The boy was born Lester William Polsfuss June 9th 1915 just outside Milwaukee, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, America. Later he became the man known as Les Paul. This became his stage name after his hillbilly nicknames like 'Rhubarb Red' and 'Red Hot Red". Initially he played the banjo. He later mastered the guitar and invented a neck worn device to hold his harmonica in front of his mouth to enable him to play it, with his hands free to play the guitar at the same time. This device was later popularized by Bob Dylan and Neil Young and is still produced today.
Les Paul was more than a musician, he was a songwriter, inventor and a pioneer. He invented the worlds' most popular and successful solid body Sunburst electric guitar, the Gibson Les Paul. He invented many recording mechanics and methods; 'overdubbing', multi-track recording, phasing effects and tape delay. It was these technical inventions that made the birth of Rock 'n' Roll possible.
At thirteen, he was a semi professional musician playing guitar and harmonica in a country based group. Soon after he would join the Rube Tronson's Texas Cowboys and then Wolverton's Radio Band based in St. Louis, Missouri, on KMOX. In 1934 Les Paul moved to Chicago and performed mainly sessions on the radio. In 1936 he released his first two studio based records. On one he was credited as an blues accompanist for performer Georgia White and the other recording bore his earlier nickname, 'Rhubarb Red'. Soon after, he adopted his famous name and infamous jazz playing guitar style. By 1937 Les Paul formed a trio with percussionist and bass player, Ernie Darius Newton and Chet Atkins older half brother, guitarist and singer Jim Atkins. In 1939 the trio arrived in New York and began a residency gig on Fred Waring's radio show in Pennsylvania.
During the 1940's Les Paul continued his development and experimentation with the electric guitar. One such experiment resulted in near electrocution, the effects of it took over two years for him to recover from. He re-located to Hollywood with a new trio of musicians and continued to produce music for the radio. Disillusioned with acoustic electric guitars, paul began experimenting to produce a new way of making the sound of the guitar electric and amplified. He started with a basic lump of 4 x 4 20lb lumber wood, attached a bridge, a Gibson neck, a Larson fingerboard and two pickups. He called his guitar invention the 'Log'. The Log was one of the very first solid body electric guitars ever to be made. To make the visual appearance off the Log more guitar like, he added the body sides of a semi-acoustic Epiphone and in place of its middle, he fixed the Log down the central column.
This was a ground breaking solution to the main problems Les Paul had been facing; Sustain - the power of the strings was energized through the body of the guitar and Feedback - was now controlled by the semi-acoustic body of the electric guitar. Paul ceaselessly continued to adjust and improve the technical specifications of his Log electric guitar and used the instrument to record with even after the production of his Gibson Les Paul Sunburst.
Throughout the 1940's Les Paul performed and recorded with many well known artists like; Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and The Andrews Sisters. As well as performing with him, Bing Crosby also financed many of his recording experiments. At the beginning of 1948 Paul had a near fatal car accident that shattered his right arm and elbow. Surgeons insisted that his arm would have to be re-built in a set position, which took a year and a half to complete. The guitarist demanded that his arm should be set at a ninety degree angle. An angle that would still allow him to continue to play the guitar.
Les Paul continued to experiment in the recording studio with a track called Lover (When You're Near Me) in 1948 for Capitol Records. This track marked an amazing break through with his multi-track recording techniques. Les Paul recorded eight separate guitar parts, some at double speed and some at half speed, overlaying each track onto acetate disks. When all eight were played back, the sound was as if eight different guitarists were playing together at the same time. This was the first time that this had ever been done. This invention lead him to work on the worlds' first eight track recording deck with Ross Snyder. This reel to reel tape recorder with special effects like over dubbing and echo was manufactured by Ampex. He made variations of these machines with two track and four track recorder versions called the Sel-Sync (or the Selective Synchronization).
Les Paul married Virginia Webb in 1938, they divorced in 1949 the same year that he married Iris Colleen Summers who was a country and western singer with the Gene Autry. Later she changed her name to Mary Ford. The couple would later divorce in 1962 due to their heavy work load and touring pressures. Throughout the 1950's Les Paul and Mary Ford recorded together and went on to sell millions of records. Their notable hits were; Bye Bye Blues, How High The Moon and The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise. The multi-track recording technique that Les Paul had perfected, enabled Mary Ford to record numerous harmonizing vocal arrangements, for them to be synchronized and played back at the same time as one seamless track.
In the 1930's Adolph Rickenbacker produced a solid body guitar which would later be developed into a semi acoustic hollow body guitar. A short time after, Les Paul approached the Gibson Corporation with his idea for a solid body electric guitar. Gibson refused production of his idea as they thought it would be too expensive to mass produce. In 1946 Leo Fender created his own version of a solid body guitar, the Telecaster Tobacco Sunburst electric guitar.
In the early 1950's Gibson produced their first electric guitar that incorporated the inventions and ideas of Les Paul and presented it to him for him to try out. He loved the Gibson guitar so much that he agreed to endorse the guitar with his name. The first Gibson Les Paul electric guitar was originally only available in a Gold Top finish. The Sunburst electric guitar Cherry and Tobacco finishes were to come later in 1952 when the Gibson Les Paul Custom model was introduced.
