Les Paul discusses why he wasn't too fond of Gibson's decision to give his namesake model a sleeker look
In 1961, Gibson decided it was time to restyle the Les Paul model it had introduced in 1952. With Fender’s more modern-looking models eating into its sales, Gibson thought it might gain back some of its market share by giving the Les Paul a sleeker look.
That decision didn’t sit well with the guitar’s namesake. Les Paul never liked the resulting Gibson SG model, with its thin body and twin pointy horns. In the video below, the late guitarist and inventor explains exactly what about the guitar bothered him.
The clip is an excerpt filmed for the 2016 guitar documentary Turn It Up!, from 71st Street Entertainment. Les Paul’s interview is among the bonus footage in the “Conversations and Extras” disc included with the Turn It Up! sets.
In the film, a host of performers—including Paul, B.B. King, Steve Lukather, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Slash, Jerry Cantrell, Paul Stanley, John 5, Robby Krieger, Nancy Wilson, Steve Howe and Dave Mason—tell stories about their relationship to the instrument. Shot in high-definition, the film includes performances and in-depth interviews, with narration by actor and musician Kevin Bacon.
In addition to the Les Paul interview shown below, the bonus disc includes extended interviews with the guitarists, mini-documentaries on RKS Guitars and Seymour Duncan, Robby Krieger improvising and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter’s performance from the film S.S. United States: Lady in Waiting, a documentary about the famed U.S. ocean liner.
Turn It Up! is available from Amazon. You can watch the documentary trailer below the Les Paul clip.
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Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.
