by Rowlandwithaw

Created on: November 22, 2011

The first Gibson Les Paul was produced in 1952. It was designed by Ted McCarty, President of Gibson in conjunction with Les Paul, a successful and innovative guitarist- though it appears that Les Paul’s contribution to the design was more cosmetic than one might imagine. Its introduction was a direct response to the massive success achieved by Fender with their Telecaster introduced two years earlier. However in contrast to the utilitarian, slab bodied ‘Tele’, the Les Paul was to be a classier more expensive guitar with a more curvaceous body and a traditional glued neck as opposed to the Tele’s ‘bolt-on’ neck. It was to be a luxury item as opposed to the affordable mass produced based Telecaster. Originally it was to be available in two models – the Goldtop with a mahogany body and a maple top, and the Custom which would have a solid mahogany body. The original pick ups were P90’s which are now ‘much prized’. The all black Custom was introduced in 1954 and was often referred to as The Black Beauty. Later on, in 1957, Gibson introduced ‘humbucking pick ups’ designed to avoid unnecessary electrical hum when the guitar is plugged into an amp. Humbuckers as they are affectionately know also give a ‘thicker sound’ with a wider range of frequencies particularly at the bottom end (the bass).

Maintaining their original intention to cover the entire market for the solid bodied electric guitar from beginners to professional, Gibson introduced many variations of the Les Paul over the years. Here are a few:   

Les Paul Junior - (54-60) with a single P90 pick up.

Les Paul TV – a double cutaway body - this was ‘yellow’ rather than white as the brightness of white on ‘black and white’ television caused problems, hence the name TV.

Les Paul SG  which stands for Solid Guitar- this was later simply referred to as the Gibson SG. Clapton during his Cream era used an SG with a psychedelic paint finish. Tony McPhee a British Blues guitar player who founded the Groundhogs, used an SG for many years and more recently Derek Trucks’ guitar of choice is an SG Custom reissue.

In terms of the essential Les Paul sound, it has been synonymous with the heavier blues/rock ever since Clapton first plugged his 1960 Les Paul into a 50 watt Marshall amp to record the album John Mayall Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton – the legendary Beano album! Following in his footsteps there came Gary Moore, the wonderful Paul Kossoff, Jimmy Page, Michael Bloomfield, Slash, Billy Gibbons and many more. Jazz players have also used the Les Paul: Bill Connors and Al Dimeola both played Les Paul’s with Chick Corea’s Return to Forever.

The Gibson Les Paul has become one of the three most popular guitar shapes of sold bodied guitar together with the Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster. In terms of its sound it is bigger, broader sound, which suits some whereas other prefer the brighter, more edgy Fender sound, but however you personally see it - the Gibson Les Paul is a classic guitar.

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