Watching Rob play this beautiful guitar, I wonder what would’ve happened if Les walked in to Gibson WITH the log AND someone like Rob playing THIS type of finger style in order to demo the log to Gibson for the first time......wonder what they would’ve said....
Play an original les paul with twin P90's and you will quickly realise how clean a guitar can be. I learned this after playing a 1954 Les Paul reissue through a fender deluxe reverb amp, i ended up going with p90s after this when i bought what is now my main guitar (A Gibson N225 that i literally picked off the production rack!) and made a u turn in my playing style going from from heavy rock to clean blues
Yeah, he always played with a bright tone, and I have heard him say, or read it somewhere, that he never liked the dark sounding tone of most of the jazz players.
@@longneck6456 I prefer marshall amps, the dsl head combined with 1912 marshall lead cabs (1x12) makes great jazz and blues tones. turn the treble down to 0, mid to about 5 and bass to 3 and you will find a beautiful easter egg of a tone that's not really associated with the brand. While i have owned amps from fender (bassman), Orange (rockerverb50) and vox (ac30), the marshall has the best attributes of all of these and sounds great with any guitar. i mainly use my gibson N225, i have a 1965 ES175, 1954 reissue les paul black beauty P90 and a genuine 1956 Fender strat. All of these sound incredible on this amp particularly the 56 strat
Exactly. People have those fun ideas on why Leo Fender chose certain woods for his guitars, when in reality he picked the cheapest woods he could source at the time, so the instrument could be affordable. Nothing to do with tone.
@@BrunodeSouzaLino Well you can definitely amplify other stuff if you plug it into a guitar amp, although I can't guarantee anything about the result. Btw what I meant is that, even in acoustic instruments, it is the part that amplifies and radiates sound that is responsible for the sonic signature of the instrument.
Even up until the late 90's Epiphones were amazing. Ive got a 98 Epi les paul standard made in the old Samick factory in Korea and its fantastic to play and sound great.
My dad has a few friends who are guitar collectors. For my 18th B-day I got a used Epi Les Paul at a pawn shop for $300 with a case and had Zakk Wylde EMG Pickups pre installed. several of those friends of my dad have offered far more than I paid for the guitar because they love Epiphones since in their opinion they play better and like the company as a whole way better this video just taught to love my Epi more.
@@paulfrombrooklyn5409 to be fair, I was laughing about it when I wrote that. Perhaps Jim Morris, Internet Warrior Extraordinaire, should let things roll off their shoulders and let things lie before name-calling over the interwebs.
Haha. But to be fair, I think he was wanting to make a LOUDER guitar, with more sustain. Of course, if it was all distorted, it wouldn't have been considered to be sounding like a guitar. -;)
My college choir director told us a story about meeting Les Paul. When he was at Juilliard, Les came to play a show. My choir director, being obsessed with Les Paul, struck up a conversation. He mentioned to Les that he heard a low thump in the end of one of his songs and wondered what it was. Les looked at him mortified and quietly admitted that he had knocked over his briefcase during the recording but he played the song so well they kept the take.
Similar to the story about Django Reinhardt. Author Michael Dregni notes, "At the conclusion of the first recording of “Dinah,” Django was so thrilled with his improvisations that he bumped his guitar against his chair as he finished his song, and this ugly noise was recorded, which appears at the end of the piece."
AAAAAAHHHHH!!!! PAAAAAIIIINNNN!!!!!! I broke my hand yesterday because of the hate comments I get on my amazing videos. I was so angry that I punched a hole in my computer. Please don't comment anything mean on my wonderful videos, dear hen
As much of a huge fan of Jared, Ola, Pete, Rabea, Fluff, etc that I am...Rob is the only one who really wants people to learn the history of music how we know it today. It's so refreshing to see his fascination with the inner workings of music, not just worrying about theory or how fast he can play. Keep it up, Rob. We all appreciate it very much.
I'm very much in the same boat, only I'm just starting to share my music and make guitar and music videos. I just want to teach music appreciation to kids, really.
