Les Paul (born Lester William Polsfuss), a great American musician, recently passed away on August 13, 2009 due to pneumonia complications.  Paul will always be remembered for his music, but he will especially be remembered for his contribution to the design and sound of the electric guitar.

In 1939, Paul invented one of the first electric guitars called “The Log.”  Paul was dissatisfied with conventional acoustic guitars and desired an increase in volume.  “The Log” was a solid 4″ by 4″ piece of wood with guitar strings attached.  “The Log” had a bridge, neck, and pickup.  Because of the awkward appearance, he added wooden wings to give “The Log” a traditional guitar appearance.  Paul played “The Log” in clubs and it eventually grew popular.  In 1952, Gibson Guitar Corporation approached Paul about using Paul’s design in the company’s guitars.  Paul signed a contract with Gibson, and they began selling the Les Paul solid body electric guitars with “Les Paul” on them.  Gibson soon changed the design of the guitar, and Paul revoked his contract.  Paul eventually returned to Gibson and designed other guitars in which the famous Gibson Les Paul was designed.

Paul was always interested in increasing the volume of the guitar.  At age 13, he placed a telephone receiver under the strings of a guitar.  Although the receiver barely amplified the sound, it set the stage for his creative thought process.  He later used a phonograph needle in the guitar to amplify the sounds which worked much better.

Paul also invented the multi-track recording system.  Paul recorded his guitar song onto an acetate disk and then recorded another track on top of it.  Therefore, he eventually created overlaid tracks.  The system allowed artists to record different instruments individually and then overlay them into a final harmonizing product.  In 1954, Paul worked with Ampex to build the first eight-track recording device.

In May 2005, Paul was inducted into the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame for his solid body electric guitar. Without Paul’s ingenuity, Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page and other rock-n-roll artists would not have been able to create such amazing electric guitar sounds.  Paul said “To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn’t think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system.”

Image from:  http://www.guitar-list.com/files/LP-patent.JPG

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