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fire hi this is Keith Williams welcome

to five wart World we're interest to

help you get the most music from the

least gear I often joke that the best

part of being born when I was is the

music I grew up listening to I was 6

years old when Eric Clapton changed the

course of electric guitar history with

the overdriven Les Paul tones on John

May's Beano album in July of

1966 a tender 9 years old when Jimmy

Page used a 59 burst to put the world on

its ear with Lads up when two an anxious

new guitar player myself at 13 when zezy

top put out Trey zra in 73 I learned to

drive a car to thin Lizzy's jailbreak

and kiss alive I went to college with

Steve hacket solos on Genesis seconds

out on endless repeat and I went off

into life with Neil Young's rust never

sleeps still echoing in my head from

Stadium stages to weekend bar gigs the

Les Paul remains a rock guitar icon for

all these reasons I knew I needed to

make an updated version of my Gibson Les

Paul Short History I cover how the

guitar was created who was there at the

beginning the features in its

development and the most important

players that made history playing Les

Pauls stay tuned because this is the

five wart World Short history of the

Gibson Les Paul if you enjoy your videos

make sure to subscribe or grab a t-shirt

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in the

description Lester William pus was born

in 1915 but by 1938 he changed his name

to the much more Showbiz friendly Les

Paul leading a trio on a prime time

radio show he moved from playing

acoustic guitars to various Gibson

Electric hollow body guitars but he was

looking for something else something

more that no company at that point was

building an interview later he said I

had in mind a guitar that sustained and

reproduced the sound of the string with

nothing added no Distortion no change in

the response he started working on his

own Prototype at the epone factory on

the weekends it was there that he built

his famous log so named for the 4x4 of

pine running down at Center Gibson was

the biggest Guitar Company in the world

so Les pointed his sights at Gibson

hoping to get them to produce his solid

body guitar Gibson was founded in

kalamazo Michigan in 1902 and it quickly

became a very successful instrument

maker by the 20s and 30s Gibsons were

becoming a bigger part of the market so

Gibson answered the demand with many new

models in 1944 the Chicago musical

instrument company CMI bought a

controlling interest in Gibson and part

of the deal was that cmi's President

Maurice Berlin moved Gibson's

administrative offices to Chicago where

he could better oversee their operations

it was around 1946 that the young Les

Paul was able to arrange a meeting with

Berlin to pitch his solid body guitar

idea by all accounts Les was listened to

politely but was treated as if the whole

thing was kind of a joke Les later

remembered they laughed at the guitar in

the next few years Les Paul would become

famous and at the same time he started

to experiment with different recording

techniques including the first multirack

setup in his garage turned home studio

in Hollywood California using two tape

machines running together he began to

make layered guitar parts by speeding up

the tape he could create high and fast

guitar parts that couldn't be created on

a guitar alone we now take this sort of

thing for granted but at the time no one

had heard anything like multitrack

recording before late in 1949 Les added

Mary Ford both to the ACT and to his

life marrying her that December after a

number of top 30 records Les Paul and

Mary Ford finally had their number one

hit with a recording of How High the

moon in April of 1951 the duo appeared

on television shows had their own radio

show and eventually had their own

television show from 53 to 55 that was

broadcast from their new lavish home in

mawell New Jersey of course across this

time others notably Paul bsby and Fender

out in California were also exploring

ideas around the solid body electric

guitar solid body guitars were an

appealing idea because as stage volumes

were getting louder they solved the

feedback problem of Hal body guitars at

the same time they were much less

expensive to manufacturer solid bodies

also had the benefit of increased

sustain and accurately capturing all the

vibration of the string the very things

that interested Les Paul with his

original log experiment the success of

Fender with their Esquire and

broadcaster guitars in 1950 coincided

with Ted mccardy being named as

president of Gibson like many

manufacturers Gibson had stopped

building most of its instruments during

World War II and mccardy was brought in

to put the company back on its feet now

there were two versions of the story of

the Les Paul prototype the one told by

Ted mccardy and the one told by Les Paul

himself according to mcari seeing the

success of the Fender guitars he put

together a team at Gibson including

himself to begin to explore making a

solid body guitar they recognized that

building a solid body had unique

challenges that were different than H

body guitars that Ben making and they

Dove right in Mardi said that they spent

about a year working on their prototype

and were reasonably happy with

everything except the amount of sustain

they were able to get Mardi said we

thought we had our guitar and now we

needed an excuse to make it so I got to

thinking Les Paul and Mary Ford were

riding very high they were probably the

number one vocal team in the United

States they were earning a million

dollars a year and knowing less and Mary

I decided maybe I had to show the guitar

to them Les remembered it differently he

said that Gibson contacted him early in

51 saying that Maurice Berlin told

Gibson management to quote get in touch

with the strange log guitar guy that guy

with the broomstick with the pickups on

it they came around right away as soon