@@roberttaylor7064 Les Paul, even though he was a genius in his own right, tended to pad his resume. You're right, the Rickenbacker Bakelite Spanish electric guitar was the first mass marketed solid body electric guitar but there were people experimenting with that idea ever since the invention of the electric Hawaiin guitar. I think it's hard to say who built the first one, but it wasn't Les Paul.
probably it would've worked out better because in term of how they want guitars to sound, they had a lot fo common ground, they both thought guitars should sound clean and jangly
Props to the guy who replicated a piece of history as accurately as he could while still making a truly beautiful sounding guitar. However long that took was worth it and he should be hella proud.
@@mesmersocial5583 I've been trying to get him to do a tribute model with updated hardware and body and he won't. Just to do a traditional semi-hollow construction (but the same size) with a standard Vibrola and TOM but with those pickups would be amazing.
That has to be one of the most sparkly guitar sounds I've ever heard (without effects obviously). Sounds like there's a constant compression on it since everything rings so clearly.
The only problem I have with this video is that I can only give it one like. I find it absolutely hilarious that with all this talk about "tone woods" and resonance in solid body guitars, Les was doing everything he could to eliminate all of that from his guitars. You want the truest form of a solid body guitar, it seems a hunk of railway track is where it's really at.
From experiments done by some youtubers, i believe steel is the best material for electric guitar bodies (if they need a body at all). Wood is the norm because solid steel guitars are not bearable as a routine for the moving musician.
@@search895 People complain enough about 12 lb Les Pauls. Can you imagine a steel body guitar that weighs as much as a person? Just having it rest on your thigh would be painful.
My dumb ass when reading the title of the video on my feed: "whoah, someone invented a 'solid body electric guitar' and Rob gets to play it first?!". Me after 30 seconds of the video: "Oh, yeah. Solid body electric guitars already exist".
Not the first electric guitar. Possibly the first semi-hollow electric guitar, though. The first production solidbody electrics were Hawaiian lap steels, like Rickenbacker’s Frying Pan (1931) and Gibson’s EH-150. The earliest Fenders were also lap steels.
@@garmen- Theres an entire book about Bigsby. Leo Fender borrowed the guitar Paul Bigsby built for Merle Travis, disassembled it, copied as much he could and then gave the guitar back to Travis with a copy of the Bigsby guitar that had been modified for easier mass production. Fender stole the 6 inline headstock shape from Bigsby, the "Snakehead" Tele prototype headstock, the Esquire switching system, pickup design. Gibson/Les Paul stole the body shape from Paul Bigsby for the "Les Paul" model. Paul Bigsby, Leo Fender, Ted McCarty all knew each other quite well in the hey day of the creation of the solid body electric guitar. Bigsby hated Fender after he found out about the Stratocaster headstock. Semie Moseley (guy who created Mosrite) was living in a shed near Bigsby and told him he wanted to build guitars, P.A. Bigsby taught him how to build guitars, Moseley built some of the necks for Bigsby guitars....they had a falling out when apparently Moseley stole some casting patterns from him. This whole conversation in this video is crazy that they don't even mention Bigsby much. Bigsby was the genesis, he was also truly into the music and guitar, Leo Fender wasn't. Fender was searching for products to make, that it turned out to be electric guitar wasn't a real factor, it just happened to be something he found that he could essentially copy Bigsby's ideas and transform them into something that could be mass produced. Bigsby's guitars were bespoke creations that would not have been easy to mass produce...Leo Fender's genius wasn't in creation of the solid electric, it was the adaptation of it to mass production.
@@johnnycab8986 You don't give Fender enough credit. Leo played piano and organ, just not on a professional level. He had a radio repair shop that he grew into a repair/retail shop, and he would sell and rent out electric Hawaiin guitars and amps and PA systems. He built and sold lap steels and amps with "Doc" Kauffman (K&F) and later under the Fender name. He provided sound for the Easter Sunday Passion Play in Fullerton, CA. a large and very popular event with music all day long. His best friend, George Fullerton, was a very talented and well-known guitar player. Music was his passion. He didn't just start building guitars for the money. With his brand of genius, he could have gone into any number of other business ventures, but he chose music as his vocation long before he built his first guitar.
I also have a 2 foot section and mu grandfathers and i am considering making a fender stringmaster clone and matrimony of les pauls railroad experiment i feel like the underside thats flat has potential
And lots of people still think an old guitar would somehow be of special quality. They were "only" great at that time, because of the innovations Les came up with, not because of some special materials or building quality.
