R.I.P. Les Paul

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

He made it to 94 years of age, won two Grammys for an album released after his 90th birthday, and probably did more for the guitar than anyone. We'll never see a natural talent like him again.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539288,00.html

[W3SLK]

I just got finished reading that before I checked in here. What a shame.  But he did live till age 94. And the way I understand it, he was still playing at one of NYC's nightclubs once a week.
 

[w1vtp]

I loved his music.  He was a true pioneer

Al

[W2XR]

Les Paul is also generally regarded nowadays as the father of multi-track tape recording. He worked very closely with Ampex in the late 1940s and early 1950s to develop the first 8-track tape recording system, using a much-modified Ampex model 300 recorder. A friend of mine used to service that machine for him at Les Paul's QTH in Mahwah, NJ.

Many of his records with Mary Ford, who was his ex-wife,  employed the multi-track tape recording technique. Listen sometime to "How High the Moon" and you can clearly hear the effect, particularly with regard to Mary's vocals.

I seem to recall the name of the club in NYC where he played up to the point of his death as being "Fat Tuesdays", but I could very well be mistaken on this. Glad I checked, and W2VW is correct: Les Paul began a Monday-evening residency at a Greenwich Village club called Fat Tuesday, which continued from 1984 until 1995. He did not start playing at the Iridium Club until later.

73,

Bruce

[W2VW]

Les Paul had a regular Monday night gig at the Iridium Club in NYC.

A few of us went to see him about a year and a half ago. Great show.

R.I.P.

[k4kyv]

I believe he invented the solid electric guitar.  Apparently he was quite a tinkerer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YA_RINQySU

[W2DU]

Not to take anything away from the memory of the great Les Paul, and what he accomplished, including inventing the electric guitar, but I'd like to tell what I did with the violin.

In one of the big bands I led during my college days, the Bandoliers, we had a very talented classical and jazz violinist. One doesn't usually consider a violin as a useful instrument in a band composed primarily of brass and reed instruments playing rather loudly. But I had been involved with sound amplification for several years, and one of the record playback instruments I built contained an Astatic crystal pickup--the kind where a needle is inserted and fastened in with a hand screw.

This was in 1937. I made a bracket of thin sheet brass and bolted it to the tail stock of the violin to hold the Astatic pickup with the needle riding on the vertical edge of the bridge. The pickup was held in place with a rubber band, keeping the needle tightly fitted against the bridge.

The amplified signal from the pickup was phenomenal, with much better tonal response than with the violin played into a microphone. As a result, the violinist played solos at any volume level that was necessary to be heard over the brass and reeds.

I'm attaching a photo the Bandoliers with the violinist in front at the right. If you enlarge the photo you can see the brass bracket on the tail piece of his violin. The pickup was not attached during the photo session.

I don't remember the year when Les Paul came up with the electric guitar, but I came up with the electric violin in 1937. Similar pickups are now common on violins, and especially bass violins.

Walt

[W3SLK]

Dave said:

Les Paul had a regular Monday night gig at the Iridium Club in NYC.

That was the name I was looking for. You got it right. Ron, WA3WBC went up there one night and got a photo with himself and Les together. That same year, he went up with the photo and got Les to autograph it.

Walt said:

Similar pickups are now common on violins, and especially bass violins.

I always thought they were refered to as a 'bass fiddle.' 

[W2XR]

Les Paul had a regular Monday night gig at the Iridium Club in NYC.

A few of us went to see him about a year and a half ago. Great show.

R.I.P.

Glad I checked, and W2VW is correct: Les Paul began a Monday-evening residency at a Greenwich Village club called Fat Tuesday, which continued from 1984 until 1995. He did not start playing at the Iridium Club until later.

73,

Bruce

[W2XR]

I believe he invented the solid electric guitar.  Apparently he was quite a tinkerer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YA_RINQySU

Hi Don,

I first saw this extremely cool video on YouTube about a year ago, and recall sending it off to several buddies of mine that are also enthusiasts of the older, classic vacuum tube audio technology. It's hard to believe that this video (most probably a kinescope, since it predates video tape recording by 3 years) is now 56 years old.

