Les Paul has died
A tribute from Billy Beck, who, frankly, doesn’t say a lot of nice things about any thing.
I have a Gibson Les Paul around here somewhere. I haven’t picked it up since probably 2003. Doesn’t even have strings on it. Sits in a closet next to two new packs of strings that I bought two years ago planning on picking the thing up again. I guess I should probably string it up soon.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:01 am
I have a ’74 Les Paul Recording Model. Thing of beauty. Time for some new strings and a few licks in tribute. No “Stairway”, I promise.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:31 am
“…who, frankly, doesn’t say a lot of nice things about any thing.”
{cackle} Of course, I do. I just don’t do it online.
So, anyway…
“I have a Gibson Les Paul around here somewhere.”
{blink} That’s like saying, “I have a Harley around here somewhere…” or, “Theres an M-2 around here somewhere…”
What the hell’s wrong with you? Good god. I have a Les Paul around here, too: within arm’s reach right now, with a pick in the tuned strings and ready to go. This is about life, man. Jeezis. I don’t know how to put this to you, but every second that goes by without you touching that guitar is life going by without touching your guitar. Where’s your conscience, dewd?
Now, look. You simply must string that guitar and play it. What the hell is it? (What year, model, etc.?) This won’t do.
What can I do to help?
ML: ’74 Recording model, huh? That’s pretty unusual. They’re strange beasts, but worth keeping. Good for you.
In the immortal words of Frank Zappa: “Shut up and play yer guitar.” They’re words to live by.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Honestly, I just got tired of playing for a bit and never got around to picking it back up. I fancied myself a musician at one point and once we stopped playing, I stopped. Last show was about ’03. Here’s a taste, if you’re bored.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Am I to understand that you are actually playing in that recording?
It’s not my style at all, but if you’re playing in that ensemble, then I say that you have a significant investment in your skills which you are currently neglecting.
I’ve seen this before, over the years, but I have never understood anyone who “used to play”.
Consider that the thing doesn’t necessarily call for the extremities of actually getting several psychologically questionable person together to play with. If you can drop fifteen minutes a day in your axe by yourself on the front porch, it counts.
I didn’t know this about you.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I wanted to comment on your unstrung guitar, I have a Fender Strat that I bought back in High School (many years ago), I wore the frets out on it about five years ago, so I unstrung it and put it in a closet and used a newer guitar I had for gigs and recording. Last year, I finally had enouogh cash sitting around (and the motivation) to get my first ax fixed up, took it to the local luthier here in Columbus and he said that guitars sitting for long periods without string tension on the neck actually damages them. He actually wouldn’t work on my guitar because he didn’t want to charge me to fix it up just to find the neck was warped or it wouldn’t hold tuning. So you might want to get some strings on that thing ASAP.
August 14th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Neck mechanics: I’m still curious to know exactly which guitar we’re talking about. Generally, a Norlin-era specimen with the three-piece maple neck will do better without tension than a one-piece mahogany neck from later specimens. There are lots of details — such as truss-rod tension, which can make a difference, as can storage conditions (consistency of temperature, humidity, etc.).
In fact, I wouldn’t worry about it greatly until I actually saw a warp or twist in it, but I would have a look and see how it’s doing.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
“ML: ‘74 Recording model, huh? That’s pretty unusual. They’re strange beasts, but worth keeping. Good for you.”
If it were any heavier I would need to nail it to my hands and wear a crown of thorns. 🙂
August 14th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Don’t feel bad, I haven’t played my ’78 Les Paul Artist in quite some time. My at-hand axe right now is either my Robin Ranger or my ’72 Martin D-28… I’m also teaching the wife to play bass, so I’m doing more of that than playing myself.
I wouldn’t be worried about the neck moving around too much. Once guitars have been seasoned for a decade or so there’s not too much movement anymore if storage conditions are fairly consistent.
Oh, and yeah – more details on which model it is!
August 14th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
“If it were any heavier I would need to nail it to my hands and wear a crown of thorns.”