@The SNES Man This is after the signature guitar video so I don't think so. Unless this was recorded before then and posted after which wouldn't make sense cuz it would be cool to know this was the inspiration for the design.
Les Paul was a genius. As far as i know, he did make a cut from all pickups, he made a cut from multi track recorders, and from the stereo cutting heads on lathes that are used to cut the lacquers for vinyl records. I learned all of this because my friend's dad was friends with Les' son Rusty. They lived in Mahwah NJ. Im from new york but my friend is from NJ also. My friend's dad told me a few times he met Les. Les showed him the telecaster Leo gave him, showed him some of the test multi track recording heads, so much stuff. Les even gave him a telecaster! No BS. At the time, it wasn't that valuable, only being about ten or more years old. Now, that guitar is probably worth 20gs. We owe Les everything!
A telecaster owned by Les Paul would likely be worth far far more than 20 grand, the kind of people interested in that kind of stuff have entirely too much money
21:17 Funny you should say that. Back in the '60s in Eastern Europe, my dad was trying to build himself a guitar amp. He screwed something up and he got basically the same thing as a fuzz pedal in front of the amp. Since no one at the time was playing like that, he considered it an error and fixed the mistake and got the clean amp he was trying to make. He could have been a visionary...
I find it interesting how an instrument so near and dear to this community has this kinda history to it. Thank you Rob for exploring it deeper, just so we can learn and become better players and musicians. You're the best mate, I strive every day to smile as you do.
my god, he doesn't get NEARLY enough credit for how innovative he was. man completely revolutionized recording, instruments, and entertainment. cant imagine how different the world would be without him.
I've built a half dozen guitars and a couple are basically logs where the neck, pickups and bridge are mounted on a 2x4 and the rest of the body (hollow) is made of 2 sheets of plexiglass. Front and back. They both sound great. I'm building one now that will be a 2x4 mounted on a piece of reclaimed shelving and the body (again hollow) will be made of sheet metal.
Imagine being such a genius that you're just constantly being misunderstood and rejected by everyone around you. Laughed at even. And despite that, still just keep fighting for your idea.. admirable.
@@TalesOfModernity Took your advice. She holds the guitar oddly, probably to fit her technique. It's sort of in between hanging normally and like a lap steel.
The railway track guitar is one of the most insane looking concepts ever But looking at all of this history it really goes to show the genius of Les in how far he was willing to go to push the boundaries of the time and get the sound he wanted
I couldn't imagine living through the Golden Age of the electric guitar(60s & 70s). That had to be absolutely incredible! You old folks are some lucky folks! I was about 20 yrs late, born in '81
At least you weren’t born in the age of soulless mainstream pop rap. Late 2000s here, I’m lucky my parents introduced me to old Nirvana and Linkin Park and others early on, I never would’ve found my calling to stringed instruments and alternative rock without that, and it’s saddening to think.
@@Dovey12 don’t be a pessimist and believe that a single random pop genre defines an entire generation of billions of artists, musicians and creators. You become a crotchety asshole.
@@Dovey12 it suck’s people can’t enjoy their own genre without putting down others. 2000s was also an indie rock explosion and there are tonnes of current rock bands that are great
I don't think that ever happened. EVH was very good with inventing stuff. Go look at interviews where people ask him about his modified Marshall Plexi. Every interview has a different answer.
I just love how this channel became more and more wholesome and educational along the years. Documentary level content + still goofing around makes it really enjoyable. Congrats and salute to the whole team !
Rob your channel is hands down THE BEST music related channel on RUclips...it has the comedy part, your songs and of course all these informative videos about musical instruments..... you are the only RUclipsr, that after all these years you are still moving forward and providing your subscribers with great content.
Les Paul lived out his last 20 or 30 years less than 3 miles from where I grew up in Mahwah, NJ. I got to meet him in 1986 at Robbie’s House of Music on Rte 17 one day when I was shopping for a keyboard. He was friends with the owners, they knew me by sight and introduced me. An amazingly friendly and brilliant man.
