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Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2014 18:32:28 GMT -5
Fri, 01 Jan 1932 - Adolph Rickenbacker produces the first cast aluminum versions of the electric lap steel guitar, also known as the "frying pan." The design isn't perfect and the sticker price is high. In the following years, musician Les Paul will try to improve the design with some success.
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Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2014 18:36:05 GMT -5
1931- 1946 Les Paul - The "Log"
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Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2014 18:50:48 GMT -5
Fender Broadcaster/Telecaster First introduced: 1950 Also Known As: The Most Important Electric Guitar Ever Made Notable Players: James Burton, Muddy Waters, Roy Buchanan, Albert Lee Quick Facts: - The Model-T of guitars, the stripped-down, easy-to-play solid-body Fender Broadcaster electric guitar was the first guitar of its kind to be produced on a substantial scale. - Two single-coil pickups introduced the clean, bright Fender sound, developed out of Leo Fender’s love of the lap steel guitar and its Hawaiian twang. - The name was changed from Broadcaster to Telecaster in the late 1950s to avoid a possible trademark conflict with Gretsch.
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Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2014 18:57:35 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2014 9:51:47 GMT -5
1952 - The "Les Paul" is born 1952 was a pivotal year in American Pop music, and both Gibson and Les Paul would be at the center of it. In 1952, Les Paul was sitting on top of the world. With wife Mary Ford (Les Paul and Mary Ford: A Love Story), Les had charted 7 Top-10 hits since his #1 single “How High the Moon” in 1950 and throughout the next year, the hits kept coming. Their home in Mahweh, New Jersey, was a constant hive of activity. Les’s custom-built recording studio was in the basement and the couple broadcast their NBC radio show, the Les Paul Show, from their living room. Les was also in discussions to host his own television show. One of Les’s many fans was Gibson President Ted McCarty. McCarty, who saw himself as an inventor, was a keen observer of popular trends. McCarty noticed the music coming out of nightclubs was no longer based around horns but guitars. And Gibson guitarists wanted a guitar that could cut through the din of a loud bar without feeding back or sounding muddy. For years, Les had been pestering McCarty that the solidbody guitar would solve those problems and had tried to convince him to take up the production of a solidbody guitar in 1946. McCarty said “no thanks” and joked that there was no future in a “broomstick with pickups.” As Les’s star rose, McCarty could clearly see that the kids buying Les Paul records would soon want a guitar of their own and it wouldn’t be an archtop. McCarty called Les and the two began hashing out a design that could be produced at the Gibson Kalamazoo factory in Michigan. There is still heated debate on how much Les and Ted McCarty collaborated on the first Les Paul guitar. Regardless of the credit, the 1952 Gibson Les Paul clearly had Les Paul’s stamp of approval, since it featured his signature in gold on the headstock, perfectly matching the gold finish. And when the “Les Paul & Mary Ford Show” began national syndication just two years later, every kid knew that Les Paul played a Gibson Les Paul solidbody electric guitar. In 1952 the Les Paul Goldtop, designed by Les and Ted McCarty, was instantly recognized as a revolutionary guitar, and every major star of the '50s in Pop, Country, Blues, and Rhythm and Blues owned a Les Paul.
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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2014 16:22:10 GMT -5
1954 - Fender Stratocaster guitarFirst introduced Also Known As: The Standard Notable Players: David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, George Harrison, John Lennon, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Everyone Quick Facts: - The Stratocaster is the most played, most popular, and most copied electric guitar ever. - The perfect six-on-a-side peghead was designed in response to the minimal Telecaster style. Everything is new: two cutaways, the beveled body, an unheard-of three pickups with selector switch, adjustable bridge for each string, protected output jack, and angled lead pickup for better treble response. - The vibrato unit, or “whammy bar,” was so revolutionary that it took a decade, when Jimi Hendrix came along, to be fully explored.
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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2014 16:25:03 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2014 16:27:44 GMT -5
OOPs...almost left out Scotty Moore's ES-295 - Introduced in 1952 ES-295 Scotty Moore The original ES-295 was conceived as a “gold standard” jazz guitar, born in an era before rock’n’roll was a household word. But in the hands of legendary Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore, it gave birth to a radical new breed of music and became a rockabilly icon in the process. Although it mostly updated the design of the popular ES-175 with an upgraded bridge and some exciting cosmetic twists, the ES-295—introduced in 1952, and purchased by Moore in 1953 at the O. K. Houck Piano Company in Memphis, Tennessee—had both the looks and the sound to inspire an adventurous new generation of players. With Scotty Moore among them, the ES-295 became the cornerstone of Elvis’s sound throughout his formative Sun recording sessions and live shows. The ES-295 Scotty Moore from Gibson Memphis recreates this Hall Of Fame guitarist’s own ES-295 in exacting detail. The result is not only a rarified slice of rock’n’roll history, but a guitar whose playability, tone, and looks are sublime by any standards. Visually, the ES-295 is most distinguished by its stunning Gold Bullion finish, accurately reproduced in the ES-295 Scotty Moore in hand-sprayed nitrocellulose lacquer, treated to Gibson’s proprietary VOS process for a gently aged vibe. This finish is complemented by a custom pickguard made from clear plastic, and back-painted with a period-correct floral graphic for that authentic ES-295 look. It’s all topped off with Scotty Moore personally autographing each of the 81 guitars on the lower bout!
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Post by jtees4 on Feb 24, 2014 14:56:31 GMT -5
One word. Bigsby. Both Leo Fender and Les Paul admitted to using many of his ideas. (Les Paul denied it for years, but eventually came clean). They were all friends at one point or another.
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Post by Admin on Feb 24, 2014 15:05:54 GMT -5
One word. Bigsby. Both Leo Fender and Les Paul admitted to using many of his ideas. (Les Paul denied it for years, but eventually came clean). They were all friends at one point or another. Good point jtees4. Sometimes we get enamored with the guitars and forget the little things like the Bigsby and the Whammy Bar. (Bigsby is much better IMHO)! And around Nashville we had the B Bender. I know Chester preferred the Bigsby, and wanted it on every guitar he endorsed.
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