Why people love late '50s Les Pauls

singemonkey · 2013-05-29T07:14:14+00:00

... illustrated in a video that does not use a 1950s Les Paul. What's going on here, is that this guy loves the particular characteristics of that short run of sunburst Les Pauls so much that he got himself a replica made by well-known (in Les Paul circles) Israeli luthier, Gil Yaron. This is basically as close as you can possibly get to one of those unaffordable guitars without owning one. The point is though, that in this video this guy explains what these guitars had going for that he had to have one made exactly like it - and hence the reason that the originals are so desirable. And it's not just that many famous people played them. It's that these Les Pauls were different to 85% of those that were made since. =

Reinhard

That is a great sounding Les Paul. I don't know how loud he was playing, but it is missing something. Something the reproductions don't capture is that dry, woody almost nasal honk the originals had.

If I think burst, these tones are what I associated with it.

Clean:

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Dirtier (he loses the slide around 2 mins in):

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Chabenda

Great clips Reinhard, thanks! Seriaas tone!!

Reinhard

Chabenda wrote Great clips Reinhard, thanks! Seriaas tone!!

My pleasure. I have watched those clips soooo many times ?

singemonkey

Who is that first guy? Right up my alley. Great example of classic Les Paul tone and also a great example of the old way of controlling drive and expression from the guitar without pedals. For those who're new to it, just see how quickly he grabs at the volume knobs and the toggle switch to create a range of tones and levels of drive. That's how you do that.

The other one is certainly great, classic LP tone, but I'm not a fan of Duane Allman style slide for some reason. My go-to guys for slide are Jeremy Spencer and Mick Taylor.

Reinhard

singemonkey wrote Who is that first guy? Right up my alley. Great example of classic Les Paul tone and also a great example of the old way of controlling drive and expression from the guitar without pedals. For those who're new to it, just see how quickly he grabs at the volume knobs and the toggle switch to create a range of tones and levels of drive. That's how you do that.

The other one is certainly great, classic LP tone, but I'm not a fan of Duane Allman style slide for some reason. My go-to guys for slide are Jeremy Spencer and Mick Taylor.

Greg Martin loses the slide around the 2:00 mark in the above video.

The first guy is JD Simo. Monster player and great voice too. Pretty much guitar into plexi, has a monster sounding 335.

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Another Greg Martin clip, LP into amp. Playing starts around 0:58

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Sean

singemonkey wrote Who is that first guy? Right up my alley. Great example of classic Les Paul tone and also a great example of the old way of controlling drive and expression from the guitar without pedals. For those who're new to it, just see how quickly he grabs at the volume knobs and the toggle switch to create a range of tones and levels of drive. That's how you do that.

Oh my greatness, that was goooood ?

rikus

I don't think I saw the TDPRI thread link in this thread... If you have nothing to do this weekend read through this thread: http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/194271-1959-les-paul-build.html It is suitably epic.

His attention to detail is amazing and his approach to building is something to aspire to... he has a jig for EVERYTHING and everything is done right.

singemonkey

Yep. It's the 5% closer he gets to the originals that make his guitars cost $5,000 more than a Gibson Historic or an ESP Navigator.

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