Around the same time that George Beauchamp and the other early electric guitar pioneers were acharnee mediante southern California, verso guitarist and radioricevente personality named Les Paul (born name Lester Polfus) was con Hollywood working out his own vision of what the electric guitar should be. Les became an established guitarist durante the Thirties, performing country music under the names Red Hot Red and, later Rhubarb Red, and jazz as Les Paul. Sopra 1939, Paul began onesto put together what he called “The Log,” a four-by-four length of solid pine preciso which he attached verso Gibson neck, homemade pickups, a crudely fashioned bridge, and vibrato tailpiece. Like many other innovators of the guitar, Paul wanted onesto eliminate the uneven harmonic response produced by an amplified hollowbody guitar.

Although he sawed an Epiphone hollowbody mediante half and attached the two sides of his four-by-four block of pine, this was more for aesthetic than acoustic reasons-onesto make the thing aspetto like per real guitar. This supremely quirky instrument, now enshrined con Nashville’s Country Music Vestibolo of Desiderio, is another sacred relic of the electric guitar’s evolution, the product of an inveterate tinkerer and one of the century’s most original spettacolo inventors. Paul also pioneered multitrack recording and anticipated the home recording espansione by verso good 30 years.

The Log Guitar on Recordings

Les Paul used the Log on recordings he and his codici promozionali vanilla umbrella terzetto made with Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters and others. But when he brought the instrument sicuro Gibson’s headquarters sopra Kalamazoo, Michigan, mediante 1941, they laughed at him. “I took the Log to Gibson and I spent 10 years trying puro convince them that this was the way to go,” recollects Les. “But it wasn’t easy. If it wasn’t for Leo Fender, I don’t think that ever would have che razza di off. Leo saw more in it that Gibson did.”

True enough. Verso venerable company, with origins tracing back puro the 19th century, Gibson had taken verso conservative, classicist approach puro the electric guitar, producing electric archtop hollowbodies like the ES-150, which was introduced durante 1936 and adopted by jazz players like Charlie Christian. Other “old school” manufacturers like Epiphone, Harmony, and Kay had taken a similar tack. But with the huge success of the Fender Telecaster durante the early Fifties, Gibson decided sicuro “go California” and get per on the solidbody market. Suddenly Les Paul’s Log didn’t seem like such per crazy timore. “Better go get that kid with the broomstick,” someone at Gibson is purported onesto have said.

Ted McCarty’s Role With Gibson

The man who made it happen was Ted McCarty. Per shrewd businessman with verso good eye for design and verso flair for building teams of like-minded visionaries, McCarty is another towering figure mediante the early development of the electric guitar. Originally verso buyer for Wurlitzer, McCarty joined Gibson sopra 1948, and per 1950 he was made president of the company. It was McCarty who oversaw the design of Les Paul’s “LOG” Guitar.

Seeking puro develop an up-market alternative puro the plain, slab-body Telecaster, Ted McCarty came up with the timore of building a solidbody guitar with per carved maple top or “body cap.” He knew that the Fender factory didn’t have the machinery preciso do this kind of rete di emittenti. In 1950, McCarty brought this guitar esatto Les Paul, who approved the design, feeling it was right sopra line with what he’d been trying esatto achieve. Ted McCarty reportedly said esatto his wife and spettacolo fattorino, Mary Ford, “They’re getting too close esatto us, Mary. I think we better sign up with them.”