Bigsby, Paul and Fender hanging out is like the guitar version of Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker hanging out on a rainy night and inventing modern horror.
Bing Crosby, Jim Lansing (loudspeakers), Leo Fender, were all friends of Les...it's astounding...just some of the people in his circle...many, many more.
These people are so knowledgeable. So many things I didn't realize...particularly that Fender and Les were mates and were almost going to go into business together 😱
That Riff at 20:32 is “Rollerbladin’” by Rob and Andrew’s band First of October and I’m really happy and amazed that he still remember that riff. I wonder if he’s been playing it or if he still remembers the riff from that day.
Well yeah technically the first Les Paul was an Epiphone. All you need to do is cut it in half, replace the middle with a railroad iron and put back the epiphone wings and you'll have the very first Absolute Absurd. Best sustain ever.
Wow, nice observation! I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out. I know he likes "natural wood" finishes, and his signature is a neck-thru design. It may be coincidence, but either way it's super cool that it resembles the first solid-body electric.
I'm sure someone would have done it eventually as there was definitely a need to produce louder sounds from the guitar, but les Paul was determined to do it as it fixed his problem. looking at how guitar companies reacted to a solid body guitar, it wouldn't have happened that soon without les.
I got to meet Les and see him perform in NYC when I was 10 about 12 years ago or so. I had written a report on him for school and he signed it for me! My main memory from the experience was watching him perform, he kept telling dirty jokes and hitting on his bassist while they were playing! At one point somebody sitting right in front of the stage took a picture of him and he flipped him off! It was great and in retrospect I can't believe I got to meet such a legend.
Make it as dense as possible for maximum sustain as the vibration has nowhere else to go but into the pickup OR let some body in to encourage a bit of tone to bloom. The conundrum we still have thanks to the amazing Les Paul. He is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the development of the electric guitar and the recording process but I wouldn't necessarily want an unchecked history written just by him. He was a 'creative' in lots of ways...Hahahahaha
Oh my gosh! I’ve actually got the chance to go their about 7 years back. And as someone playing for a few years then. And getting into guitars and the history. It was like a dream come true and so cool to see all the different guitars and the history and how they made the les Paul’s. Such a pleasant surprise video. 🥰
So cool that younger folks appreciate the history of stuff, and do things like this to preserve and present it for us now, and future generations. Hell, I’ve been playing guitar since age 14, and at my age now, I could be these guys’ father, yet I’ve learned some new things from them. 👍
This is Brilliant History and a great performance , There is a storey about a young kid in a music shop playing a guitar and Les asked if he could have a play ,after the young kid said to Les something like "Hey you don't play bad for an old man, what's your name ?" to which Les simply replied " It's on your Guitar "
As a model railroader and a metalhead it's so cool to see an actual piece of rail used as a proof-of-concept for the electric guitar as we know it today. Trve heavy metal! 🤘🚂🎸
34:37 I wasn't excepting to hear Gojira - The Heaviest Matter of the universe here on this guitar ^^ Edit : Forgot he already did this on Banjo with Leo..
You have such a wealth of amazing guitar experiences. I'm so happy that you've been able to do all this. I never would have thought this would be possible all those years ago watching you play. It's so awesome you've got the chance to experience all this.
Real awesome video. "Les Paul Chasing Sound" is a must watch. I think this guitar deserves its own channel. Different players playing this guitar.. I got obsessed with Les and Mary. Mary is the best singer ever. Amazing story that not enough guitar fans know. As a huge Les Paul and Mary Ford fan, I'm stoked on this. Hooray!
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Between being literally made of metal, and having one string, that piece of railroad track is probably the most metal guitar ever.
The Djent Rail
The Djent ancestor
@@gustavoh.70 rob should borrow it and challange Jared Dines to a Djent battle, for old time`s sake
Somebody call Vidjharta.
Literal heavy metal
Destroying his parent's things in the pursuit of experimentation.
A TRUE SCIENTIST.
I think destroying his parent's things is a petty sacrifice considering that his experimentations provided the fundamentals for rock n roll XD
Haaa...pretty much how every GREAT inventor/innovator started right?!?! Good point
Watching Rob play this beautiful guitar, I wonder what would’ve happened if Les walked in to Gibson WITH the log AND someone like Rob playing THIS type of finger style in order to demo the log to Gibson for the first time......wonder what they would’ve said....
