Guitar pioneer Les Paul changed course of modern music

Some rock guitar heroes prefer Fenders while others are dedicated Les Paul fans. The latter owe a debt to a virtuosic guitarist with the mind of a tinkerer.

When it comes to solid body electric guitars musicians split into two camps. There are those who would rather play the models pioneered by Leo Fender, and there are those who swear by the Gibson Les Paul.

While Fender was the first to mass produce his invention, Les Paul deserves credit for designing the first electric guitar with a solid body. The late, great guitar player, designer and electric instrument pioneer was born a century ago today. In a long career that culminated in his induction into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, Paul helped change the course of ­popular music, not just with his guitars but also with his forays into ­multi-track recording.

Paul was born Lester William Polfuss on June 9, 1915. His father George owned a successful car repair business in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Les inherited his dad’s tinkering ability. His mother sang him German lullabies, perhaps sparking his love of music.

At a young age he taught himself harmonica, and later attempted piano before moving on to the guitar. By the age of 13 he was playing in a local country music band.

While playing around roadhouses and drive-in diners he decided he needed some amplification for his harmonica and singing, so he rigged up a ­microphone using his mother’s telephone, with a speaker taken from his mother’s radio.

Les Paul and his wife Mary Ford in 1951.

When someone said they couldn’t hear his guitar he figured out a way to attach the needle from a phonograph to pick up the ­vibrations and plugged that in to a speaker from his father’s radio.

The 1920s and ’30s, when Paul began developing his guitars, was a time of great experimentation with guitars. The first commercially produced electric guitar was a ­collaborative invention created by George Beauchamp, Paul Barth and Harry Watson in 1930. It was mass produced from 1932 under the brand name Rickenbacker, but its round steel body led to it being dubbed the “frying pan”.

Many of the models that followed were essentially acoustic guitars with electric pick-ups. Many of them ­suffered badly from problems with ­unwanted vibrations and feedback. But Paul was determined to improve on that technology. After some years of tinkering he came up with his first solid ­electric guitar in 1941. It was ­nicknamed “the log” because it was essentially a solid lump of wood with electric pick-ups.

By then he had moved away from playing country and formed his own jazz ensemble, the Les Paul Trio, who occasionally backed big stars such as Bing Crosby, the ­Andrew Sisters and Rudee Vallee.

Unhappy with the sound of some of the recordings he had made, he was advised by Crosby to set up his own recording studio, which he did in his own home.

Getting one of the earliest reel-to-reel tape recorders through a ­recording industry contact of ­Crosby’s Paul worked out how to add an extra recording head so that he could overdub tracks. It was the birth of multitrack recording, which had become commonplace by the 50s.

In 1945 Paul met country singer Colleen Summers, with whom he began performing. She later adopted the stage name Mary Ford and the professional partnership became a personal one. In 1949 Paul divorced his first wife, Virginia Webb who he had married in 1938, and married Summers. They would have several hits including Vaya Con Dios which hit No.1 in 1953.

Paul had used components of Gibson electric guitars to make his own for some years and in 1952 he was approached by Gibson to ­design a solid guitar for them. ­Although Fender had beaten them to the market, many people ­considered the Gibson Les Paul the superior product.

Although he briefly broke with the company in the ’60s when they produced a new Les Paul model that he didn’t like, he returned to the fold to endorse later models.

In 1973 Paul was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame with ­­ex-wife Mary Ford (they divorced in 1964). He continued recording and performing well into his 90s and died in 2009.

Les Paul was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1973.

LES PAUL’S GREATEST HITS

It’s Been A Long Long Time (1945) written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, recorded with Bing Crosby.

Rumours Are Flying (1946) by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss, recorded with the Andrew Sisters and Vic Scheen’s orchestra.

Tennessee Waltz (1950) a remake of a song with lyrics by Redd Stewart and music by
Pee Wee King, recorded with Mary Ford.

Vaya Con Dios (1953) written by Larry Russell, Inez James and Buddy Pepper, recorded with Mary Ford.