What the ? !? ? !

[Louie Seven]

Stumbled across this image....

All I can say is... "What the bejabbers IS that ?"

....anyone know ?



found at http://www.guitar-players-toolbox.co...c-guitars.html

Louie Seven

[black_labb]

that is a les paul recording model.

[madialex]

Looks like a les paul recording guitar

[David Schwab]

That looks like his personal guitar with the microphone jack on the upper bout.

Probably a Les Paul Personal that's been modified with the additional pickguard.

[Louie Seven]

I think it's the trapese tailpiece that threw me.......

No serious guitarist (Or Lp owner) would do that......

At least, I wouldn't.

L7

[David Schwab]

I think it's the trapese tailpiece that threw me.......

No serious guitarist (Or Lp owner) would do that......

At least, I wouldn't.

L7

Did you ever see an original gold top? Same thing. That tailpiece was part of the original design.

Who would do that? Les Paul would! I think Les Paul is a VERY serious guitar player. You know that patent number on the Gibson Humbuckers? It's really for that tailpiece, which was designed by Lester William Polsfuss himself.

The reason is he did a lot of palm muting, and originally the trapeze tailpiece was also the bridge. That guitar in the picture seems to have been modified to look like the one Les is holding below.

Look at patent number 2737842 (PDF)

[Louie Seven]

Dave, .....Cool.......

a couple things though......

Yes, Les came up with that trapese arrangement. His version worked.

Unfortunately (as I'm sure you know), the Gibson version didn't quite cut it.
Due to neck angle and other issues, the strings had to be routed under the bar, rather than over it - making palm-muting a VERY difficult task.
That's what was behind my comment about the trapese tailpiece. Those old early Les Pauls (altho quite collectable) are not preferred by most players. Gibson was wise to switch to the stop tail-piece; and I think most Les Paul players agree. Including Les himself, by all accounts.

Regarding the picture of Les with white Recording guitar --- I was sitting about 12 feet from him when that picture was taken. That's Les's own flat top Recording guitar with a Bigsby True Vibrato and the Les Paulverizer attached just behind it. Notice the goose-necked condenser mic attached up top ! Way cool!

The pick he's holding? It's upstairs in my drawer, residing neatly in a small flat plastic box. It's a Gibson medium.

I wish I could report to you what kind of strings he used, but I forgot to ask.
I can think of a lot of things I SHOULD have asked him.

Regards,

Louie

P.S. Les fell down the stairs to the dressing room that night and ended up with a swollen knee. But he smiled and played the whole night and if he hadn't made a joke about it, nobody would have been the wiser. What a pro!

[David Schwab]

Yeah, Gibson screwed up two things that Les wasn't happy about. First being the trapeze tail, which they could have gotten right, and the other was the LP Custom was supposed to have the maple cap, and the Standard wasn't. Les has stated he wasn't sure if it was a mistake, or they did it on purpose.

I got to meet him once back in the 70's when he was in a local music store.

[Louie Seven]

Everybody should meet Les Paul, at least once. And I'm starting to think that everyone has. *heh*...... that guy is unstoppable.

Les should get the ultimate "Can't Keep a Good Man Down" award. Think about it..... Electrocuted in his New York studio (recovered).....Practically killed in a drastic auto wreck driving on Route 66 (recovered).....Career erased by Rock & Roll in 1956 (recovered).....two failed marriages (recovered).....quadruple bypass heart surgery (recovered).....arthritis that would make most people give up (still playing guitar). It's amazing.

As concerns the shows I saw...Les showed up the following morning at the bar (hehe) and I was there. Guitar Center had leased the hall for a trade show, which, I suppose, was why he was there that early. Anyway.... here's all these local movers and shakers and guitar hot shots and salesmen...and nobody even seemed to know who he was. I got to spend about an hour talking with him at the bar. I'm sure I wasn't THAT interesting, but the only other people who even acknowledged him were his agent and some flapper (read: 1930's groupie) with whom Les seemed destined to share something with. *haha* He finally wandered off with her.

I interviewed him about the SG and we talked for some time. I still have the cassette. Like I said... knowing what I know now, I'm sure I'd have asked completely different questions.

Anyway, here's a picture I took of Les coming from the dressing room, the night before, at the moment he was announced on stage. He was 60 years old at that time. I was just 26. In two years I will be as old as Les was when I snapped this shot. scary.

enjoy.

L7

[David Schwab]

That's a great photo! Les is truly one of a kind. He wasn't the only person to make a solid body at the time, but we can all thank him for his contributions to multi track recording,

I still enjoy listening to his old recordings. One of these days I have to get to the Iridium to see him play, before it's too late. He's 92 and still going.