Monday, January 18, 2010

Les Paul Guitars: Expensive? Not Anymore

By: Joe Nevak

Les Paul was a famous guitarist as well as being an originator;
therefore it is only natural that Les Paul guitars would be in
demand. A pioneer in the field of electric guitars since the
time electric guitars had been invented was the company Gibson.
It is said that it was the genius of Les Paul which found the
solid body electric guitar, which at the beginning looked very
strange as he had attached a piece of wood to the neck of his
Epiphone guitar to reduce the feed back as he was trying to
amplify the sound produced by his guitar. It was not unless and
until he had attached a set of wings on to the side of the extra
wood to make his guitars seem somewhat normal, that his act was
free of ridicule.

The collaboration that resulted in the production of the famous
Gibson Les Paul guitars was born out of necessity on both the
sides. Gibson wanted to launch a solid body electric guitar in
the name of an already established guitarist while Les Paul
alone could not achieve the feat of launching his inventions
into the market and thus, the partnership between the company
and the guitarist was born. Gibson knew that Les Paul was the
best guitarist of the times and so it would always be profitable
for the company to launch guitars in his name, especially as he
was already famous for inventing his own unique guitars sold by
Leo Fender, his friend. Les Paul accepted Gibson's terms to
endorse the new guitars in his name, but made a few alterations
to the designs of the instrument.

The main difference in between solid body guitars of other
brands and Gibson Les Paul guitars is in the latter's string
arrangement. They are mounted "hollow body style" on top of the
guitar in a Les Paul, while in other guitars, the strings pass
right through the body. One thing to be noted though, is the
fact that this is not something that has any effect on the sound
quality of the guitar as the arrangement is simply for style
alone. The flashy inserts on the neck and the headstock of the
Les Paul guitars add more to the chic factor. The more weighty
and thick solid body Les Paul guitars are made from the finest
of woods, after all, what can be expected from a world class
company like Gibson and a master guitarist who's very invention
was nicknamed "The Log"!

Ibanez and Tokai faced lawsuit when they actually copied the Les
Paul guitar style from Gibson without their permission, but the
dispute have only managed to make the original Les Pauls a more
desirable solid body guitar for the collector. There were also a
few bass guitars that were sold by Gibson for a decade from 1969
to 1979. Classic, New Century, Supreme, Standard, Studio
Baritone, Melody Maker, Studio, Goddess, Menace, Special, Vixen,
and Doublecuts are the main models that came out under the Les
Paul endorsement and each were unique in the sound that they
produced.

About the author:
Joe Nevak is an author writing about music related topics, and
you are invited to visit his website covering number of aspects
about musical
instruments
& Les Paul Guitars.

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