Les Paul was an American jazz and country guitarist,
songwriter and inventor. He was the inventor of the
solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and
roll possible. He is credited with many recording
innovations. Although he was not the first to use the
technique, his early experiments with overdubbing (also
known as sound on sound), delay effects such as tape delay,
phasing effects and multi-track recording were among the
first to attract widespread attention.
Paul's innovative guitar, "The Log", built after-hours in
the Epiphone guitar factory in 1940, a 4" × 4" chunk of pine
with strings and a pickup, was one of the first solid-body
electric guitars. Paul Tutmarc of Audiovox Manufacturing Co.
built a solid body electric bass in 1935 and Adolph
Rickenbacker had marketed a solid-body guitar in the 1930s
and Paul A. Bigsby had built one for Merle Travis in 1948
and Leo Fender also independently created his own (the
Fender "Broadcaster" later changed to "Esquire" for
copyright reasons, a single pickup model) in 1948. Although
Paul approached the Gibson Guitar Corporation with his idea
of a solid body electric guitar, they showed no interest
until Fender began marketing its Esquire which later had a
second pick-up added and became known as the Telecaster.
The arrangement persisted until 1961, when declining sales
prompted Gibson to change the design without Paul's
knowledge, creating a much thinner, lighter and more
aggressive-looking instrument with two cutaway "horns"
instead of one. Paul said he first saw the "new" Gibson Les
Paul in a music-store window, and disliked it. Although his
contract required him to pose with the guitar, he said it
was not "his" instrument and asked Gibson to remove his name
from the headstock. Others claimed that Paul ended his
endorsement contract with Gibson during his divorce to avoid
having his wife get his endorsement money. Gibson renamed
the guitar "Gibson SG", which stands for "Solid Guitar", and
it also became one of the company's best sellers.
The Gibson Les Paul - One of the world's most popular
electric guitars, was named after the man who invented it.
.
MR. TOM DOYLE
LES PAUL'S LUTHIER/GUITAR TECH/ENGINEER
FOR 45 YEARS
-
While Les Paul was certainly more
than a genius in his quest for his
ultimate sound, tone, and
understanding of music and the instruments
that it took to get there, for over
four decades he relied constantly
on Tom Doyle to make his guitars
whole again after he chopped them
to pieces in has mad pursuit of
that sound in his head. Most people
automatically assume that because
there is a famous guitar with his
name on it, that Les was a guitar
builder, tech, bench man, etc.,
and knew how to build, repair and
refurbish guitars. That just simply
was not the case... he relied on
Tom for that. Tom and Les worked
on countless projects over the 40+
years together and Tom is nothing
less than a walking/talking encyclopedia
about all things Les Paul, Gibson,
build specs, musical history, and
knows more about guitars of all
kinds than anyone you will ever
encounter alive today.
Keep an eye out for articles about
Tom Doyle in:
Les
Paul was working very diligently
in the last years of his life in
an attempt to clean up the
Humbucker pickup. He felt that
the bottom end of the frequency
response was muddy and unclear,
and he fervently wanted to fix
that. Les had an incredible
passion for making things “just
right”... and would tinker,
test, and experiment on things
he wanted to fix, tirelessly -
almost to the point of
obsession. His constant passion
towards the end of his life was
for getting the high-impedance
Humbucker to come alive, and
deliver that clarity that he so
desired. As an homage to his
longtime friend and mentor, Tom
Doyle has brought Les Paul's
Dream of a clear, articulate,
harmonically lively Humbucker
pickup to life...
Tom Plays & Speaks on
The "Thank You Les" DVD
Featuring such Greats as Keith Richards,
Steve Miller, Billy Gibbons, Slash,
José Feliciano and many more!