So true. Just today my son dismantled the furniture in his bedroom after I left a hex key lying around. So proud! 🤣
MAD SCIENTIST
SUNNUVABICH
Les Paul was djenting on 1 string in 1929... On a piece of a metal rail track... Dude was metal af...
And way heavier than most. :-D
@@mortisCZ Destroying your guitar on stage? Nah, fuck the stage
Hahaha
Have to Concur with ya there Nathaniel ....PLUS...you THINK he would have incorporated a "Trem" Bar of the Piece of RR Track? lol
1929 first variant of the Shovel guitar!!
Modern day: "Les Pauls are for muddy, grungy heavy sounds"
Les: "I want the cleanest tone I can get"
🤣 I know right 🤣
Play an original les paul with twin P90's and you will quickly realise how clean a guitar can be. I learned this after playing a 1954 Les Paul reissue through a fender deluxe reverb amp, i ended up going with p90s after this when i bought what is now my main guitar (A Gibson N225 that i literally picked off the production rack!) and made a u turn in my playing style going from from heavy rock to clean blues
Yeah, he always played with a bright tone, and I have heard him say, or read it somewhere, that he never liked the dark sounding tone of most of the jazz players.
@@picdar16 playing fender amps will do that to you
@@longneck6456 I prefer marshall amps, the dsl head combined with 1912 marshall lead cabs (1x12) makes great jazz and blues tones. turn the treble down to 0, mid to about 5 and bass to 3 and you will find a beautiful easter egg of a tone that's not really associated with the brand. While i have owned amps from fender (bassman), Orange (rockerverb50) and vox (ac30), the marshall has the best attributes of all of these and sounds great with any guitar. i mainly use my gibson N225, i have a 1965 ES175, 1954 reissue les paul black beauty P90 and a genuine 1956 Fender strat. All of these sound incredible on this amp particularly the 56 strat
Internet argues about the best “tone” wood.
Les builds the Log out of a 4x4 from the lumber yard, only wants to hear the strings.
Exactly. People have those fun ideas on why Leo Fender chose certain woods for his guitars, when in reality he picked the cheapest woods he could source at the time, so the instrument could be affordable. Nothing to do with tone.
@@BrunodeSouzaLino yep the first ones fender sold had pine bodies.
Electric guitars aren't instruments. Amplifiers are instruments, electric guitars are only controllers.
@@9omargiugiangiugia5 And what do they control specifically? Can you play an amplifier without anything plugged into it?
@@BrunodeSouzaLino Well you can definitely amplify other stuff if you plug it into a guitar amp, although I can't guarantee anything about the result. Btw what I meant is that, even in acoustic instruments, it is the part that amplifies and radiates sound that is responsible for the sonic signature of the instrument.
She's a very good story teller
But Rob often interrupted her
I'm sure she's told the stories countless times, if I had those stories first hand, I would, too.
안녕
오
@@someday0319 오
Imagine a world where Leo fender and Les Paul Started their own company.
Imagine having a lp with the Fender logo on the headstock. Weird
That same universe is probably going “imagine if Les Paul and Leo Fender went their own ways”
gibson would be making strings for a living
It's like discovering the Nintendo Play Station prototype
Fender & Paul
Brilliantly interesting video! Les was such an innovator!
Hi david i watch your videos
David.nice seeing you
Hey I am an investor
I invest on comments
David Bennett Piano I agree
We all owe les Paul so much for being such a amazing musician!
literally the more I learn about guitar history, the less respect I have for Gibson, and the more respect I gain for Epiphone
Hah. Gain
Les Paul even made it clear in his late days that he was far happier with Epiphone than he was with Gibson
same here, now i dont feel as bad having to choose an epiphone instead of gibson
Even up until the late 90's Epiphones were amazing. Ive got a 98 Epi les paul standard made in the old Samick factory in Korea and its fantastic to play and sound great.
My dad has a few friends who are guitar collectors. For my 18th B-day I got a used Epi Les Paul at a pawn shop for $300 with a case and had Zakk Wylde EMG Pickups pre installed. several of those friends of my dad have offered far more than I paid for the guitar because they love Epiphones since in their opinion they play better and like the company as a whole way better this video just taught to love my Epi more.
