The Wizard of Waukesha Les Paul did bring Gibson Corp his 'log" which was a a block of wood neck with pickups on it. It didn't fly with Gibson however, the Gibson 335, which I have is basically a "log" with wings added. Perhaps Les Paul got ripped off. It must be stated that Les Paul was first and foremost a guitarist performer much like Chet Atkins except Les Paul had his own TV show in the States called the Les Paul and Mary Ford Hour. In fact he and Chet released some duo work. Gibson needed an endorser. Enter Les Paul. There were times when Les Paul argued with the company as when Gibson changed the Les Paul to the SG body style, for 2 or 3 years in the early 60's, again one of which I have, a 1962 Les Paul Custom with 3 pickups. Les did not like the design and word has it Gibson changed the design without Les' knowledge. Les left the company. But I remember having an old Guitar Player issue back in the 70's that had an article on Les Paul entitled The Wizard of Waukesha and it showed photos of Les holding the same white 1962 Les Paul Custom I have which became the father of the SG, so as for Les' on again off again relation with Gibson, it will be for history to dig up and decide.
For this reason I tend to look at Les Paul's major contribution to music as number one, his artistry and song hits as he was a great picker of his day. And to have a TV show back in those times in the US, you had to have something going for you. He had some major song hits with Mary Ford.
Technologically, Les Paul's
greatest contribution is the advent of the multi track recording idea and also the use of tape recorder heads to achieve echo. So every time you Cubase or other recording software users create umpteenth tracks on your computers, you have Les Paul to thank for that idea. Before computers, it was multi track tape machines that went from 1 track to 2 track to 4 and then 8 to 16, 24 to 32 and cost as much as a well built 3 bedroom home to buy. But it was The WIZARD OF WAUKESHA that came up with that idea using acetate discs (the mother stamp of vinyl records..you know 33 and 1/3.. oh you don't remember those..? sorry) at first making an acetate track of each take and then summing them. Just imagine how many times and takes Les must have done to achieve one song and each acetate copy could not be used again. No cut/paste/delete for him in those days. There were other inventions that Les made that had to do with cutting the vinyl for records, using flywheels from a car engine which to you CD iPod generation Y and Z have no knowledge of unless you have cool parents. Then the great singer Bing Crosby gave Les a tape recorder using actual tape and that's where the rubber met the road for Les and the invention of the multi track recording system. Today we take this type of recording for granted and it has become the standard of the industry. As far as the guitar The Les Paul, it was mostly his name and his endorsement, not the design work as like that we know of Leo Fender's work. Ted McCarty, then president of Gibson is credited for designing the Les Paul.
Les Paul and 'the log."
Les Paul and Mary Ford multi tracking.
Check out Les and Mary on you tube multi tracking..
feature=related