a crown. The earlier ones seem to come to a very ssharp point; more recent trapezoid inlays seem to have a slight radius at the tips.
Just so people know, book matching has been used in luthier for centuries, Gibson didn't invent it. Infact Gibson didn't really invent much they just played hard ball business a lot.
Cool videos! I got hooked on them about a week ago upon my most recent auction win. Yup, it's story time once again. My older brother, a 'nam era Marine, got to where he couldn't TCB any more. So the state got a lawyer and his outfit to sell his house and 5 acres of land. And, as you may've guessed, everything in it. Well, I was to find that there hadn't been any heat or power in that house for Lord knows how many years? A tragedy in the case of some relics of true heirloom status to be sure. As I was looking through the auction site's pages of the estate's lot numbers with their related pics and all-too-brief descriptions ( that's the way it's done these days), I stumbled across a very familiar memory! That red Les Paul that had belonged to a fella from the Bronx, NYC that my older brother had brought home one day in Elyria, OH. One Marty Fillmore, a street kid himself, who became part of our family in the late 1960's. With rosewood fret board, natural colored binding and white pic guard/pickup frames, with clear gold speed knobs. I remembered first watching him play the guitar in our backyard in 1969, when I was 13 years old. A square-jawed fella with dark hair and tall broad shouldered build. He played rock-n-roll on that thing that sounded like it just had to come from that style of Gibson! Flash forward to about 3 weeks ago now. I was to find, after paying $200 for it, that it was a Davison Les Paul, a cheapo made out of Alder and capped with the familiar book-matched flame maple archtop of the original Gibson's. Oh well, at least it has some great memories attached to it. It was grody, with an unknown number of years of dried funk on it, and the metal covers on the old soap bar pickups looked like rusty car bumpers from back then. I removed the strings that weren't broken. Then tried to use Nevr-Dull to clean the metal pickup covers to no effect whatsoever. Damn, now what I thought to myself? I broke out the small pump spray bottle of Gibson guitar cleaner/polish and sprayed it all over the top of the guitar. That stuff cleaned off every bit of crud like Windex on a dirty window! So I repeated that all over the guitar, finding it to look like brand new at that point! I need to restring it and give it a try when I get my sons to bring my Fender Rock Pro 1000 half stack downstairs into the man cave. That day will be a good day!...
Hello Keith. Long time musician. Started in the 70s. Started playing in the 80s professionally. I really enjoyed this and your other videos. Although I worked in guitar stores for 10 years and I am a bona fide gear junkie, I did not realize many of the things that you pointed out here. I would like to ask you if you have ever thought about doing one of these on an acoustic guitar? Something like the Martin dreadnoughts that came out before the war, Gibson J 45 or J 200? Maybe the Mossman line of guitars? Thanks and keep up the good work
Your research, articulation, and expertise accuracy....etc. IS TOP DRAWER... I am going to make a video about the vintage/value and many changes trying to focus on the why....since I am a Fender guy, mostly, I so much appreciate your many superb videos....to help with the exhaustive research...including learning your perspective on Ted, who is one of those I have great respect for... YOU ROCK in all the good ways.. Sincerely Michael Wilson, Stratford ON, Canada
I would love to try one . Back in the late 80's , the music shop I used to visit in my teens had a model called a Sweet 16 (I think) - they kept it in a glass case next to a NOS Gibson The Paul Deluxe . I don't think anyone under 40 was allowed to breathe on them lol 😊
I purchased a new one a few months ago and I am really happy with my purchase. Tuning is perfect, great tone and well built. Funnily enough, much cheaper than a standard in Australia.
For the record: The pancake bodies started in late '69 and ran through the middle of '76. I actually preferred the maple necks with the volutes -- if you ever drop it, the headstock won't break and they don't affect the tone. Nice video. It's amazing that for over 40 years now, Gibson has tried to re-create a single guitar from the late 50s and has failed miserably.
shred5 the volume isn’t the only thing changed; they changed the angle of the headstock from 17 degrees to 14 on those voluted guitars and people do swear this has an impact on tone.