Les Paul: I wanna make the cleanest sounding guitar!
50 years later...
Rob Scallon: CAN IT DJENT?!?!?
Would you stop with this CAN IT DJENT crap!!!! That is so played out. Get a life, man! Stop being an asshole.
@@paulfrombrooklyn5409 to be fair, I was laughing about it when I wrote that. Perhaps Jim Morris, Internet Warrior Extraordinaire, should let things roll off their shoulders and let things lie before name-calling over the interwebs.
Haha. But to be fair, I think he was wanting to make a LOUDER guitar, with more sustain. Of course, if it was all distorted, it wouldn't have been considered to be sounding like a guitar. -;)
@@paulfrombrooklyn5409 Dude it’s a joke, you’re the one being as asshole 😂 I’m not even a metal player and can find comedy in the JOKE.
50? more like 80 years later
My college choir director told us a story about meeting Les Paul. When he was at Juilliard, Les came to play a show. My choir director, being obsessed with Les Paul, struck up a conversation. He mentioned to Les that he heard a low thump in the end of one of his songs and wondered what it was. Les looked at him mortified and quietly admitted that he had knocked over his briefcase during the recording but he played the song so well they kept the take.
What song was it
Yes what song was it
@@vintagevegas9067 Man... You'll have to wait till the end of all the songs now... :-)
Similar to the story about Django Reinhardt. Author Michael Dregni notes, "At the conclusion of the first recording of “Dinah,” Django was so thrilled with his improvisations that he bumped his guitar against his chair as he finished his song, and this ugly noise was recorded, which appears at the end of the piece."
@@jayjayripoff I know
Funny that Les Paul was the guy with the broomstick, while Rob is the guy with the shovel...
AAAAAAHHHHH!!!! PAAAAAIIIINNNN!!!!!!
I broke my hand yesterday because of the hate comments I get on my amazing videos. I was so angry that I punched a hole in my computer. Please don't comment anything mean on my wonderful videos, dear hen
@@AxxLAfriku what
History repeats itself...
@@AxxLAfriku Simple solution. Stop punching shit.
That means, dines is " the guy with the djent stick."
I think its wild that we could've gotten the "fender American Paul deluxe, with Bigsby tremolo"
It would have been the precursor to EVH’s frankenstrat.
@@tarkett8529 His Frankenpaul?
Vibrato
As much of a huge fan of Jared, Ola, Pete, Rabea, Fluff, etc that I am...Rob is the only one who really wants people to learn the history of music how we know it today. It's so refreshing to see his fascination with the inner workings of music, not just worrying about theory or how fast he can play. Keep it up, Rob. We all appreciate it very much.
Well said...the cathedral organ is my favorite
Rob is on different level
I'm very much in the same boat, only I'm just starting to share my music and make guitar and music videos. I just want to teach music appreciation to kids, really.
It thrills me to no end that the first solid-body electric in history has now had Master of Puppets played on it.
🤘🤘🤘🤘
Its not Rickenbacker was first.
@@roberttaylor7064 Les Paul, even though he was a genius in his own right, tended to pad his resume. You're right, the Rickenbacker Bakelite Spanish electric guitar was the first mass marketed solid body electric guitar but there were people experimenting with that idea ever since the invention of the electric Hawaiin guitar. I think it's hard to say who built the first one, but it wasn't Les Paul.
@@roberttaylor7064 Rickenbacker also had an electric bass and violin.
Didn't you watch the video? It was a replica, not the real thing. You think they'd let him play the real one?
50 years later, a youtuber talks about Scallon's shovel guitars
Blues guys were actually making Didley bows from shovels, pick handles and whatever else they could lay their hands on around this same time period.
5:30 Imagine a parallel universe where we're not playing the Gibson Les Paul or the Fender Telecaster but the Fender Paul.
@The SNES Man Or the brand new series of paulcasters 😂
probably it would've worked out better because in term of how they want guitars to sound, they had a lot fo common ground, they both thought guitars should sound clean and jangly
Leoles
The Fender Lescaster
Imagine the universe where we play the les Paul fender bender.
