Link to Gear Page thread: Ace Frehley's Les Paul $999,999.00 | The Gear Page
Gorgeous example of a '50’s sunburst. Apparently used through Destroyer.
That is one awesome guitar.
More of a tiger stripe than a sunburst, but gorgeous whatever you call it.
Fortunately for me, I already own a '71 Les Paul Custom with a cherry sunburst (and gold hardware) so I can pass on this one.
Have you read Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, and Revolution of the Electric Guitar by two veterans of Guitar World magazine?
Almost everything in it was new to me, and I was especially blown away by the long pre-Les Paul history that rewrites everything I’ve previously read about his priority.
As you might imagine, I’ve read my share of Guitars in America books. But not that one; it’s now on my list. Thanks. I tend to think of Guitar World as the bad tabloid of guitar mags, so probably filtered it out on that basis. But it sounds interesting. Not sure what you mean by “Les Paul’s priority.” Have to read and see.
And, by the way, did Kiss have some amazing guitars or what? The bible for Holy Grail sunburst '58-'60 Les Pauls is Beauty of the Burst: https://www.amazon.com/BEAUTY-BURST-SOFTCOVER-Yasuhiko-Iwanade/dp/0793573742
Featured on the cover is a guitar referred to as the Stanley Burst. Paul bought and sold it years ago, but damn.
I’ve read many times of “the log” and how that changed everything and led to today’s electric guitars. Turns out that even the log was done well before him, not to mention several major companies with basic innovations.
I’m by no means an expert on any of this. I’ve just read articles on electric guitar history here and there, not in specialty publications. This may be all old stuff to aficionados.
Ah, got it. So stuff like Rickenbacker’s “frying pans” and other attempts at solidbodies in the 30’s up through the Bigsby Travis guitar? Cool. But Les is still Les and the Log is still legendary.
The sustain… listen to it.
The Log doesn’t turn up until p59. The first chapter is about George Beauchamp, whom I never heard of. The first illustration is of a 1937 patent for a “frying pan.” But it’s Beauchamp’s patent, not Rickenbacker’s. And it went into production and was widely used. And copied.
They ask, essentially, why is the log so legendary? The answer they give is that Les Paul was a great showman and greater liar. And his name got attached to the Gibsons he had no part in designing. Yep, revisionist history. I don’t know how much heresy is in here. It was all news, fascinating news, to me.
Yeah, Beauchamp was not a business guy and had partnered with Rickenbacker. Kind of like Doc Kauffman and Leo Fender (and Paul Bigsby and Leo Fender, for that matter). So B’s name was off when he stepped back and the Ricky Frying Pans were the first solidbodies, designed for Lap Steel. I have played a few.
I think you are over-huckstering Les Paul. As a highly-visible guy, his experiments were much more in the public eye. The Log was a legitimate experiment for him. It convinced him that a solidbody had real applications. When Gibson felt the heat of the Fender Broad-then-Telecaster, they brought their design to Les Paul for “signature endorsement”, who thought it was fine enough to support - except when they got the initial tailpiece wrong and botched it - the strings were supposed to pass over the tail piece so you can mute the strings with the fleshy side of your palm; here, they passed under due to a bad neck angle. They switched to a wraparound stop bar in mid 53.
But Les never claimed design rights and didn’t need to. Another fun fact: the maple cap over mahogany body was supposed to be for their top version, the Custom. The Standard was the one that was supposed to have a 1-piece mahogany body which the Custom instead featured. Gibson simply blew the execution of Les’ request.
Looking forward to checking out the book - it’s a few spots down, but will get to it.