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LES PAUL – (JUNE 9, 1915 – AUGUST 12, 2009) – TIMH

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Whoa Nellie's picture
June 9, 2016 at 7:48am
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This American musician and inventor was integral to the development of the sound of rock and roll. The Gibson Les Paul model solid body electric guitar was and is the preferred instrument of rockers like Jimmy Page, Slash, Ace Frehley, Duane Allman, Joe Perry, and many others.

Les Paul was born to a German American family in Waukesha, WI, on June 9, 1915. His original name was Lester William Polsfuss, later shortened by the family to Polfuss, and changed to stage name Les Paul when he began playing in jazz clubs. Les became interested in music at age 7, when he saw and built his first crystal radio set. A year later, he was given a harmonica, at which he became adept. In short order, Les learned to play guitar, and invented a holder for the harmonica that allowed him to play both instruments at the same time. By 12, Les was playing on the streets for tips. He joined the Joe Wolverton Band at 13. Over his career, Les played big band music and jazz. His guitar idol was Django Reinhardt. Les also played country, using the names Red Hot Red, Rhubarb Red and the Waukesha Wizard. After moving to NYC in 1939, Les landed his first big break with Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians. In the late 40s and early 50s, Les and his wife, Mary Ford, were a successful pop music duo.

Les’ tinkering didn’t stop with that crystal radio set. He was obsessed with how to make  his guitar louder, and how to sustain its sound without producing feedback. His earliest experiment was wedging a phonograph needle into the body of his acoustic guitar and connecting it to a radio for amplification. While playing in NYC, Les also worked at the Epiphone guitar factory. He was severely shocked one day, and in a lemons-to-lemonade move, used his time off to attack the electric guitar problem. He decided that the guitar’s hollow body was dissipating the sound, and began experimenting with solid bodies. As proof of concept, he attached a single string and pickup to a short length of steel railroad rail. Voila! He could pluck the string, go out to lunch, and the note would still be resonating when he got back. He tried filling an acoustic guitar with plaster of paris (heavy, very heavy), and in 1941, hit on the idea of using a 4”X4” piece of lumber stock with 6 strings and pickups attached. He dubbed it The Log. He refined it by gluing Epiphone “wings” to the sides of The Log, and after moving to California in 1943, began pitching his guitar to Gibson. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Turning his attention elsewhere, Les built a recording studio at his home (at the urging of Bing Crosby). There, in 1947, he was the first to develop such advanced recording techniques as multitrack recording and double tracking, and five years later, eight track recording. Les also pioneered the use of phase shifting, reverb, and delay.

In 1948, Les was riding in the car with Mary driving, when it went off the road and down an embankment. He broke his back, ribs, nose and shattered his right elbow. Amputation was discussed, as was setting the arm in a permanent position. Les had the surgeon set his arm at an angle that allowed him to keep on playing.

When Leo Fender’s Esquire solid body electric guitar hit the market in 1951, who do you think was suddenly interested in The Log? Gibson hired Les to come up with a signature model. Though the extent of his contributions is disputed, Gibson introduced the Les Paul model solid body electric guitar in 1952. It’s fair to say that without his designs, concepts and specifications, the Les Paul model would not have existed, let alone have become the sound of generations of rock guitarists.

Les Paul was inducted into the rock HOF in 1988 in the Early Influence category. He died on August 12, 2009, at age 94.

Thanks, Les!

 

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