Props to the guy who replicated a piece of history as accurately as he could while still making a truly beautiful sounding guitar. However long that took was worth it and he should be hella proud.
i wish a modern production run could offer something similar to purchase that beautiful tone
@@mesmersocial5583 I've been trying to get him to do a tribute model with updated hardware and body and he won't. Just to do a traditional semi-hollow construction (but the same size) with a standard Vibrola and TOM but with those pickups would be amazing.
That has to be one of the most sparkly guitar sounds I've ever heard (without effects obviously). Sounds like there's a constant compression on it since everything rings so clearly.
what I learned is that Les must have had very forgiving parents
I mean if putting a string on a railroad track is the worst that he did then there’s no reason for them not to be.😂
When you have a kid experimenting with new ideas and building things, you don't discourage that behavior.
@@jeffspaulding9834 exactly, they were good parents.
He took the family phone apart. That wasn't cheap
@@otisblueswelljr and now the family can buy 919484839919192847482929847 telephones if they want. So was it really expesive?
The only problem I have with this video is that I can only give it one like.
I find it absolutely hilarious that with all this talk about "tone woods" and resonance in solid body guitars, Les was doing everything he could to eliminate all of that from his guitars. You want the truest form of a solid body guitar, it seems a hunk of railway track is where it's really at.
I hope he gets a djent stick made with a railroad track and does "RAIL METAL"
From experiments done by some youtubers, i believe steel is the best material for electric guitar bodies (if they need a body at all). Wood is the norm because solid steel guitars are not bearable as a routine for the moving musician.
@@search895 People complain enough about 12 lb Les Pauls. Can you imagine a steel body guitar that weighs as much as a person? Just having it rest on your thigh would be painful.
And it will be easy to relic!
@@search895
Gittler guitar.
My dumb ass when reading the title of the video on my feed: "whoah, someone invented a 'solid body electric guitar' and Rob gets to play it first?!".
Me after 30 seconds of the video: "Oh, yeah. Solid body electric guitars already exist".
"i thought all guitars were hollow!"
Lmaooooo saaameeeee
Semiramis icon hell yes
Wait they do I HAVE ONE
Same
Rob playing “Rollerbladin’” on a replica of the first electric guitar is very funny to me for some reason
With a little touch of Progressive Metal Town USA no less lol
I am so happy that somebody else noticed this
A nice little homage to First of October since it was canceled this year
Not the first electric guitar. Possibly the first semi-hollow electric guitar, though. The first production solidbody electrics were Hawaiian lap steels, like Rickenbacker’s Frying Pan (1931) and Gibson’s EH-150. The earliest Fenders were also lap steels.
He’s been something all his life.
I met Les in a NYC club where he played guitar. Old dude hit on my wife.
LMFAO was thr place called the Iridium? I've been there, but sadly missed getting to see him...
Well played, Lester!
F
Not surprised really. He was ahead of his time. He even understood that musicians could get tail. Lol
Les "Sigma" Paul
Les Paul, Leo Fender and Paul Bigsby walk into a bar, and the rest is hystory
Bigsby custom built a solid-body for country star Merle Travis before the Fenders and Les Paul Gibsons went into production.
@@larryjacobsen4079 Can you provide a source?
@@garmen- asking for a source on that is like asking if WWII came before WWI
@@garmen- Theres an entire book about Bigsby. Leo Fender borrowed the guitar Paul Bigsby built for Merle Travis, disassembled it, copied as much he could and then gave the guitar back to Travis with a copy of the Bigsby guitar that had been modified for easier mass production. Fender stole the 6 inline headstock shape from Bigsby, the "Snakehead" Tele prototype headstock, the Esquire switching system, pickup design. Gibson/Les Paul stole the body shape from Paul Bigsby for the "Les Paul" model.
Paul Bigsby, Leo Fender, Ted McCarty all knew each other quite well in the hey day of the creation of the solid body electric guitar. Bigsby hated Fender after he found out about the Stratocaster headstock.
Semie Moseley (guy who created Mosrite) was living in a shed near Bigsby and told him he wanted to build guitars, P.A. Bigsby taught him how to build guitars, Moseley built some of the necks for Bigsby guitars....they had a falling out when apparently Moseley stole some casting patterns from him.