Strats sound so great. So much better than a LP... That's why Fender and others put HB pick ups in their guitars. Never seen an LP with 3 single coil pick ups before lol.
Oh yeah, I got to play one of the Beano Les Paul replicas at CME in Chicago about 6 years ago. $8995. I’m telling ya, it sounded pretty average, good. I said I couldn’t believe the price, but in the back of my mind I knew I would have bought it if I could lol!
Rock is a style or gender, not a tone. A good rock guitar player, like Phil X, Jack White, could rock the hell out of a Tele, or a Gretsch or like EddieVan Halen, a Srat. There's so many different rock tones. @Thomas Grey
Arguably, without Les Paul, rock music and music in general would not be anything like we have ever seen, or are seeing now. This man singlehandedly changed music. His guitars, his recording techniaues, the man even created the looping machine.
Absolutely! You're so right. I grew up in the 70's and 80's and all throughout the late 70's and throughout the 80's I never saw anyone playing an LP other than my older sisters old Boston and Led Zeppelin albums. LP's in 80's was the "old band" guitar type. And you're right, not until Slash did you see an LP in a rock n roll band for over a decade!
@@JR-to8sn The Allman Brothers guitarists never gave up on Les Pauls. But I remember when I was 18 and most guitarists in local bands (including myself) wanted a Les Paul. And then Valen Halen I came out...
@@jsphillip60 Exactly my point, the age of the super strat until roughly 78-89, then GNR and grunge hit and you saw more standard strats, modded teleys, PRS etc.
38 minutes on the Les Paul without ever mentioning Gary Moore. Is this a record? His guitar was mentioned at least twice, but never his name (and no photograph either). Mysterious.
Keith, this fifth edition of your tutorial is truly a musicians dream. As with theory, charts, written music and just great information, you gotta love this stuff. Your’s, as well as Mr. Beato’s stuff is something to keep on file and make my music better. I’ve commented before, so I think you know where you stand on my gurus list. Thank you, Peace , Rocky.
finally someone gives the internet some purpose! thanks for this! waiting on your channel to upload the history of gibson SG and fender pro reverb (my setup!) cheers
Great video !!! I can remember in the late 80's when all you saw on MTV was Strat style guitars with floyd roses . I believe it was the "Sweet Child of Mine" video where Slash plugs his cable into he Les Paul and starts one of the most famous rock lick , intros of all time . Slash went left when everyone went right . His look at the time was crazy cool . Top hat , Aviator glasses , cigg in mouth , t-shirt with sleeves rolled up like the 50's greasers, leather pants, with a Gibson Les Paul FUCKIN A !!! It's so crazy how Gibson never really took advantage of recreating the 1958-1960 Les Paul's till recently . I have a 2012 Gibson LP traditional and it is horrendous compared to my 2016 R9 . See , the way I see it a guitar is played but a HUMAN !!! And a computer making the thing is not going to say "This feels like crap " LOL . The factory line at Gibson has be pretty crappy for a long time . I did buy a 2019 Flying V and matching Explorer and I have to say , Gibson might have listened . No reason a $1600 -$2500 should feel worst than a Epiphone which sadly is made in China .
I have a '78 Standard with an orange to red to black sunburst that covers most of the guitar. The back of the neck, even the top of the headstock is burst. Growing up in a musical family in Michigan, it was my 1989 Christmas gift at 16 years old. Apparently the previous owner worked for Gibson and we THINK was responsible for the amazing burst. It's still my main player to this day.
