Les Paul, June 9, 1915 - Aug. 13, 2009
(Music • )
My hands are too small to properly play the classic wide-necked, brick-heavy electric guitar he created before I was born, but I sure like the sounds that come out of the older models. (And you can bet this new beauty can get the job done, too.)
Before anyone else even dreamed of such a thing, Les Paul figured out how to stretch strings across a solid piece of wood and wire the whole mess to a box full of tubes that CRANKED that sound out, buddy.
The guy was a musical-mechanical genius, and made guitar pickups and recording devices out of household junk and appliances. Somewhere around 1958, when I was seven years old, Les Paul conceived and built the first eight-track studio recorder, making him father to the Beatles White Album in a way.
A lot of happiness oozed out into the world via Les Paul’s tinkering, even if it still wakes up the neighbors once in a while.
Happy Trails, Señor.
→ B.Dunn, Aug 13, 2009, 09 07 pm