as they heard what Fender was doing and

I said well you guys are a little behind

at times but okay let's go Les said that

a meeting was arranged in Chicago with

Berlin others and attorneys and a deal

was struck according to Les they

hammered out the specifics of the new

guitar design then the research and

development began in Earnest in either

case once they had had a prototype in

hand a meeting was set at a hunting

lodge near straussburg Pennsylvania in

late 51 or early 52 Les and Mary were

there to record in the quiet isolation

of the woodsy setting Mardi and his team

brought the first prototype to show it

to Les Les also recalled that this was

the first time he got to handle the

Prototype neither less nor mccardy could

remember for sure but they believe the

Prototype brought to that meeting was

very similar to the earliest production

model except that it may have had a

traditional Gibson tailpiece and a

separate Bridge before leaving they

worked out an exclusive contract for Les

and Mary to endorse the new guitar if

they were seen publicly playing any

other guitar they would forfeit all

monies and with that the Gibson Les Paul

model was born in 1952 the summer n show

was scheduled to be held in New York and

the official release of the guitar was

set there Gibson hosted a pream clinic

at the Waldorf aoria Hotel nearby the

idea was that they could show the guitar

to professional musicians who were not

allowed to attend n at that time they'd

get to see Gibson's latest instruments

but especially the new Les Paul model

electronic guitar the new Les Paul ga40

amplifier was also unveiled a host of

famous names visited the hotel suite to

see the guitar including tiger Haynes

mundel low and George

Barnes the guitar combined a solid

mahogany body with a carved Maple top

the darker tone mahogany with the maple

cap gave the guitar deep tones but also

a bright Edge respectively most of the

other features found on the new Les Paul

model could be found on other Gibson

guitars of the time two volume and two

tone controls had ban on the L5 CES and

super 400 CES models the single cutaway

and glued in Mahogany neck were

long-established features the crown

fretboard inlays had appeared on an

es-150 model in 1950 and the scale

length of 24 and 3/4 had been used on a

number of Gibson acoustic guitars in the

past as well mccardy remembers that they

decided to do a carv top guitar because

they knew Fender didn't have any carving

equipment at the shop down in California

and so it would set the less po apart

from the new Fender Telecaster it was

clear that they were setting their

sights firmly on the guitar Market

created by Fender's new solid body

guitar so where did the gold top come

from The Story Goes that this was Les's

request Gibson made a special guitar for

him to present to a terminally ill

patient he'd met at a hospital

appearance though now something we all

take for granted the iconic gold finish

was created by mixing bronze powder with

clear nitrocellulose lacquer when the

lacquer becomes worn over time the

bronze oxidizes and takes on the classic

green of a bronze statue on the earliest

units there was a mistake on the

tailpiece where the neck angle was too

shallow this meant that the strings were

almost flat on the body and Gibson was

unable to use its original standard

Hardware in response to this problem

Gibson had to use the tailpiece contrary

to the way it was designed instead of

wrapping the strings over the top where

they would have made the action too high

they had to wrap them underneath of

course this made it impossible to mute

the strings with your palm during 1953

Gibson switched from the original

trapeze bridge to to a newly specially

designed single bar-shaped bridge and

tailpiece the Stop Bar that mounted on

the top of the body using two height

adjustable studs the new unit did its

job improving intonation adjustability

and sustain the neck angle was also

corrected in short it became a much more

playable and satisfying instrument the

guitar was a success Gibson sales

numbers for that year showed that they

shipped

1,278 es 175s but

2,245 less Pauls on the back of the

success Gibson issued two new Les Paul

models in 1954 the custom and the junior

the custom was outfitted with an ebony

fingerboard goldplated Hardware multiply

binding and black color it was a more

expensive guitar than the gold top Les

Paul said that he chose the color

because it made his hands stand out when

he was playing a black guitar on stage

wearing a tuxedo or on black and white

TV unlike the gold top the custom was an

all mahogany guitar something that Les

preferred because it gave the guitar a

mellower tone promotional material

called the custom the fretless Wonder

due to its use of low flat fret wire

different from that used on the gold Top

This fret wire was specked by Les Paul

himself who liked the fast feeling of

the low Frets but in general the

unconventional Frets were less popular

with other players the custom also had a

new type of pickup in the neck position

the pickup was designed by engineer Seth

lover who had returned to Gibson after

working for the Navy during World War II

it was nicknamed the Helo based on the

aluminum mixed with iron and nickel

alloy used in the magnetic pole pieces

lover said that he was charged with

creating a pickup that was louder than

the Gibson P90 but he settled on the

rectangular magnets simply because they

were different than others at the time

these became known as staple pickups due

to the staple shaped magnets perhaps

most importantly was the introduction on

the custom of the new tunatic bridge

with its separate bar tailpiece patented

by mccardy the new bridge was first to

offer individual intonation of

adjustment for each string soon the

tunatic bridge would find its way onto

the gold top as well on the other end of

the line the junior was aimed at

beginners it was designed as a less

