R.I.P. Les Paul, 06/09/1915 – 08/13/2009

For those who think Les Paul is just the name of Gibson’s flagship electric guitar, you have much to learn.

Les Paul is, or was until this morning, a real person, without whom music would be a VERY different world. Dissatisfied with the acoustic guitars of the day, in 1939 Les Paul created one of the very first solidbody electric guitars (Leo Fender and Adolph Rickenbacher also created their own namesake models during the same time period), nicknamed “The Log”, which was nothing more than a length of common 4″ x 4″ lumber with bridge, guitar neck, and pickup attached. For the sake of appearance, he attached the body of an Epiphone hollow-body guitar, sawn lengthwise with The Log in the middle. This solved the two main problems he had with acoustic guitars: feedback, as the acoustic body no longer resonated with the amplified sound, and sustain, as the energy of the strings was not dissipated in generating sound through the guitar body.

In the 1950′s Gibson Guitar Corporations presented Les Paul with a guitar they designed based on his innovations and the rest is history.

Sort of.

While most think of Les Paul as a electric guitar pioneer, he had many other musical accomplishments and innovations. You can thank Les Paul for recording effects such as overdubbing, tape delay, sound-on-sound delay, phasing and even multi-track recording itself. He is also a Grammy award winner and inspiration to dozens of guitarists across several genres. So next time you’re drooling over that Gibson Les Paul hanging in a music store, remember the man behind that name.