Inside Les Paul's Number One Guitar - The Original Les Paul!

In an exclusive video given to Guitarist magazine to share, Tom Doyle, Les Paul's guitar tech, engineer and producer for over 45 years, takes Gene Paul, Les's son, on a guided tour of the modifications Les made to his original 'Number One' Gibson Les Paul model, the first production example that Les owned and approved and which is being auctioned at Christie's New York on October 13th.
www.christies.com

[@lassesuurmunne8340]

I actually love how it looks! Very steampunk ✌️

[@52goldtop]

Thanks for putting this video together for the rest of us

[@Tickbryan]

How did he keep it in tune? That’s amazing in itself

[@Doug5524]

what a brilliant man Les, thanks Les

[@vintagepipesnightmares]

If you really look into it you’ll find out that he in fact was a liar. Didn’t really invent anything. You can see that looking at that absolutely not intonated bridge. But his music was great for a while 👍

[@user-ts2tm7zu1b]

That isn't the "first" Les Paul, it's Les Pauls number 1 from what I've heard.

[@nickofzo]

True, the first Les Paul was 'The Log' if my memory serves me right.

[@j_drichmond]

Somehow I don’t think this is on Gibson’s radar for an exact custom shop copy.

[@fretboardmaster70]

Don’t kid yourself

[@lassesuurmunne8340]

Someone would buy it though. If they did a limited run

[@natanaeldamian2192]

@@lassesuurmunne8340 i would sell my kidney to buy a custom shop run of this.

[@lassesuurmunne8340]

@@natanaeldamian2192 yeah I was just talking about this guitar with my cousin, if I were rich and the custom shop did a run of these I would totally want one too! I don’t even think it’s ugly, it has a beautiful steampunk look to it. It’s like buying a replica of Doc Brown’s Deloreon time machine. It’s incredible to look at Les Paul’s own mods. I would totally buy one if I had the funds to 🙏

[@WardWickford]

Awesome video!

[@henkkman]

Excellent! What a genius!

[@jamessmithurst6011]

With all due respect to Tom, he didn't explain the black coils very well. There are essentially two types of pickups: single coil and humbucking. Single coil pickups, such as Fender and the P90's in this guitar, are single coil pickups. Humbucking pickups, as popularized by Gibson later on, have two coils, reverse wound next to one another. Pickups are essentially a magnet with wire spun around them. When agitating a string, a tiny current is induced and thus, the electric guitar sends a signal to the amplifier. All pickups, as the name implies, pick up electromagnetic interference. For example, if someone switches on lights or revs up their electric drill nearby, you can hear pops, humming and scratching, including the guitar tone when strings are agitated. All single coil pickups always hum unless you turn away from the amplifier (the source of the electromagnetic interference). Hum-bucking pickups, as the name implies, cancel out the hum noise. The black coils of wire are that second coil but without the magnets. Les was a switched on guy who modified his guitar so that it would not hum or pick up electromagnetic interference. Especially back in Les's day, where electronics did not have filters etc., it would have been a nightmare to play near electrical devices.

[@30smsuperstrat]

Les is definitely more

[@jltrem]

Gene looks and sounds like his Dad.

[@DMSProduktions]

Sure does! But CAN he PLAY like his dad could?

[@frostedhead]

Genius

[@geraldbrown2875]

Very cool!👍🎸🇨🇦

[@nilsx3020]

Well he certainly wasn’t bothered by aesthetics, was he? 🤣

[@stevenheath741]

neither was EVH but that aside they were both pioneers into the Sonic Frontier

[@phillynott1060]

I think it looks amazing.

[@robinfawcett7973]

Fantastic! 🌻🐬☮️🦄

[@CamBaldeon]

I’m so bummed nobody played it

[@metricdeep8856]

It probably didn't work...but yes I agree. Would be fabulous to hear it. Especially with the cold rolled bridge.

[@guitarsofold100]

It begs the question why he did not have the factory do the modifications as he had their ear at the time or he not use the Epiphone craftsman to undertake the wood working mods??it looks like a De Armond to me also!

[@ryanfulldark2775]

Gene Paul is a cool dude, I’d love to have a beer with him!

[@DMSProduktions]

He's a LOT like his dad!

[@bobilly]

If the neck pickup isn't a Dearmond, what is it then? It visually has all the hallmarks of one, minus the homemade cream cover.

[@davidkieltyka9]

Yup, sure looks like a Dearmond 2000 to me.

[@alfsmith4936]

Dynasonic?.. It's blatantly a Dearmond in a p90 cover :)

[@DMSProduktions]

No! A modded P90! They said he drilled the holes himself! Changed the Bar magnets for pole magnets, like Fender made their pick ups!