expensive and entry-level less PA though

the outline was the same the junior had

a flat top and a solid mahogany body it

was outfitted with a single P90 pickup a

single volume and tone control do

markers graced an Unbound Rosewood

fingerboard it had a traditional yellow

to Brown Gibson Sunburst finish and the

Stop Bar tailpiece the 1954 price list

had the custom at

$325 the gold top at

$225 and the Junior at just

$99 1955 saw the introduction of the Les

Paul TV essentially a junior with a new

finish that is variously referred to as

natural limed Oak and limed mahogany

there are many theories on where the TV

name came from none of which have much

basic direct evidence the one I've heard

the most is that the Finish was designed

to stand out on black and white

television br BRS of the day the problem

with this theories is that if you were

big enough to be on TV you'd likely have

been playing a go toop or even the new

all black custom but it's also possible

that it was simply trying to capitalize

on the Les Paul and Mary Ford TV show

running at the time and the final member

of the Les Paul family the special was

also introduced in

1955 basically a two- pickup version of

the Junior with a new TV style finish

the new guitar listed in the 55 catalog

for

$82.50 also that year Gibson released a

3/4 size version of the guitar with a

scale length 2 in shorter 22 and 3/4 for

quote youngsters or adults with small

hands and fingers back in the

electronics Lab at Gibson Seth lover had

been charged with finding a way to cut

down on the hum and interference common

with P90 pickups he got to thinking

about the choke coil found in amplifiers

which helps to eliminate the hum coming

from the power transformer lover

remembered I thought if we can make

humbucking chokes why can't we make

humbucking pickups and with the the idea

firmly in place he began building

prototypes the humbucking name comes

from the pickup's ability to cancel or

buck the hum of a single coil alone in

simple terms a humbucking pickup uses

coils with opposite magnetic polarity

wired together so that they are

electronically out of phase the result

is the cancelling of the hum and hence

it gives you a wonderfully clear and

unobstructed tone it doesn't just cancel

the hum but as we take for granted now

gave us a completely new sound lover

added a metal cover to further cut down

interference from fluorescent lighting

but they couldn't solder it so they

settled on German silver an alloy of

nickel copper zinc for its high

resistance the original prototypes

didn't have adjustable screws but the

guys at sales asked for them because it

would give them something else they talk

to dealers about so they were added

before they went into production and

finally lber decided to mount the

pickups so the screws in the neck were

closest to the fingerboard and the

screws in the bridge were closest to the

bridge lever later admitted that he made

this choice for purely decorative

purposes famously the new humbucking

pickups would arrive in 1957 replacing

the P90s and the gold top and custom

models the custom was changed to a three

pickup guitar with the new humbuckers of

course these earliest humbucking pickups

are highly sought after today these

earliest pickups were designated as

patent applied for or PF indicated by a

small sticker on the back of each pickup

now lovers was not the first un booking

pickup design and it became a challenge

during the patent process to clarify the

uniqueness of his design lover applied

for the patent in June of 1955 and it

was granted until July of 1959 one might

assume that this would then outline the

PF years but in fact the stickers were

added to the pickups as late as 1962

years after the patent was granted it's

believed that Gibbs had did this to make

it difficult for competitors to find the

new patent on file and the uzi

information there to create their own

versions so they continued to use the

pif stickers to imply that the patent

was still in process and dragging their

feet about the actual patent stamp on

the back of the pickups until

1962 even when they did begin putting a

patent number on the sticker it was for

a bridge patent that they had already

held further attempts to make it hard to

track down the official

drawings I love this stuff despite the

almost magical awe with which pifs are

regarded lover was adamant that the

later versions are essentially the same

the only difference being that on the

goldplated versions they lose a little

highend due to the additional plating

over the metal covers because gold is a

very good electrical conductor these

earliest pickups are love for how clear

and bright they can be it's said that

each pickup is different cu they weren't

wound on machines with automatic shut

offs that counted the number of windings

but in general the classic

characterization that a great burst L

Paul sounds like a Telecaster on

steroids it's talking about how the

humbucking pickup was originally

designed to replicate the sound of the

single coil P90 pickup that was seen as

the Gibson sound over time the windings

and materials changed and this early

tone changed as well of course an entire

industry now exists chasing the sound of

the original PF pickups sales of the Les

Paul reached their peak in 1956 in 1957

with the junior being by far the biggest

seller at 3,129 units in

1956 despite the growth in interest

solid body guitars were still by far the

minority in the marketplace with players

slow to adopt them still the flashy new

gold tops look great on stage and on

television Muddy Waters guitar slim

Freddy King John Lee Hooker and

rockabilly star Carl Perkins were all

pictured playing gold Toops during the

50s 1958 would see big changes is all

around the junior junior 3/4 and TV

models were changed to a double cutaway

design a new cherry red finish was added

to the Junior

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Gibson tweaked the finish that they

