A Passing Legend And Me

“I wanted something very dense, something that would sustain long and more pieces of wood that would be soft, sweet, for more of a mellow sound.”- Les Paul

I well recall the early years of my teens when I was a guitar player/band member wannabe. I had two friends, Tony and Larry, who had the same aspirations as I. In fact, we formed our own band (sans instruments, as we had no money to buy them) and even took to photographing ourselves for the covers of albums that we were sure we would one day record. In fact, if one of us got mad at the other, we would "kick him out of the band." In fact, this often happened to another friend, Raymond. We alternated between letting Raymond in the band and then later kicking him out again. Never mind the fact that we had no instruments, no songs, and none of us really knew how to play. We had a dream. We would one day be a band.

That led us to make regular trips to State Line Avenue and G Sharp Music in our hometown of Texarkana, TX. The owner of the store, as I recall, was named George Sharp- hence the "G. Sharp" of the store's name. G. Sharp had the best selection of pianos, band instruments, drums, amplifiers, accessories, ...and guitars.

Oh, they had the guitars.

One in particular caught my eye. It was a solid black Gibson Les Paul Custom model. I had seen some of the guitar players I admired at the time playing Les Pauls. I knew three things about them: They were popular among guitarists, They were heavy- hence their nickname, "the plank," and they were EXPENSIVE.

The one I had my eye upon during those frequent excursions to G. Sharp Music Store cost a whopping $695.

But wait! It had genuine mother of pearl inlays on the fingerboard. It had gold plated tuning pegs and pickups. It was a beauty. A black beauty.

And it might as well have have carried a million dollar pricetag as far as I was concerned. I was 14 years old, too young to hold a regular job, and from a middle working class family which earned just enough money to feed and house a family of six. I know that was the list price and had I haggled with G. Sharp, he would have come down on the price, but there was one thing I knew deep down.

There was no way I was ever going to own that Les Paul Custom guitar.

But I could dream. And I did. Today, when I go to music stores or talk to other guitarists- some of whom actually play Les Pauls- I am always tempted to tell of my teenage dream of owning a Les Paul.

And according to WikiAnswers.com that guitar today could sell for around $4000-$5000. Sigh.

Anyway, I bring this bit of trivia from my past in memory of the guitar's designer, Les Paul.

Paul was an accomplished guitarist himself. He practically invented some popular licks and phrasings that are the standard fare of modern guitarists. He and his wife, Mary Ford, made hit records together. One of their big hits was "How High The Moon." As Mary sings, Les can be heard in the background playing some mean chops.

Not only was Paul a popular artist and guitar designer, but he was also quite inventive on the recording end of music as well. He first discovered multi tracking and layering as a recording technique. He would record his wife singing, and then play back that recording as she sang with herself and added that track to the previous one. This is why some recordings seem to sound like the singer has cloned himself or herself. Paul perfected this technique and would often record songs with his wife in their hotel rooms as they traveled between concerts.

Right up until his death today at 92, he could still be found at clubs, jamming with his musician friends. He once said, "I have younger friends who don't work, and they aren't doing so well. My secret is to keep going, keep working."

He did indeed, right up until the end.

Thanks, Les. Thanks for the stuff that dreams are made of- from a former teenage dreamer.

--Postscript: I recently bought an Epiphone Les Paul copy, in part to fulfill that teenage dream. It certainly cost a lot less then the original Les Paul and isn't quite like the original, but I can say that I have a black Les Paul today. The thing about it is, today, it doesn't seem to matter as much as it once did. If I wanted to do so, I could buy an original Gibson Les Paul Custom. But it really doesn't seem so important to me anymore.