Les Paul: “The Wizard of Waukesha,” Master of Guitar and Invention part 3

In 1947, Capitol Records released an experimental recording of Paul’s, “Lover (When You’re Near Me),” which the guitarist had recorded in his garage. It showed Paul playing eight different parts on electric guitar, recorded at different speeds, marking the first time that multi-track recording had ever been used. To add to the impressiveness of the experimental tracks, they were made with wax disks rather than magnetic tape. Besides showing his amazing abilities as a multi-faceted guitarist, this recording displayed his perseverance at refining the art of music recording.

In 1948, Paul suffered an almost fatal car accident in Oklahoma, shattering his right arm and elbow. He was forced to stop performing and playing for a year and a half, but still asked surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to lightly play the guitar.

In the 1950’s Paul recorded with his wife Colleen Summers (called “Mary Ford” on the album). These recordings were more attempts for Paul to experiment with recording, and featured heavy overdubbing, a technique that was helped by his invention in 1954; he commissioned Ampex this year to work with him to build the first eight-track tape recorder. His concept, called “Sel-Sync” could record a new track and play back those previously recorded and marked the beginning of much more advanced multi-track recording.

Paul built his own wax-cutter assembly line based on auto parts to create the disks. The result of this wax recording was what would become his signature recording sound, full of echoes and guitar riffs with the clarity of a birdsong. When he later began to use regular magnetic tape, he took his recording rig with him on the road and even sometimes recorded 15 minute radio shows from his hotel room.

The same year as the development of the eight-track system, Gibson Guitar Corporation took up Paul’s earlier guitar design and created a guitar from his plans. The company gave it to him to try, and he was so taken with it that he signed a contract to allow Gibson to build the “Les Paul” model and also agreed to use nothing but Gibson guitars in public appearances and photographs. This contract lasted until 1961, when Gibson changed the “Les Paul” design without asking him or telling him of its release. When he saw the new model in a store and did not like it, he asked that his name be removed from the product. Gibson renamed the guitar the “SG,” and it became one of the best sellers. Paul later made amends with the company and now endorses its products once again, though the guitars he plays he greatly modifies. “Les Paul” guitars are now used worldwide by professionals and those just starting to play. This model has been used by Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Davey Johnstone, Joe Perry, Jimmy Page, Frank Zappa, Noel Gallagher and many others.

By the late 1960’s, Paul had gone into semi-retirement, going back into the studio from time-to-time to record. He and his wife split amicably in 1964 when she grew tired of the unpredictable lifestyle created by his mad scientist-like recording, and the demands put on her as part of the important duo they had created. In 1978, Les Paul and Mary Ford were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and he received a Grammy Trustees award for his lifetime work in recording and music in 1983. Jeff Beck inducted Paul into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and he was most recently inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May, 2005 for his solid body electric guitar.

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