Gibson and Fender have rested on their Laurels far to long...The Far East have been out making them on Guitars for years now........give me an IBANEZ any day....got a Washburn (South Korea) a few months ago £360.00 brilliant guitar and not £3600.00......PLAY THE GUITAR NOT THE NAME..........
tulljack How about the simple fact that Gibson is a soulless corporation out of touch with their own audience to the point where they literally can’t make a normal high-demand guitar without near-pointless additions that only hinder its tone and accessibility, meanwhile Les is a dedicated musician who designed Gibson’s most famous model for them that they’ve gone on to butcher in recent years
@@wspann1967 I believe that you miss read the comment I was referring to. Brian Cullin said Les, Gibson have always been full of their own shiite. He was criticizing both Les Paul and Gibson. Also he used the phrase "always have been" thus not referring to the present only.
I just purchased a 1981 Gibson The "Paul" firebrand because of your guitar history series. You mentionned the "SG" model in The Gibson SG: a short history video and it made me curious about that line. I made some research and it made me wanna own one. Thank you!
Very well done. A nice delivery and packed with information. I have discovered over years it seems a fair part of the picture, but Keith, you put so much more into it and then put a bow on it. Impressive! I am a fan.
They did have the Bigsby-Travis (or Bigsby-Travis-Grohs? www.vintageguitar.com/1807/bigsby-merle-travis-electric-guitar/ ) guitar and other Bigsby solid-bodies to learn from, as well as some more obscure early things like the Rickenbacher Electric Spanish ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hafGI5B6aC4.html and the Tutmarc bass ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aF6usTMwicM.html .
A more credible theory about the TV name is that a lot of TVs used that same color for their casing (it was a popular color for furniture at the time, so a lot of TV cabinets were painted to match this).
Gibson used GM paint names for their guitars. TV= Buick's Transparent Venetian. The Sherwin Williams paint code for Venetian Yellow is SW-1666, roughly coequal to GM's 246-5819. "Translucent" denotes a 50% mixture of clear nitrocellulose laquer.
Hi you haven't mentioned the "Recording" model which was what LP actually played live on stage. It had totally different pickups and phase control switches. My cousin had one. It was bliss to play.
What a wonderful documentary about Gibson’s history. I watched it while looking at my new Les Paul “Unburst.” I’ve had it less than two weeks, and I’m already falling in love with it! Thank you. Very informative.
The first year of the 'New Les Paul', they sold something like 6,000 guitars each year for the first 3-4 years or something. Thats right. The SG sold 6k in a year for multiple years vs 1500 in 3 years for the Burst. That's insane.
The right answer from Gibson to Tele/Esquire success would have been - coming up with LP Junior and Special in 1951,52.. instead they went extra mile with carved top, glued top on hog body... to prevent easy copying of their design. Much later they reinvented the wheel - with those simple slab bodies LPs with wraptail bridge. And they rule to this day 🤘
So Joe Bonamassa knows where Eric Clapton's stolen "Beano" Les Paul is? I wouldn't be surprised if it was in Norm's warehouse of Norman's Rare Guitars. That's where Joe got that '58 Flying V of his. Speaking of which, do you think you could do videos on the Flying V and Explorer?
Yes , makes you wonder. Maybe he's trying to make the guy who has it nervous, something to hold over his head. It seems strange he would claim to know where it is then play Clapton songs in shows. I think he should do the right thing & get it back for Clapton, even if it's ananymously. Anyone would want their stolen guitar back including Joe
I remember buying my 76' 'deluxe' from Guitar Trader in redbank nj in 1980 for $450. It was the cheapest LP in the store. A shop that held the best used LP collection (from 50's 60's 70's) in the tri-state area @ the time. It was obviously not original, having been routed for SD super distortion humbuckers, which everyone was putting in their guitars. I originally had my eye on an 1971 black custom for about $550, but my buddy pursuaded me towards the Deluxe. A mistake in retrospect, but i remember a new LP in 1980 was well over 1K. Guitar trader would only allow you to demo a guitar thru 'headphones'...no amp room! so really hard to evaluate the tone & responce. Anyways my best guitar tone comes from latest Lp purchase, a 2014 R8 VOS (that listed for ridiculous $4600). I bought it for $2450 from a private local collector, because the dye bleeds into the binding. It quacks like a Tele, very versatile tones and has that infinite smoking sustain that only LP's can produce. thanks Five Watt World!
