Comments on: So Long to the Wizard of Waukesha, Les Paul 1915-2009

By: Bill Henderson

Bill Henderson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:19:51 +0000

Thanks for commenting, Christian. I play a little jazz violin myself, so lucked out that you were there that night. Really enjoyed what you did.

By: christian howes

christian howes — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:00:36 +0000

very thoughtful article. thanks.

By: Dean Rushmore

Dean Rushmore — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:31:00 +0000

Consistent with your account, Philip has a 1961 re-issue SG with Les Paul's name on it (re-issued in 1988). I'm old enough to remember when the SG first came out. Back then the original Les Paul was perceived as "old fashioned" (e.g., something you'd see on Lawrence Welk), but I didn't like the SG either. Gibson was struggling to keep pace with Fender. Later in the '60's (towards Woodstock era) the rockers started to use the old Les Paul (as you mentioned)…It's a very heavy guitar for it's size. The SG didn't really catch on with rockers until ACDC came along.

By: Bill Henderson

Bill Henderson — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:58:00 +0000

That's right. But before the name change, a few thousand came out with "Les Paul" on the stock. They're valuable today. A woman got in touch with me when the article came out bec her husband had died & she thought she'd found a "Les Paul" guitar in his closet. Yet what she described was an SG. When I realized what she had I helped her get about $10 for it. By the way, sales were down because Gibson didn't know what they had. The biggest rock stars were already spending thousands of dollars for used Les Pauls for their throaty power and endless sustain. He said he told the Gibson suits they ought to just "stand out in the street and see what's happening." But they went into production with the SG instead, without his permission. A few years later they had their "duh" moment and got serious about marketing the "Les Pauls."

By: Dean Rushmore

Dean Rushmore — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Philip was telling me that back in the early 60's sales were down on the original Les Paul guitar. So, Gibson came out with the double cut-away. Les Paul didn't like it. So, Gibson simply called it the SG (Solid Guitar).

By: Bill Henderson

Bill Henderson — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:54:00 +0000

Kind of, just barely, but I've seen clips. Les could always see where things were going, and jumped on the chance to do these 15 minute syndicated segments. Sure enough, they were very successful in the early TV environment.

By: Dean Rushmore

Dean Rushmore — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Do you remember the Les Paul and Mary Ford show?