called cream into a yellower hue the

double pickup special was offered in

both the TV cream finish and the new

Cherry finish the sales of the gold toop

model had started to slip so in an

attempt to excite the market Gibson

moved to the Les Paul model now referred

to as the standard from the gold top

finish to a Sunburst finish famously we

know that the first standard model or

burst were shipped on May 28th 1958

Gibson had them ready for that Summer's

Nam show in Chicago this new look only

lasted until 1960 these years of the

guitars constitute what are now simply

referred to as the burst and are seen as

the Apex of Les paa construction and are

so wildly collectible today

unlike when it was covered by the opaque

gold with the new finish the maple tops

could be seen the builders at Gibson had

to be more conscientious about Machining

the two sides of the maple Top This is

referred to as book matching because you

slice through the center of a piece of

wood and it opens up like a book so that

the grain shown is symmetrical on both

sides Gibson had done this on the backs

of their archtop guitars in the past

often using highly figure Woods for that

purpose figure is the term for more

interesting grain either flamed or

quilted and some of the 58 to 60 bursts

have these more desirable tops each

piece of wood is unique and How Deep The

Flame is through the pieces would

determine how well it looked once the

top was carved since Les Paul's hadn't

been selling that well they were not a

high priority at Gibson to receive the

fancier pieces of maple so many of the

bursts have pretty plain tops if a burst

has a fancy top then it was more by

chance than by Design in the 1958

catalog the new Cherry burst standard Le

Pauls were listed for $247.50

the original first finishes all faded to

varying degrees over time sitting in

shop Windows playing out in Smoky clubs

are simply at home between sessions all

these factors affected how the finish

faded the red Dy in the finish in

particular faded to varying degrees in

the bursts and On The Backs and necks of

the guitars all of this leads to the

wide variation and finishes that we see

in vintage burst replicas today all the

bursts started out as Cherry bursts but

sometimes the red lightened and

sometimes it even darkened over time

producing what we now call the famous

lemon burst or ice tea burst or dark

burst only about 1,450 bursts were built

between 1958 and 1960 theyve become the

most expensive vintage guitars on Earth

ironically during the years of their

production they were not great sellers

it was only in the mid to late 60s that

players began to seek out these years of

the combination of humbucking pickups

and qualitive finish that would prove

such a potent combination for high

volume blues rock one final detail of

this era is that players began removing

the covers on the humbucking pickups to

enhance the trouble response when they

did so they found that the bobbins were

sometimes of different colors most often

black but sometimes white the bobbins

for building pickups were sourced from

hu plastic and the distributor Eastman

Chemical had run out of black buite

plastic that they used to make the

bobbins so they substituted white

plastic for a while Gibson kept Tred on

building pickups using all white or

black and white or zebra bobbins across

this period Then covering them with the

nickel covers when players began taking

the covers off speculation circulated

about which color combinations were the

best pickups Seth lover found this

debate pretty funny and attributed

differences in tone to many variables

but certainly not to Bob in color sales

of the standard model had dropped to

just 434 guitars in 1958 when the new

finish was introduced there was a small

increase in sales to 643 guitars in 59

but it fell back again in 1960 Gibson

had added a third expansion to the calam

Factory and it was clear that they

needed instrument sales to help justify

and pay for the expansion looking at

their sales figures they decided it was

time to completely redesign the Les Paul

lineup I reached out to truefire to be

my sponsor because I've used them for

years in honor of this episode I've gone

back to Jeff Main's British Blues course

where he wields his left B with over 2

million users worldwide whether you're a

beginner intermediate or advanced level

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thank TruFire for their support in

