[Bret L]

As iconic as "his" guitar is, no one remarks on how Les had a sound
all his own-a sound no one else had, or seemingly wanted to have. For
years he kept his tech a secret, but in the late 60s he allowed Gibson
to sell a system very much like what he actually used. Sales were
dismal.

The electronics in the "normal" Gibson Les Paul model guitars were
nothing to do with what Paul himself had developed. At first, they
weren't all that popular and in fact by the time rock guitarists began
to play Les Paul guitars, the instruments were no longer
manufactured.

Most post-1968 Les Pauls were horrible guitars that weighed a ton and
had crappy, tone robbing hardware and often used acoustically crappy
wood. Consequently, the old ones became sought after instruments and
the craze in vintage guitars was ignited.

Although Gibson finally seemed to recapture many of the qualities of
the desireable vintage Pauls in recent years, quality is again headed
downward from all reports. Gimmicky special editions with doubtful
musical appeal, such as models named after race cars and drivers and
other non-musical celebrity tie-ins abound, as do such gimmicky items
as one model endorsed by "Buckethead" with arcade switches set up to
short the output when pressed (called a 'stutter switch').

Les knew about all this and seemingly didn't care. Les was a musical
genius, but also a bit of a huckster. Let's not forget that either in
the push to canonize the man.

[Iain Churches[_2_]]

"Bret L" wrote in message
...
As iconic as "his" guitar is, no one remarks on how Les had a sound
all his own-a sound no one else had, or seemingly wanted to have. For
years he kept his tech a secret, but in the late 60s he allowed Gibson
to sell a system very much like what he actually used. Sales were
dismal.

The electronics in the "normal" Gibson Les Paul model guitars were
nothing to do with what Paul himself had developed. At first, they
weren't all that popular and in fact by the time rock guitarists began
to play Les Paul guitars, the instruments were no longer
manufactured.

Most post-1968 Les Pauls were horrible guitars that weighed a ton and
had crappy, tone robbing hardware and often used acoustically crappy
wood. Consequently, the old ones became sought after instruments and
the craze in vintage guitars was ignited.

Although Gibson finally seemed to recapture many of the qualities of
the desireable vintage Pauls in recent years, quality is again headed
downward from all reports. Gimmicky special editions with doubtful
musical appeal, such as models named after race cars and drivers and
other non-musical celebrity tie-ins abound, as do such gimmicky items
as one model endorsed by "Buckethead" with arcade switches set up to
short the output when pressed (called a 'stutter switch').

Les knew about all this and seemingly didn't care. Les was a musical
genius, but also a bit of a huckster. Let's not forget that either in
the push to canonize the man.

There is considerable interest in the Les Paul sound these
days amongst younger players, many of whom use Gibson.
LP was a musical genius. Musicians are rarely good
businessmen

[Bret L]

On Feb 2, 3:23*am, "Iain Churches" wrote:
"Bret L" wrote in message

...



As iconic as "his" guitar is, no one remarks on how Les had a sound
all his own-a sound no one else had, or seemingly wanted to have. *For
years he kept his tech a secret, but in the late 60s he allowed Gibson
to sell a system very much like what he actually used. Sales were
dismal.

The electronics in the "normal" Gibson Les Paul model guitars were
nothing to do with what Paul himself had developed. At first, they
weren't all that popular and in fact by the time rock guitarists began
to play Les Paul guitars, the instruments were no longer
manufactured.

Most post-1968 Les Pauls were horrible guitars that weighed a ton and
had crappy, tone robbing hardware and often used acoustically crappy
wood. Consequently, the old ones became sought after instruments and
the craze in vintage guitars was ignited.

Although Gibson finally seemed to recapture many of the qualities of
the desireable vintage Pauls in recent years, quality is again headed
downward from all reports. Gimmicky special editions with doubtful
musical appeal, such as models named after race cars and drivers and
other non-musical celebrity tie-ins abound, as do such gimmicky items
as one model endorsed by "Buckethead" with arcade switches set up to
short the output when pressed (called a 'stutter switch').

Les knew about all this and seemingly didn't care. Les was a musical
genius, but also a bit of a huckster. Let's not forget that either in
the push to canonize the man.

There is considerable interest in the Les Paul sound these
days amongst younger players, many of whom use Gibson.
LP was a musical genius. *Musicians are rarely good
businessmen

No, not "THE LES PAUL Sound". Les Paul, playing his home-brewed
guitars with Gibson logos, and low impedance pickups straight into the
board, had a sound somewhat like a pedal steel. It's very distinctive.
He never used a guitar amplifier per se, on early gigs using a
McIntosh amplifier and an Altec 604 speaker in a utility cabinet-i.e.,
a hi-fi system.

What people since the mid-60s have wanted was the sound of the Les
Paul model Gibson guitar, with P-90 or PAF humbucker pickups run into
a Fender or Marshall (clone of Fender, at first) amplifier. They still
want and love that sound. It was first popularized by Mike Bloomfield,
later Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Duane Allman, and
nearly every other rock player of the 1965-1980 period.

Les himself never used such a rig. Never made such a sound. Never
wanted to.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Feb 2, 3:23*am, "Iain Churches" wrote:
"Bret L" wrote in message

Les knew about all this and seemingly didn't care. Les was a musical
genius, but also a bit of a huckster. Let's not forget that either in
the push to canonize the man.

There is considerable interest in the Les Paul sound these
days amongst younger players, many of whom use Gibson.
LP was a musical genius. *Musicians are rarely good
businessmen

Ludwig's a ****ing idiot. He tries to tear down Les Paul while
"canonizing" Steve Sailer and that loopy Revilo clown.

We should probably forget that LP invented multi-track recording.

Poor Bratzi. He can't afford a decent guitar (and if he could it's
very doubtful that he could play it well as he lacks any imagination)
so he's off on a new rant. Aside from maturbating over pictures of
Marilyn Monroe ranting is all he's got.