Gibson Les Paul History |Tony Bacon | I interviewed Ted McCarty in 1992 at his office in Kalamazoo, Michigan, just a short distance from the original site where Ted made his mark as the boss of Gibson from 1948 to 1966. I talked to Ted for The Gibson Les Paul Book, my first book about those great instruments, and so Les Pauls were the focus of our conversation. Was Les Paul’s only contribution to the design the long tailpiece? That’s the only one. He’s said that he designed more than that. What? What does he claim he did? In one interview he said he designed everything but the carved top. [Laughs.] Well, actually, I have told you exactly how it got to be a Les Paul. We spent a year designing that guitar, and he never saw it until I took it to Pennsylvania. So why would he say that? I don’t know. But what is there, outside of the carved top, and the shape, to the design? I suppose the combination of the maple and the mahogany is important to the design. The sandwich? He never saw it, I’m sure he didn’t know it for years. . Anyway, there’s more to the story of Les and Mary. You’re talking about the Les Paul? Oh, absolutely. So I got to thinking, you know, at that time Les Paul and Mary Ford were riding very high. They were probably the number one vocal team in the United States. They were earning a million dollars a year. And knowing Les and Mary, I decided maybe I ought to show this guitar to them. They were at a hunting lodge, borrowed from a friend of theirs, in Delaware Water Gap, which is up in the mountains in Pennsylvania. Carol, who was Mary’s sister, had an almost identical voice. They could sing a duet, with one of them off-stage-they did this frequently-and it sounded like Mary was singing a duet with herself. Their bass player was Wally Kamin, and Wally was Carol’s husband-so the four of them were a group. They were all together in this lodge up in the mountains. I had been talking to Les by phone, and I talked to Phil Braunstein, his financial manager, a New York accountant. So I made a date with Phil, flew into New York, had breakfast, got in his car, and I had this guitar with me. They came here many times. We became very good friends. My wife and Mary were very good friends. At the end of the fourth year of our contract, Phil Braunstein called me. They were still making big money. He said, Ted, let’s extend the contract-we won’t wait for the end of the fifth year. So, what we did was to extend the contract after the fourth year, and the same things were in there, the same contract, but the date is extended. How far was it extended? Another five years. And along sometime during that next period, probably, oh, eight years after we got started, Les and Mary started to get a divorce. And Les… well, you know him. This was around 1960, maybe. So he didn’t want money, didn’t want it tied up with the divorce, and we didn’t want the contract any more. So we dropped his name on the guitars. In the meantime, we had the Les Paul Custom, the Les Paul Junior, we had about four or five models. These instruments, each and every one of them, carried this one-dollar royalty for him, and we were making thousands of them. So we continued to make the same guitars, and we just called them SGs instead of Les Pauls. We didn’t put the Les Paul name on ‘em-we called them SGs, meaning Solid Guitar. Now, when we first brought out the Les Paul and Les started to use it, he was very valuable in those days. He was on television, he was playing in Vegas, very much in the public eye, him and Mary, and it was a fine thing as far as we were concerned, and Les and I became personal friends. They would stay at my house (my daughter was at high school), we socialised-good friends. I was a little upset with Les, of course, when they did this sort of thing. We kind of drifted apart for a little while. And he got really down as far as popularity. It was the worst thing that ever happened to him in his life, I guess. Mary was the epitome of the girl next door. She didn’t have a great voice, an operatic voice or anything of that sort, but she had a very pleasant voice, and she was a very attractive woman, a very nice person, and she was thought of as the girl next door. And of course they had a lot of gold records. They’d come out with a new song and it would be a hit.