making this video and so it was that

Gibson abandoned the traditional single

cutaway carv Top guitar and moved to a

new Flatt top double cutaway SG or solid

guitar style at first from 1961 to 63

these guitars were still referred to as

Les Pauls and are now usually referred

to as SG Les Pauls the Les Paul name was

then dropped from the SG not simply

because as most of us have been told

that Les hated the new design but rather

because Les Paul's endorsement deal with

Gibson had run out also Les Paul and

Mary Ford were in the process of getting

a divorce and Les didn't want to sign a

new endorsement deal that would bring a

lot of extra money into the

negotiations later Les did say that he

didn't care for the design of the new

guitar there were many things he didn't

like about it from the body shape AP and

the thickness to the neck thickness and

the neck joint still he honored the

agreement and was pictured with the new

guitar for promotion but he continued to

play his live performances with his

older guitars once the contract with Les

Paul expired there were no guitars

labeled Les Paul from 64 to

67 there were three models that sold a

total of 6,000 units between 61 and 63

from the new wing of the factory there

was the SG Les Paul Jr with a cherry

finish the SG Les Paul Standard and

Cherry and the SG Les Paul Custom in

white of course the SG went on to make

famous tones in the hands of many

Clapton turned to using an SG with cream

Pete Townsen wielded SG specials and set

a record for volume at the live at leads

concert Tony iomi would wield a

left-handed SG special in Black Sabbath

and ACDC would go on to rekindle a later

generation's love for the SG guitar

sales in the US peaked in 1965 and began

to gradually fall thereafter for the

rest of the decade Ted mccardy left

Gibson in 196 6 around that time the

British driven blues rock guitarists

were looking for the instruments used by

their heroes in America at the front of

this wave was Eric Clapton playing a

burst that he' acquired in May of 1965

while he was playing with John mayol and

the Blues Breakers

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Veno record so nicknam because Clapton

is shown reading the British comic

magazine beino on the cover was released

in July of

1966 Clapton's desire for aless Paul was

inspired by the album cover of Freddy

King's let's hide away and dance away

where King is pictured with a gold top

Clapton's friend Andy Summers later the

police found two used bursts in an

almost new condition in a shop in London

and he and Clapton each bought one it

launched the sound of a Les Paul running

through a cranked Marshall that was to

Define an era that guitar was stolen in

1966 around the time he was starting

rehearsals with cream Clapton said in an

interview later I never really found one

as good as that again sadly that guitar

has never been found Clapton's use of a

single cut style burst sent players

scrambling for the old guitars as the

old style standards hadn't been in

production since 1960 Clapton played a

number of Les ball standards in the

Years following the theft of that first

guitar the second of which he bought in

1966 from Andy Summers who he nagged

until Summers sold him the guitar from

that original pair it was on The

Summer's burst that clapt and recorded

the cream hit I feel free using his

woman tone a singing Distortion with the

tone rolled back but sustaining in a way

that at first you might not even

recognize it as a guitar other famous

players of the mid6 s were using less

balls prior to Clapton using one in

England Keith Richards had bought one on

tour with the Rolling Stones when he was

in the states as an in demand session

guitarist Jimmy pige was playing a

three- pickup custom around London Peter

Green replaced Clapton in the Blues

Breakers and got a burst in 1965 and

went on to famously use that guitar on

the early Fleetwood Mac records too also

inspired by Clapton Jeff Beck bought a

burst in February of 1966 when he was

still playing with the Yard Birds you

can hear that guitar a 59 according to

to Beck purchased used at Selmer in

London on the Yard Birds album Roger the

engineer Beck went through a few bursts

until acquiring a 1972 an early 50s gold

top that had been converted to a two

humbucker and refinished in very dark

brown finish which Beck like to refer to

as Ox blood this is a guitar that was

used and was pictured on the classic

blowby blow album in 1974 back in the US

Mike Bloomfield with the Paul

Butterfield blues band and the Electric

Flag was making a name for himself on a

Les Paul as well using his helter early

on he first switched to a P90 gold top

which can be heard on the band's East

West album when Butterfield toured in

England in ' 66 Bloomfield got to see

both Peter Green and Eric Clapton

playing their bursts he returned home

and acquired a burst in May of ' 67 and

played it with the Electric Flag at the

Monterey Pop Festival he commented about

the players at the festival quote all of

us were playing the same model guitar

Billy Gibbons also caught the bug from

the beino album and started searching

for a bucker equip Les Paul down around

around Texas after opening for a show

for Jeff Beck Beck spoke to Gibbons of

his love of the Les Paul and Marshall

combination in the summer of 68 Gibbons

found his story burst which would later

be named Pearly Gates

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he contends that his pearly is an

