Gibson’s Les Paul and ES-335 are two of the most celebrated models ever made – but their roots lie in a radical design known as the Log.
Responsible for the world’s first solidbody electric , Les Paul is rightly regarded as a legend in the music industry. By the late 1920s, we’d already seen electrified instruments – people had been electrifying their archtop and flat-top acoustic s for years. It wasn’t until 1940 or so when Les Paul would radically alter music history with the introduction of an incredible prototype.
Les Paul began construction on what would become the Log in 1939 after befriending Epiphone owner Epi Stathopoulo. Epi gave Les the keys to the company’s New York factory, where Les worked on the design after hours.
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His somewhat crude invention consisted of a four-inch by four-inch block of pine, on which he attached a neck, bridge and pickups. He played the instrument live but people were initially bewildered by its unorthodox appearance. No matter. Les Paul had a clever response.
The luthier cut an Epiphone hollowbody in two and attached the two halves to either side of his four-by-four-inch slab. It was now essentially a through-neck construction, only with a separate neck piece. But, crucially, it looked not unlike a regular . Its central pine slab also reduced feedback issues and increased sustain, while the also featured a vibrato bridge patented by Doc Kauffman, the Vibrola. This is the Log as we know it.
It’s entirely possible, too, that Epiphone would’ve put the design into production if not for some unfortunate timing – shortly after the was finished, war broke out and, not long later, Epi would pass away.
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During the first rumblings of the Second World War in 1941, Les then presented the Log to Gibson at their Kalamazoo headquarters. But Gibson thought the design too odd to be a marketable commodity. The company was in stiff competition with other hollowbody archtop builders such as Epiphone, Harmony and Kay, and didn’t want to roll the dice on a revisionist design.
Meanwhile, builders like Leo Fender and Paul Bigsby were taking note of Les Paul’s invention. Bigsby created the first modern solidbody for Merle Travis in the late 1940s, which featured a headstock strikingly similar to the one we’d later see on the Fender Stratocaster. Leo tried his hand at the solidbody in 1950 with the Esquire, which later became the Broadcaster and then the Telecaster.
The success of the Tele in the early 1950s gave Gibson the wise idea to get back in touch with Les Paul. Ted McCarty had been brought onboard in 1948 and, in 1950, when he became president of Gibson, he helped spearhead the design of a solidbody with a carved maple top with Les Paul.
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Gibson was still wary that to properly enter the solidbody market, they’d have to somewhat abandon their hollowbody s. They even reportedly considered leaving the name Gibson off their new solidbody and putting only Les Paul’s name on the headstock. But in 1952, a design was finalised and approved by Les Paul; it’d changed very little from its original design. Les made a percentage of the royalties on sales of the Les Paul design, as it was based on his original concept and drawings.
The carved top helped make this radical new solidbody more palatable to hollowbody archtop players. Furthermore, McCarty knew that Fender didn’t have the machinery to mass-produce carved tops at the time, making this a particularly shrewd move. Later, Gibson would introduce a long line of flat-top solidbody electric s, including the Explorer, the Flying V, and the SG, which originally retained the Les Paul name.
Les Paul was not the only one to pitch a solidbody design to Gibson. The company had been approached by OW Appleton, a builder from Iowa in 1943, whose ‘App’ design had a cutaway and was reminiscent of a modern Gibson Les Paul. Appleton knew some people at Gibson and was able to use a Gibson neck and pickup on his prototype. The modern Les Paul may have taken inspiration from Appleton’s design too, a detail too often buried in the sands of time.
Les Paul's “the Log” Guitar, Circa 1939
Even after the release of Gibson’s Les Paul, the brand would continue drawing from the Log. In 1958, McCarty unveiled a new design in the company’s long-standing ES series, the ES-335.
The ES series started in 1936 with the ES-150 but, up until the 335, they were all hollowbodies. The ES-335 was unique in that it blended solidbody and hollowbody designs, with a solid maple block running through its centre. McCarty came up with the idea to place a solid block of maple in an acoustic to grant it the same tones as a regular solidbody, while the instrument’s hollow wings would vibrate, giving the best of both worlds.
The ES-335 was more refined than the Log – thinner and with solid caps spanning the top and back. But its core ideas can easily be traced back to the Les Paul design.
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The Log remains a revered and important part of music history. The currently resides in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. Today, its progenitors the Les Paul and ES-335 are two of Gibson’s flagship models.
1 “We’re a very loud band. The energy from that contributes to the way we play” How Dusk blend punk and Americana to create a three- barnburner
2 “We can scream and wail to show rage, and also create these beautiful harmonies that show solidarity and love”: HAWXX on the pure catharsis of metalLester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and invtor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his prototype, called the Log, served as inspiration for the Gibson Les Paul. Paul taught himself how to play guitar, and while he is mainly known for jazz and popular music, he had an early career in country music.
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His licks, trills, chording sequces, fretting techniques, and timing set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many guitarists of the prest day.
Among his many honors, Paul is one of a handful of artists with a permant exhibit in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He is promintly named by the music museum on its website as an architect and a key inductee with Sam Phillips and Alan Freed.
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His only sibling, Ralph, was sev years older. Paul's mother was related to the founders of Milwaukee's Valtin Blatz Brewing Company and the makers of the Stutz automobile.
His mother simplified their Prussian family name first to Polfuss, th to Polfus, although Les Paul never legally changed his name. Before taking the stage name Les Paul, he performed as Red Hot Red
At the age of eight, Paul began playing the harmonica. After learning the piano, he switched to the banjo and guitar. During this time, Paul invted a neck-worn harmonica holder, which allowed him to play both sides of the harmonica, hands-free, while performing on the banjo and guitar. Les Paul’s hands-free design is still widely manufactured today.
Musician And Inventor Les Paul.
By age thirte, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country-music singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. While playing at Waukesha area drive-ins and roadhouses, Paul began his first experimt with sound. Wanting to make his acoustic guitar heard by more people at the local vues, he wired a phonograph needle to his guitar and connected it to a radio speaker.
At age sevte, Paul played with Rube Tronson's Texas Cowboys, and soon after he dropped out of high school to team up with Sunny Joe Wolverton's Radio Band in St. Louis, Missouri, on KMOX.
Paul and Wolverton moved to Chicago in 1934, where they continued to perform country music on radio station WBBM and at the 1934 Chicago World's Fair. While in Chicago, Paul learned jazz from the great performers on Chicago's Southside. During the day, he played country music as Rhubarb Red on the radio. At night, he was Les Paul, playing jazz. He met pianist Art Tatum, whose playing influced him to continue with the guitar rather than play jazz on the piano.
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His first two records were released in 1936, credited to Rhubarb Red, Paul's hillbilly alter ego. He also served as an accompanist for other bands signed to Decca. During this time, he began adding differt sounds and adopted his stage name of Les Paul.
Following World War II, Paul sought out and made frids with Reinhardt. Wh Reinhardt died in 1953, Paul paid for part of the funeral's cost.
Landing a featured spot with Fred Waring's radio show. Chet Atkins later wrote that his brother, home on a family visit, prested him with an expsive Gibson archtop guitar that Les Paul had giv to Jim. Chet recalled that it was the first professional-quality instrumt he ever owned.
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Paul nearly succumbed to electrocution. During two years of recuperation, he moved to Chicago where he was the music director for radio stations WJJD and WIND. In 1943, he moved to Hollywood where he performed on radio and formed
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