50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul: Half a Century of the Greatest Electric Guitars

Tony Bacon has done a tremendous job chronicling the birth of the Les Paul in Kalamazoo Michigan to its' current manufacture in Memphis Tennessee. In an attempt to break into the market of solid body electric guitars (Fender had already introduced its' own in 1950--the Broadcaster which later became known as the Telecaster) Ted McCarty and Company put their heads together and came up with the design of the Gibson Les Paul. With tweaks and adjustments suggested by the guitar's endorser, Les Paul himself, this beauty of an instrument was introduced to the world in 1952.Bacon does an outstanding job detailing the history of this magnificent instrument and it's evolution to the apex in design achieved by 1958. Ted McCarty introduced the Tune-O-Matic bridge in 1954 and Seth Lover introduced his amazing humbucking pickups in 1955 and both of these keen inventions were employed on the Les Paul guitar shortly afterward. The Les Paul guitars that Gibson manufactured between 1958 to 1960 (now known as the LP "Standard") are the most sought after electric guitars in history.This book outlines the changes in ownership of Gibson during the LP years from CMI (up to 1969) to Norlin (up to 1986) to current private ownership (Juszkiewicz & Berryman) and production changes to the LP model throughout the years. Currently the Les Paul 'Burst guitars made between 1958 and 1960 are seen as the holy grail of electrics. As time rolls on and more of the 'Burst guitars are locked into bank vaults, players will be forced to re-evaluate the Les Paul guitars made during the Norlin years. Particularly the Les Paul Deluxe models manufactured between 1969 to the late 1970's, This design employed a sandwich body, a three piece slim-taper maple neck with a volute, and mini humbucking pickups that fit nicely in the P-90 cutout of older models. Norlin may have made these changes simply to save a buck (the mini humbuckers were leftovers after Gibson acquired Epiphone) but these guitars have a fantastic sound, amazing sustain and a clearer tone (albeit not "fatter") than the standard LP's which utilized Seth Lover's PAF humbuckers.To sum up, this book provides an amazing history lesson about the Les Paul. Fine writing, excellent photographs and a great reference section at the end of the book. I recommend it to any LP enthusiast, from newbie to aficionado.

You dont listen to Beatles songs to hear wicked guitar solos, and you dont by a Tony Bacon guitar book for deeply serious reading.Like his other, similar format book on Fenders, this book includes sidebars noting news events happening in the world at the same time as Les Pauls were released. Its not a bad gimmic in itself, but can you imagine the Beauty of the Burst book doing the same thing?? Of course not (and dont even get started with why Tony picks certain news items as being important and others, not. Its not *supposed* to matter, which is fine, but neither do these books themselves seem to matter much.) Another gimmic Tony beats to death is having headings in bold print every few paragraphs that try to be clever or funny. He's written so many guitar books its as if he's decided that his style is as important as his content.Tony Bacon has a new burst specific book coming out in February, and we shall see what he makes of it.This book is nice.. the pics and text are fine-- Tony Bacon (by now) has gotten very comfortable writing guitar specific books and it shows. If you are nuts enough to buy Les Paul specific books, then this is the best one Bacon has put out. Its worth the money.. and you probably already own Beauty of the Burst.The correct strategy seems to be buying up books like this, used, at a low price, and not worrying too much about the authors quirks. For around $5 its a bargain, and if it winds up in your bathroom as ThroneReading, then so be it.

After reading Tom Wheeler's incredible 50th anniv of the Fender Strat book, I wanted to complement it with a similar book about the Les Paul. This book wasn't it. Perhaps it's because the Les Paul (guitar) story isn't quite as riveting as the Fender story, and that's not meant as a swipe. The Fender story is about Leo Fender and a few others building an empire. The Les Paul story, however, is more "corporate". There's less personal drama.Tony Bacon does a decent job with the facts at hand, but I'm done reading the book, and I'm left wanting more. It's not a bad book, it will remain in my music book library. But I'm on the hunt for more info on the Les Paul's history.

Great book - I have a few books on the history of the LP (as well as tele and strat, and probably more to come), and this one is a good fairly detailed but not overwhelmingly long treatment with lots of cool pics and historical details.

This is a good book, but I wanted to clarify that his other book "The Les Paul Guitar Book" (2009) is an updated version of this book, so you might as well get that one.

Was received as described and on time.

Lots of pictures and information. Purchased for my other half for father's day. I hope he loves it. Thank you.

Bought it for my husband who buys and sells guitars. He loved it.

This book is greatThere are loads of photos and history on all types of les paul guitarsand it is amazing how much a guitar can change from one year to the nextIf you like classic guitars or are thinking of buying on this will be really usefull.Also helps decode serial numbers to make sure your buying a real classic not a 1980's reissue.

Beautiful book , love it, lots of info besides pictures too

happy

This is a great book well worth the money I've enjoyed all the photos what are in it and it's got some great info on the guitar a must for guitarists

I didn't enjoy this as much as the companion book "50 years of the Fender Telecaster" - I got the feeling the author wasn't as committed to the Les Paul mystique as he was the Tele. Still a great book, but not as substantive as I would have hoped.