extraordinary example of the 1959 that

all the factors came together by luck to

create that special guitar on that day

at the factory due to all this demand

prices of older less Pauls were starting

to climb and finally Gibson was moved by

all the demand as well meanwhile Les

Paul himself had been very quiet over

the years but had just released a new

record Les Paul now in

1967 the release ended up launching a

new er of endorsement between Les and

Gibson despite the world of guitarist

searching for two pickup bursts Gibson

decided to release the previously rare

two pickup Les Paul Custom in black and

the gold top with P90s with a tunatic

bridge both models were brought to the

Nam show in 1968 let's Paul himself

appeared at the show to perform on the

new guitars Gibson's press at the time

stated okay you win we are pleased to

announce that more of the original Les

Paul Gibsons are available the line

forms at your Gibson dealer the first

run of 500 guitars 400 gold tops and 100

Customs started at the same time as the

Nam show as orders poured in they ramped

up to producing a 100 less Paws a day

the only mystery seems to be why they

had decided to offer the P90 version

instead of the much more sought-after

humbucking guitars begin in 1969 CMI was

being acquired by another company and

over time that new company became

Norland Industries the name created by

combining the name of the two company

presidents Norton Stevens and morrice

Berlin Gibson employees at the time

remember to move from wood files and

machines to the tools of slide roles and

calculators for solving problems cost

cutting was the Prime motivation of this

new era this led to an erosion and

quality of the guitars from about 1974

on changes were driven more by profit

than by the demands from from musicians

generally less Pauls from the 70s are

heavier than those that came before or

after this was due to two factors first

the mahogany that Norland was buying at

the time was much heavier than the

earlier wood likely trying to save money

later the body construction was changed

from a traditional Maple cap on mahogany

or all mahogany guitar to a sandwich of

the two layers of mahogany in the body

with a thin layer of Maple in between

Gibson said it was designed to

strengthen the body but it also allowed

Norland to buy thinner pieces of

mahogany and still be able to use it for

guitar bodies it's possible to see this

thin layer of Maple in the body of a

late '70s Les Paul there was shrinkage

at the wood joints of the sandwich

pieces and there were complaints from

players and dealers in the end the extra

cost of manufacturing the sandwich

brought it to an end around 69 Gibson

moved from a traditional onepiece neck

to a three-piece mahogany neck and in 75

moved over to a three-piece Maple neck

both intended to increase neck strength

in 69 Gibson also added a valute on the

back of the neck where it joins the

headstock this was designed to add meat

to the famously fragile neck joint the

angle of headstock was also decreased

slightly in the minds of players all

these changes were going in the wrong

directions as they longed for the specs

of the old guitars also in' 69 Gibson

released the Les Paul Deluxe dropping

Min humbucker pickups in the P90 routes

of the gold Topp reissues this was in

response to dealers asking for a

humbucking equipped standard preferably

in a Sunburst finish like the ones

Clapton and Bloomfield were using the

Delux was the result of the factory

being told that they had to produce a

humbucking guitar without being given

any money for retooling so they had no

choice but to use the P90 routed bodies

and find a humbucking pickup that would

fit Gibson had purchased epone in 1958

and moved epone production to kalamazo

over the intervening years epone had

long made many humbucking pickups and

Gibson was able to fit them into the new

Les Paul Deluxe guitars when Les Paul

went back to working with Gibson he

brought his fondness for low impedance

pickups with him and in time convinced

them to offer two models the Les Paul

professional and the Les Paul personal

with these pickups the Les Paul personal

guitar was a copy of a guitar that Les

had made many modifications over time

besides his new favorite Lan pedance

pickups one of the most famous players

that used the professional model was

Terry Kath of Chicago as the 60s came to

a close demand for old Les Paul's

continued to climb Robert Frip of King

Crimson bought a 50s Les Paul Custom in

1968 Jimmy pagee began regularly using

his burst on stage with Led Zeppelin and

the band's music became equated with Les

Paul and Marshall Stacks Paige Rave not

just about his new favorite guitar but

also about Les Paul the guitarist

telling interviewers to check out Les's

early recordings from the 40s collecting

the old guitars gained real steam in the

70s George grun wrote an important piece

about vintage collecting in a 1975 issue

of Guitar Player magazine the article

stated there are now more people looking

for Less Pauls than any other electric

guitar adding that the 58 to 60 guitars

were by far the most desired in 1972

Gibson responded to this interest

issuing a short run of Les Paul Custom

54 limited edition this was the first

attempt to reissue an old style Les Paul

it had a P90 Bridge pickup and an Alo

pickup in the neck the guitars carried a

serial number with an Le prefix the

growth in vintage collecting led to Tom

Wheeler's 1974 the guitar book and was

followed by a diar's 1981 Gibson

electrics being published Gibson built a

new Factory outside of Nashville in an

effort to both keep up with demand for

guitars and avoid the stronger labor

unions up in Michigan though originally

was thought that both factories would be

kept kalamazo building electrics and

Nashville building Acoustics the new

acoustic model they'd hoped to build in

Nashville failed miserably in the

marketplace and so it was decided to

move Les ball production down to the

Nashville plant Nashville was set up to

run large batches of single models and

the Les paaul custom and Les paaul

Deluxe models along with a few other

solid body guitars were running through

that system in 75 Gibson released the

Les Paul this was a run with

exceptionally fine Woods some of the

parts that would have been plastic on a

regular model were handcarved from

Rosewood including the pick guard pickup

surrounds back plate control plate and

truss rod cover the bodies and necks