[@bobilly]

@@DMSProduktions he said he drilled the holes in the cover, quite slipshod obviously. One cannot simply modify a P90 to a DeArmond design, they're quite different. And why bother when DeArmond pickups were commercially available and easily obtainable?

[@DMSProduktions]

@@bobilly No1 said he did! He just rejigged a P90! DON'T forget the alnico pick up Gibson made a few years later, aka a 'Staple' pick up, was made the same way, with alnico 5 slugs instead of under slung bar magnets!

[@jennyalex02]

What pickup is that neck and can you buy one?

[@greysuit17]

You can mod one

[@combatOracle1]

And Les could play the thing as well.

[@peterm3964]

Can we just give a mention to Ted McCarty who actually designed and manufactured the Les Paul.

[@iagobroxado]

Wait, wait, the first 1952 Les Pauls had neither body nor neck binding, emma right? Doesn't that rule this one out from being the first Les Paul guitar?

[@jackgreenwood1817]

It was his favourite I believe, that's it's called his number 1. Not the first Les Paul

[@udayanmustafi3963]

🎸

[@dubster82]

I think this was his 'number one', I don't think it was his first. Not with a 3 knob layout and neck binding.

[@katerichardson9274]

You can see the neck binding and three-knob layout clearly in the 1952 photos and videos of Les with the guitar.

[@dubster82]

@@katerichardson9274 I don't doubt he owned it for a second. I've seen photos of him with the guitar, and others.

[@guitarist]

Mary Ford got one without binding, Les got binding on his - you can see these contrasting specs on press photography of Les and Mary Ford from a launch event for the guitar at the Savoy Hotel in London on 9 September 1952 - the model launched in July of that year. Adding binding for the personal instrument of the man who put his name to the guitar was an easy thing for Gibson to accommodate. Les had helped them develop the design over two years and he was, lest it be forgotten, a major star. It's true that Gibson had already made and sent Les several protos that he rejected - but this was the first in the sense of the first he accepted, took personal ownership of and approved to bear his name. You'll also see in the pics mentioned above that Les had almost immediately started modifying the neck pickup and other aspects of the guitar [e.g Kauffman Vibrola] - before being told by Gibson to kindly halt further modding until the press stuff was over - that last bit was told to us by his son Gene Paul who was in Les and Mary's band for many years. I think it's good to remember that product marketing was less laser-guided and hyper focused on a clearly defined spec back then than it is today - and this was effectively custom made for Les even before he modded it further.

[@dukeford]

@@guitarist It still isn't "The First" Les Paul guitar.

[@tbbainter777]

Sold for 930k... actually thought would sell for more.

[@andrewjshepherd]

I am a kindred spirit as I cannot stand a guitar that I haven't yet modified to my liking. Way to go! :)

[@vintagepipesnightmares]

This is what you do when your playing does not get better anymore. You start fiddling with your gear. In fact is you. When no guitar is good enough for you is not the guitar.

[@EJ-ci6gp]

The man was an innovator, the issue wasn’t his playing

[@metricdeep8856]

Why no fret nibs? WTF is LP thinking? They are absolutely critical to the sound and fuction!!!!!!!! You just simply cannot get that "string caught" sound without them.

[@DMSProduktions]

LOL!

[@chickenlickin3820]

Tom Doyles retirement fund

[@Lighthouse.pictures]

Why with so many technologies today we have no genius like this ? :D create guitar from nothing

[@metricdeep8856]

Varies significantly from what Gibson offers....or claims is the "right way". Seems Les Paul was not the "traditionalist" that Gibson wants us to believe that justifies the expense. That's marketing for ya. Would be nice if Gibson would evolve and recognize the value in this style and let go of the shortcomings....and not charge a rediculous amount for a decent instrument with "features" that are basic on any competitors offerings. But they are "traditionalists" and prefer to stay true to their struggle.

[@corneliuscrewe677]

Les was modifying and tinkering on those things almost immediately. He always had a very different idea of how electric guitars should work.

[@bobilly]

Lol I would direct your attention to the Les Paul Recording guitar, the one Les played more than any other for several decades, and look how that turned out for the "forward thinking guitar market"

[@buzzedalldrink9131]

its a shame this guitar was mutilated

[@greysuit17]

Not really

[@buzzedalldrink9131]

@@greysuit17 not really a shame or you don’t consider this mutilated?? Les should have been a butcher !

[@greysuit17]

@@buzzedalldrink9131 It wasn’t mutilated.

[@buzzedalldrink9131]

@@greysuit17 it was to me what a complete hack job

[@greysuit17]

@@buzzedalldrink9131 good thing it never was yours