In the video, you can clearly see the pair of Ampex 401 mono tape machines used for the on-air over-dubbing demonstration, along with those classic and beautiful RCA 44BX microphones with the CBS network flag on them.

Yes, Les Paul was quite an audio experimenter for most of his life, and we all owe him and Ampex a debt of gratitude for his invention of multi-track audio recording.

Mary Ford, his ex-wife who died in 1977, was obviously quite an attractive woman, at least by the standards of the early 1950s.

73,

Bruce

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Very interesting. Possibly the very first electric violin.

Others "invented" the electric guitar well before Les Paul by placing pickups on the hollow body arch top guitars of the day (the standard guitars found in the jazz and swing bands). Les Paul invented, perfected or greatly improved the solid body version of the electric guitar.

His influence on music from the 1950's on is huge, not even fully appreciated by most people.

Not to take anything away from the memory of the great Les Paul, and what he accomplished, including inventing the electric guitar, but I'd like to tell what I did with the violin.

In one of the big bands I led during my college days, the Bandoliers, we had a very talented classical and jazz violinist. One doesn't usually consider a violin as a useful instrument in a band composed primarily of brass and reed instruments playing rather loudly. But I had been involved with sound amplification for several years, and one of the record playback instruments I built contained an Astatic crystal pickup--the kind where a needle is inserted and fastened in with a hand screw.

This was in 1937. I made a bracket of thin sheet brass and bolted it to the tail stock of the violin to hold the Astatic pickup with the needle riding on the vertical edge of the bridge. The pickup was held in place with a rubber band, keeping the needle tightly fitted against the bridge.

The amplified signal from the pickup was phenomenal, with much better tonal response than with the violin played into a microphone. As a result, the violinist played solos at any volume level that was necessary to be heard over the brass and reeds.

I'm attaching a photo the Bandoliers with the violinist in front at the right. If you enlarge the photo you can see the brass bracket on the tail piece of his violin. The pickup was not attached during the photo session.

I don't remember the year when Les Paul came up with the electric guitar, but I came up with the electric violin in 1937. Similar pickups are now common on violins, and especially bass violins.

Walt

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Les Paul is also generally regarded nowadays as the father of multi-track tape recording. He worked very closely with Ampex in the late 1940s and early 1950s to develop the first 8-track tape recording system, using a much-modified Ampex model 300 recorder. A friend of mine used to service that machine for him at Les Paul's QTH in Mahwah, NJ.

His first multi-track recording were actually done with acetate disks.

[W2XR]

Les Paul is also generally regarded nowadays as the father of multi-track tape recording. He worked very closely with Ampex in the late 1940s and early 1950s to develop the first 8-track tape recording system, using a much-modified Ampex model 300 recorder. A friend of mine used to service that machine for him at Les Paul's QTH in Mahwah, NJ.

His first multi-track recording were actually done with acetate disks.

Hi Steve,

No kidding!  I did not know that. I wonder how that approach worked, with possible synchronization issues due to unavoidable motor speed and drift variations, etc., if he used multiple turntables, etc.

Unless he used an early two-channel phonographic system similar to that developed by a fellow named Emory Cook; basically a tone arm with two side-by-side reproduction cartridges on it. The cutting lathe employed a head with pair of cutters, also in a side-by-side configuration. The spacing distance between the cutting and reproduction transducers was extremely critical, so as to minimize tracking issues, not to mention the inherent tracking errors due to one of the reproduction cartridges always being significantly closer to the center of the acetate disk.

73,

Bruce

[K6JEK]

When I saw him at the Iridium a couple of years ago, he wasn't playing a Les Paul, at least not what you and I think of as a Les Paul.  It was a custom something with a lot of switches.  Since he was playing it, though, I guess it was a Les Paul.

He invited a visiting guitarist from N Carolina (don't remember the name) to join.  This guy, obviously a pro and half, was like a nervous kid.  I'm sure I would have been just as nervous if I were good enough to be on that stage.  It was touching, really.  Paul could still play just fine and had the audience in his palm, seemed healthy, happy, in great spirits.  It's a concert I'll always remember.

A great one is gone but he left us a legacy.