were fancy Maple and they had

fingerboards with exotic inlays of Ebony

and Rosewood much of the custom work on

these guitars was done outside of the

Camu Factory by luers dick and Donnie

Schneider and Abe weter less than a 100

the L Pauls were made they were sold for

$3,000 and astronom iCal price for a new

guitar at the time but not far off what

old Les Pauls were starting to fetch in

the Vintage Market but by the mid 70s a

standard model with a burst finish and

full-size humbucker was still missing

from the Gibson catalog they could be

special ordered from Gibson though and

around this time a dealer in Memphis

strings and things ordered a run of 25

guitars with custom specs very close to

those of a late 50s burst and finally in

1976 Gibson added the standard back to

its price list at $649

a Sunburst model with full-size

humbucking pickups these instruments

still did not Echo the original

sufficiently to lure buyers away from

the search for vintage Les Paul Gibson

reissued both the single and double

cutaway Les Paul special in the mid '70s

as well due to the soaring prices of the

original standards the specials had real

appeal for players the sound of the P90

pickups and the responsiveness of the

guitars made them attractive Leslie West

from Mountain had used a junior in his

band MC Ralphs played a junior in the

band Bad Company later on and Bob Marley

played a two- pickup special in the

Whalers great 70s punk guitarists

reveled in the rawness of the Flatt top

lesser less Pauls both Mick Jones of the

Clash and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols

were seen sporting specials in 1979 the

Gibson R&D Department started building

prototypes for the new line of Les Pauls

Tim Shaw worked on the project and

remembers they were our first stab at

asking questions like what's the best

this guitar ever was are we building it

that way now and if not why not the team

used a 1954 pattern for the carving of

the top and they went with a three-piece

mahogany neck they dropped the valute

and they tried to more closely replicate

the old pickup specs finally they chose

pretty figured tops and these became

known as the new Heritage series Les

Pauls Bruce Bolan then of R&D convinced

Norland put the Heritage guitars in the

product line these wouldn't be standard

production guitars but were listed as

premium and limited editions two

Heritage models were launched in 1980

the standard 80 and the standard 80

Elite the elite differed in that it had

an ebony fingerboard a onepiece neck and

a quilted top in 1981 the Heritage

standard W model was added and awarded

to dealers that had stocked or sold

regular Heritage models the year before

the Heritage line only lasted a couple

years but they were very important in

illustrating the way Gibson had begun to

think about building guitars using their

own history as a guide the Volute was

removed and they went back to a onepiece

mahogany neck in ' 83 there was a

limited run of standard Les Paul 82

distinguished from their Heritage

guitars by their one piece neck and by

the fact that they were built up in

kazoo a store in Redbank New Jersey

Guitar Trader approached Gibson with a

plan they would collect the specs from

what they considered a proper reissue of

a Sunburst standard and Gibson was then

use those specs to build the guitars

though the guitar Trader folks thought

that they were working on an exclusive

deal with Gibson in the end Gibson sold

some of the resulting guitars to top

dealers in Texas and California as well

best estimates is that 53 of these

reissued went through guitar Trader at

the time guitar Trader announced the new

guitars with great Fanfare and even

promised to install 50spf pickups

subject to availability they selected

each top themselves from wood stocks at

the factory the guitar is listed for

$1,500 at the start but quickly Rose to

$2,000 at the same time guitar Trader

had an original 59 with a nice flame top

for sale for

$7,500 Brad Whitford of Aerosmith took

delivery of one of the first guitar

Trader flam Toops the deal would last

only two years but would set the stage

for kalamazo becoming a custom shop

before there was one building the custom

runs of 25 to 100 guitars but by July of

83 Gibson had decided to close the

kalamazo plant there had been a collapse

in the instrument Market in general and

competition from Japanese companies was

taking an increasing piece of the market

share though some managers were offered

positions in Nashville plant manager Jim

deloo Marvin lamb and JP Moes left

Gibson rented a part of the old factory

and started Heritage guitars the company

continues to build guitars the

traditional way to this day in 1983

using some leftover figured Walnut and

maple the plant in Nashville put

together guitar dubbed the 1983 special

Spotlight this was a run of some 200

guitars but it's important because it

was the first to carry a custom shop

logo on the back of the headstock all of

this success with the short reissue runs

had led Gibson to start to release early

style guitars a standard and a gold top

in the wake of the Heritage series and

the guitar Trader run Gibson was now

trying to do this right with these new

models based on the best guitars from

the past

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also in 83 the Les paaul Studio was

introduced stripping off The Binding to

lower cost they came up with a cheaper

less Paul Bruce Bolan named the guitar

after much thought realizing that

nothing was more associated with less

himself than a recording studio was in

the price list in the summer of 83 for

$699 $300 cheaper than the next carve

top Les Paul in the line the model went

through a number of changes the first

one of the guitars had an Aller body but

a problem applying the Finish to the

Alder resulted in a quick change to the

usual mahogany and maple the new bodies

were about an eighth of an inch thinner

than the standard L Paws lowering weight

and production cost slightly the bound

body version came out in ' 84 and was

produced for a couple of years as the

studio standard by 1987 some Les Paul

Studios were made with ebony

fingerboards along with the traditional

Rosewood depending on availability and

cost of Woods at Gibson early Studio

models had dot inlays but by 1990 the

Les Paul crowns were being used by ' 85

Norland had decided to sell Gibson off

the last of their instrument divisions

to go the deal was closed in January '

