| Title: | GUITARnotes - Where Every Note has Emotion |
| Notice: | Discussion of the finer stringed instruments |
| Moderator: | KDX200::COOPER |
| Created: | Thu Aug 14 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 3280 |
| Total number of notes: | 61432 |
Les Paul was a guest on Letterman last night. As usual, they stuck
him in the back behind the bassist, and he quietly picked with the
band during the commercial fade-ins/outs.
Towards the end of the show, Dave introduced him as the inventor
of the electric guitar, showed an old clip of Les and his wife doing
a tune, and then let Les and the band jam out a tune.
It was the first time I have ever seen him, so I don't have any
strong opinions on the man, but he did jam out pretty well. He
was really into the song. Had a couple of nice up-and-down-the-strings
licks.
Then he went over and talked to Dave. He explained how he got the
idea for an electric guitar, and how the shape of his early axes
evolved from a railroad tie with strings and a pickup to the present.
He also noted that he was the first person ever to be broadcast on NBC
TV, in 1939.
Very enjoyable. It was nice to finally see the guy.
Adam
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 354.1 | Les Paul !!! | MORRIS::JACQUES | Fri Oct 02 1987 14:03 | 24 | |
I watched the show too. I thought Les was great. Paul Shaeffer
said that Les just celebrated his 73rd birthday. For 73, this guy
can cook. He also has one of the most distinctive sounds/styles
of anyone. He was playing a beutiful Les Paul. It was set up like
a Recording model, with LowZ pickups, and all the switches, but
had a flamed top like a 1959 LP Standard, Wow !!
In the interview, Dave asked him what made the Les Paul guitar so
special. Les said it was mainly the fact that it was an electric
solid body that made it special. Les said when he was playing
one of his first gigs, he fashioned a PA out of a telephone
mouthpiece, and his mother's radio. Then he decided he needed to
amplify the guitar so he took a phonograph pickup and shoved it
into the guitar, and it worked. The resulting pickup had a lot of
feedback, and sounded scratchy, so he experimented with different
ways to design pickups. He took a railroad rail, and mounted some
magnets on it with wire (taken from a telephone) wrapped around
them, and had a better sound, but who's gonna play a rail. He than
fashioned his "Log" out of a 4x4, and it evolved into the Les Paul
of today.
As a point of Pride he also made sure to take credit for some
of his other inventions such as multitrack recording, and tape delay.
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| 354.2 | Guitars on TV !! | MORRIS::JACQUES | Fri Oct 02 1987 14:07 | 6 | |
By the way, this note should be appended to note 339 (Guitars on
TV). There is also a note in the Music notes file on Les Paul
for all of us Les Paul Fans out here in notesland.
Mark J.
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