That’s why I finally sold my ’77 LPC last year after twenty-four years of service. It was bloody killing me where I crushed two vertebrae in that last Harley crash. In its place now is a 2003 Studio (in the limited edition Metallic Blue for the Guitar Centers — this one’s No. 67 of 200). I miss the Custom series appointments, but it’s a lot friendlier on the spine.
August 14th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
This reminded me that I really need to take my 68 Custom to get the neck re-set…and I’ve been intending to clean the pots and switch and replace the wiring. She saw some hard times before I acquired her in the mid-80s but I love that heaver the hell body and the PAF humbuckers absolutely scream…I’d forgotten how much I miss her.
August 15th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
PAF’s in a ’68 LPC? I’d hate to be the one to disappoint you, but very utmost: probably not.
August 16th, 2009 at 2:56 am
Wow, I feel like Billy might personally kill me for being a Strat man.
My last one was a ’94 ultra plus, in beryllium blue (a color they had to discontinue because it was toxic to spray) lace sensors and an onboard pre-amp.
Before that I had a tobacco sunburst reissue, rewired with texas specials. Great guitar, but I didn’t like the TS’s. Sounded awesome through my mustard tweed blues deluxe though.
Not that I haven’t had a few Gibsons, including a 355, an SG, a super V, and my favorite guitar of all time, that I miss terribly (it died in a fire).
It was a custom shop explorer, red mahogany with a clear red flame maple top, real ivory bound (made before the ban), dark mahogany (nicely figured) fretboard with jumbos and mother of pearl inlays, an H-S-H EMG active setup, machined brass hardware and knobs (each knob was a pull out switch as well), and a brass Floyd.
I gotta say, I love actives.
Unfortunately, all my guitars were lost in a fire in ’96 or when a storage company mistakenly auctioned the contents of my unit in California after I moved to Ireland.
Two years ago, my wife bought me an ovation carbon fiber neck and back acoustalectric, and a Jackson dinky; both tiger maple tops with clear black finish.
I’ve got the EMG actives in the dinky, and Ovations housebrand pickup and pre-amp in the acoustic.
I’m a total guitar gear queer and I admit it.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Strats are OK. If you like baseball bats with strings on them 😉
August 16th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
“Wow, I feel like Billy might personally kill me for being a Strat man.”
Rubbish. Jeff Beck once said that every well-equipped guitarist will have at least one Les Paul and one Strat. It’s really true.
My personal Strat is of indeterminate but certainly very late vintage, and from the Fender factory in Mexico. It cost me two hundred thirty dollars, and it proudly takes it’s place in a small quiver of Gibsons including a 1962 ES-355TDC with real PAF pickups and is mono-output with no Varitone, and unmodified. (That’s a five-digit guitar in today’s market, kids.) It’s all the Strat I ever need, although I understand that some get quite deep in them.
That Explorer sounds very cool. I’m sorry to hear what happened to it.
At least you didn’t sell it like I did my ’73 (I’m pretty sure) Les Paul Deluxe in Cherry Sunburst. That’s a fairly valuable guitar today. I wonder where it is.
“I’m a total guitar gear queer and I admit it.”
Not a damned thing wrong with that. You could do a lot worse.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Bah. Gibson’s PUs sound like shit (yeah, including PAFs); real men use Rio Grandes.
I had a really nice ’97 Strat in Teal Green Metallic with a rosewood fretboard, but I just don’t dig Strats unless they’re hardtails (which is why I generally play Robins instead). I ended up selling it after figuring out I just wouldn’t ever play it for a show.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:25 am
I dunno, man.
I yanked the stock 490’s out of my ’95 SG Special and mounted Seymour Duncan Phat Cats. Those are the single-coil Humbucker boxes. This guitar has an ebony fretboard. That body, that fretboard, those coils: it wails right along. So, the Strat and the SG are the single-coil axes, and the 355 and LP Studio (stock 496R & 500T) bring on the Hums , and they all sound pretty terrific to me.
The T-tops in the ’77 LPC were just as fine to me as the PAF’s.
I do sometimes wonder what the PAF’s would sound like in a Les Paul, but they’ve been living in that semi-hollow since the factory and that whole sound is from God. That thing pumps air out the F-holes under my right arm, at stage volume. You should feel that. That’s really working and it’s the last thing I’d fool around with.