[W2JBL]

    that guitar Les had at the Irridium was a Gibson "Les Paul Recording" model. I have one, and there are not a lot of them around. the only other guy I know of that used one was the guitar player in the (rock) band Chicago, circa 1970. this is a Les Paul style body and neck, with low impeadence humbucking pickups in unusually shaped oval black plastic housings. Les had a Bigsby whammy bar on his. the big black bakelite plate with all the switches contains bass and treble controls, a high/low impeadence switch, a phase switch to put the pickups out of phase, the usual neck/both/bridge pickup selector, and a switch to cut the tone control circuit in and out. the last knob is a three position treble cut swtich. all this is passive by the way, no batteries required. my version has a standard 1/4" phone jack for the output, and is unbalanced. Les's had an Xlr connector and ran balanced.

     the guitar has an amazing HI-FI sound to it, totally different from a standard Les Paul. it's best when run LO-Z into a good mixer. run Hi-Z (with it's internal matching transformer) the output is a lot lower than a standard Les Paul, but the sound is still way better than a stock L.P. with Hi-Z humbuckers. either way you run it, if you go straight into the board or house PA (as I do) the resulting sound is amazing. typical guitar amps never do it justice, as they are too restricted. I have used it on most of the recordings I have done with Bob K1KBW. it is extremely versitle and can emulate Strat, Tele, and even Gretsch or Rickenbacker tones with ease, while of course getting the genuine L.P. sustain and humbucker sound with enhanced fidelity. Les called it the "LesPaulverizer", and for good reason. I have had mine for about 35 years, and to this day it's the only solid body electric guitar I need. I have many other guitars, but this is my only solidbody, as it can do it ALL and more.

[WA9UDW]

A bit of trivia:

http://blog.cakewalk.com/remembering-the-original-guitar-hero-les-paul/

73,
Terry

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

His first multi-track recording were actually done with acetate disks.

Yeah, acetate/shellac and multiple records made adding and combining additional tracks each time. His first tape machine was actually a German unit captured in France during WWII.

A truly amazing man of many talents.

[K6JEK]

    that guitar Les had at the Irridium was a Gibson "Les Paul Recording" model. I have one, and there are not a lot of them around. the only other guy I know of that used one was the guitar player in the (rock) band Chicago, circa 1970. this is a Les Paul style body and neck, with low impeadence humbucking pickups in unusually shaped oval black plastic housings. Les had a Bigsby whammy bar on his. the big black bakelite plate with all the switches contains bass and treble controls, a high/low impeadence switch, a phase switch to put the pickups out of phase, the usual neck/both/bridge pickup selector, and a switch to cut the tone control circuit in and out. the last knob is a three position treble cut swtich. all this is passive by the way, no batteries required. my version has a standard 1/4" phone jack for the output, and is unbalanced. Les's had an Xlr connector and ran balanced.

     the guitar has an amazing HI-FI sound to it, totally different from a standard Les Paul. it's best when run LO-Z into a good mixer. run Hi-Z (with it's internal matching transformer) the output is a lot lower than a standard Les Paul, but the sound is still way better than a stock L.P. with Hi-Z humbuckers. either way you run it, if you go straight into the board or house PA (as I do) the resulting sound is amazing. typical guitar amps never do it justice, as they are too restricted. I have used it on most of the recordings I have done with Bob K1KBW. it is extremely versitle and can emulate Strat, Tele, and even Gretsch or Rickenbacker tones with ease, while of course getting the genuine L.P. sustain and humbucker sound with enhanced fidelity. Les called it the "LesPaulverizer", and for good reason. I have had mine for about 35 years, and to this day it's the only solid body electric guitar I need. I have many other guitars, but this is my only solidbody, as it can do it ALL and more.

Thanks for the information.  I didn't know about this instrument.

[KB3DKS]

  Also check out the cover story in 1958 Radio-Electronics magazine featuring Les Paul with his Gibson guitar and his home recording studio called "The Monster".

 If I can find my copy could possibly scan it for those interested.

Bill,
KB3DKS in 1 Land
 

[KC4VWU]

     I believe he also did some "pirate broadcasting" from his home back in the day. I believe the article was in Popular Communications about a year ago. I own 2 Les Pauls; a Standard and a Deluxe. The guitar is an Icon and the man will always be a Legend.
Phil KC4VWU