86 Henry jtz along with two partners

purchased the entire Gibson operation

for what was later disclosed to be $5

million the three friends had gone to

Harvard Business School together in the

late 70s Henry was a guitar player and

had a long love for the Gibson brand but

the 80s weren't a great time for

traditional shaped guitars and it was a

tough time to take over the most

historic guitar brand in the country

Henry worked to men Gibson's

relationship with Les Paul himself

understanding the importance to the

company and just when things were

looking Bleak in the time of super

strats and star-shaped guitars Along

Came Guns and Roses in 1987 with

Appetite for Destruction and there was

Slash standing out on the edge of stages

willing aless Paul doing his best

impression of Jimmy Page meets Joe Perry

ironically Slash's main guitar for that

record was a copy of a 59 built by luier

Chris Derek SL side of the guitar I

ended up in the studio with this l Paul

replica and that was my main guitar for

the first Guns and Roses tour later I

got another replica made by someone

named Max I had those two for the road

the first year Gibson had taken custom

orders for one-off guitars since 1960

and in the early 80s a small custom

operation had been set up in a corner of

the main plant in Nashville finally the

present Custom Shop was founded in a

building near the Nashville plant in

1993 staffed with Master Level luers it

became its own entity within the company

at first it continued continued to do

much the same oneoff and custom orders

along with limited runs for dealers who

wanted the late 50s correct specs on

their less PS they wanted the narrower

headstock the thinner binding on the

Cutaway the correct depth of the top

carve while the prices of the original

burst continued to rise a small but

high-end Market developed for reissues

from those golden years it was around

this time that Gibson's custom art and

historic division came into its own it's

also when JT riboff and Tom Murphy were

at the custom shop and they got the

goahead to start collecting the minutia

that would go into the new reissue specs

they went about measuring 25 different

burs from the 58 to 60 era they quickly

realized of course they were all a

little bit different for example after

years of measuring guitars they found

that the neck angles varied from as much

as 52 degre to 4° riboff said that they

realized they got to the point where

they wanted to be more of a replica

rather than a reissue Gibson R&D built

two prototypes and they took them to be

displayed at n in 1993 those guitars

ended up going to slash and Brian Adams

the realization that they were trying to

replicate rather than emulate the

original guitar along with having

collected the building Talent necessary

at the custom shop was the Breakthrough

that was so long overdue reissue after

reissue model have rolled out copying

down the tiniest detail of the guitars

of the Year being reissued add the

famous custom shop relicing to the

instruments and you might well wonder

how you can tell the reissues from The

Originals well from 1993 onward the

reissues all carry an ink stamp at in

the control panel denoting the year of

the model they are copying R9 for 59 R8

for 58 r0 for 60 R2 for 52 Etc Gibson's

also gone on to do runs based on famous

guitars of Billy Gibbons Jimmy pagee

Peter Green Mark knofler Paul kasof Eric

Clapton and Joe bamasa among

them it's a handful to try to make a

history of such an important guitar

while making a video short enough that

folks want to watch it hence these short

iies I'm often questioned about where I

decide to finish the overall video and

it's generally where the company is

looking back to their history for how

best to build the guitars now I've gone

on to make special videos on bursts

Customs specials Juniors and SGS with

more detail on each model than it fit

here but I hope I've given you the sense

of the depth and importance of the

Gibson Les Paul and the history that

contributed to how it's been built over

the years first I need to thank Jeff

maeran and John Cordy for sharing their

great playing on their Les Pauls for a

pair of self- profess Strat guys they

always seem to be having fun when

they're playing a Lester along with a

lot of Internet research two excellent

books helped in pulling this video

together the Gibson Les Paul The

Illustrated history of the guitar that

changed Rock by Dave Hunter and the Les

Paul guitar book by Tony bacon I'd like

to thank Dave honor of Dojo guitar

repair in Atlanta he has over 30 years

of experience with vintage guitars and

is my final fact check for these videos

I need to thank a new member of the five

wat world team video editor Bronson

Wagner these these videos are very

personal for me and I'm delighted to be

working with such a like-minded musician

graphic designer and editor who gets all

that I want to thank everyone that

stopped by the online store and picked

up a t-shirt hoodie hat or a barber 5w

World bus pedal and in particular I need

to thank the friends of 5 wat it's the

guitar Community I've always wanted

you're all five wat world I just make

the videos If you like this video you

can go down the rabbit hole of the

individual videos and different Les Paul

models that I've made in the years since

the links of all of those are in the

description

thanks for hanging with me until the end

until next time I'm Keith Williams

thanks for being a part of the five wild

world

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