The agreement and contract that he had with Gibson Corporation meant that the guitarist would only be photographed and perform with a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar. The Patent and Trademark office in the U.S. gave Les Paul Patent number 3,018,680 for an Electrical Musical Instrument in 1962 for his Gibson endorsed guitar.
Les Paul always performed with his personalized Les Paul electric guitar. It was a Gibson 'Recording' model, the body was a solid single piece of mahogany that he had customized and modified over the years and added a Bigsby vibrato to. He also invented a black box that was fixed to his on stage guitar that he called his 'Les Paulverizer'. This box enabled the guitarist to create many sound effects on stage, it enabled him to play a guitar lick and play it back over and over, creating a loop effect. Another effect was a tape delay that created the illusion of sound as if various other guitarists were playing at the same time, when in fact there was only one playing.
In 1967 Les Paul recorded an album with Chet Atkins, Chester and Lester, called 'Les Paul Now' recorded for London Records. Les Paul was actively performing and playing live throughout the 1980's right up until his death in 2009. He played every Monday night at the Iridium Jazz Club, on Broadway in Times Square, New York City. He played with his trio, guitarist Lou Pallo, pianist John Colianni and bassist Nicki Parrott. An amazing achievement for a man who suffered from permanent hearing loss, arthritis and had heart bypass surgery after having had a heart attack.
Les Paul's contribution to the music industry was regularly recognized by countless award bodies and prestigious institutions. Guitarist Jeff Beck inducted Les Paul into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. The Mix Foundation in 1991 created an award called to honor "individuals or institutions that had set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of audio technology" called the Les Paul Award. The National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005 inducted him for his contribution to solid body Sunburst electric guitar developments. The following year in 2006 he was named an honorary member by the Audio Engineering Society and inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
In 2005 part of his 90th birthday celebrations included a tribute concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City where Les Paul was given a commemorative guitar from Gibson Guitar Corporation. Steve Miller, Jose Feliciano and Peter Frampton and other contemporary vocalists and guitarists performed at the celebrations. The Rock guitarist Steve Miller was taught how to play guitar by Les Paul. He is Godfather to Miller after his father was best man at his wedding to Mary Ford in 1949.
Still at the age of 90 in 2006 he received two Grammy Awards for his Les Paul & Friends: American Made World Played album. He had already received a lifetime achievement award, called the Grammy Trustees Award in 1983. Les Paul made a biographical documentary film called Chasing Sound which was released on DVD in HD in 2007. It documents the life of the guitar superstar legend and tells his rags to riches story. From Waukesha his home town, to Chicago, then Nashville, on to Hollywood and then his induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Les Paul talks about his many great lifetime achievements. His music and his greatest hits provide a sound track to his life story. It also features interviews with Jeff Beck, B. B. King, Tony Bennett, Merle Haggard, Bonnie Raitt and Steve Miller. November 2008 a tribute concert was held in Paul's honor at the State Theater in Cleveland Ohio, where Les Paul received the American Music Masters award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This fantastic achievement was celebrated with performances by the young and old guitarists that Paul had influenced including; Duane Eddy, Lonnie Mack, Eric Carmen, Jennifer Batten, Dennis Coffey, James Burton, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Billy Gibbons, Lenny Kaye, Barbara Lynn, Steve Lukather, Katy Moffatt, Richie Sambora, Alannah Myles, The Ventures, and Slash.
In 2009 August 13, at the age of 94, the legend passed away due to pneumonia and added complications, he had been ill for sometime. Known as the 'Wizard of Waukesha', he was buried at Prairie Home Cemetery in his home town of Waukesha, in an open area that visitors can visit and pay tribute to. Many guitarists and performers have paid tribute to the artist that continues to make a lasting impression on their lives; Randy Bachman, Trey Anastasio, The Hard Lessons, Ace Frehley, John 5, Tad Kubler, B.B. King, Joe Satriani, Brian May, Tom Morello, Brian "Head" Welch, Joe Perry and Keith Richards. Slash from Guns N' Roses said Les Paul "vibrant and full of positive energy". The Edge, guitarist with U2 said, "his legacy as a musician and inventor will live on and his influence on Rock & Roll will never be forgotten".
The genius will be remembered for his contribution to music and the art of recording. He also pioneered various ground breaking guitar playing techniques and styles like; chord sequences, fretting, timing, trills and licks. All of which continue to influence contemporary future guitarists. The Les Paul Gibson Sunburst electric guitar carries the name of a genius that is more than a brand name, it is the symbol of one mans life quest for perfection in a Sunburst electric guitar.
The legend and guitar icon will live on and continue to inspire and influence new and established musicians for many years to come. The life goal of Les Paul was simply, 'to make people happy'. It's fare to say, whatever music style you are into, Les Paul achieved his goal.
Karen Strutt is a Sunburst Electric Guitar fanatic! My passions include large collections of Sunburst Electric Guitars. A graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design London. Get in touch for help and advice about all aspects of Sunburst Electric Guitars.
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