This whole conversation in this video is crazy that they don't even mention Bigsby much. Bigsby was the genesis, he was also truly into the music and guitar, Leo Fender wasn't. Fender was searching for products to make, that it turned out to be electric guitar wasn't a real factor, it just happened to be something he found that he could essentially copy Bigsby's ideas and transform them into something that could be mass produced. Bigsby's guitars were bespoke creations that would not have been easy to mass produce...Leo Fender's genius wasn't in creation of the solid electric, it was the adaptation of it to mass production.
@@johnnycab8986 You don't give Fender enough credit. Leo played piano and organ, just not on a professional level. He had a radio repair shop that he grew into a repair/retail shop, and he would sell and rent out electric Hawaiin guitars and amps and PA systems. He built and sold lap steels and amps with "Doc" Kauffman (K&F) and later under the Fender name. He provided sound for the Easter Sunday Passion Play in Fullerton, CA. a large and very popular event with music all day long. His best friend, George Fullerton, was a very talented and well-known guitar player. Music was his passion. He didn't just start building guitars for the money. With his brand of genius, he could have gone into any number of other business ventures, but he chose music as his vocation long before he built his first guitar.
Now i want Rob to string up a piece of railroad and play it.
He can surely do it no problem
@Captain MufDyven Do it! It would be so cool.
I also have a 2 foot section and mu grandfathers and i am considering making a fender stringmaster clone and matrimony of les pauls railroad experiment i feel like the underside thats flat has potential
Les Paul “I don’t wanna hear the body o wanna hear the string”
Everyone else “TOOOONNNNEEEE WOOOOOODDDD!”
Hurr Durr wood important
And lots of people still think an old guitar would somehow be of special quality. They were "only" great at that time, because of the innovations Les came up with, not because of some special materials or building quality.
Please, there’s a guitar out there that’s chambered hollow plastic you can fill up with colored water...
Internet: “... TONE WATER!”
But but but but but mah mahogany with maple top
@@dariocarrasco7936 is mahogany bad? I have a mahogany guitar :(
it kinda looks likes a Rob Scallon Signatue Guitar made in the 1940's.
@The SNES Man This is after the signature guitar video so I don't think so. Unless this was recorded before then and posted after which wouldn't make sense cuz it would be cool to know this was the inspiration for the design.
Unintentional probably
He discussed this similarity in a Q/A, and claimed it was purely coincidental.
ye, when I saw the thumbnail, I thought he was talking about his own first solidbody guitar haha
Les Paul was a genius. As far as i know, he did make a cut from all pickups, he made a cut from multi track recorders, and from the stereo cutting heads on lathes that are used to cut the lacquers for vinyl records.
I learned all of this because my friend's dad was friends with Les' son Rusty. They lived in Mahwah NJ. Im from new york but my friend is from NJ also. My friend's dad told me a few times he met Les. Les showed him the telecaster Leo gave him, showed him some of the test multi track recording heads, so much stuff. Les even gave him a telecaster! No BS. At the time, it wasn't that valuable, only being about ten or more years old. Now, that guitar is probably worth 20gs.
We owe Les everything!
A telecaster owned by Les Paul would likely be worth far far more than 20 grand, the kind of people interested in that kind of stuff have entirely too much money
if you dig music period,you should thank Les..
21:17 Funny you should say that. Back in the '60s in Eastern Europe, my dad was trying to build himself a guitar amp. He screwed something up and he got basically the same thing as a fuzz pedal in front of the amp. Since no one at the time was playing like that, he considered it an error and fixed the mistake and got the clean amp he was trying to make. He could have been a visionary...
@Stelios Stylios Wasn't Soviet, though :)
@Bio Hazard Romania was not Soviet
I find it interesting how an instrument so near and dear to this community has this kinda history to it. Thank you Rob for exploring it deeper, just so we can learn and become better players and musicians. You're the best mate, I strive every day to smile as you do.
my god, he doesn't get NEARLY enough credit for how innovative he was. man completely revolutionized recording, instruments, and entertainment. cant imagine how different the world would be without him.
What would it be without you? You're as great.
someone would have figured it out for sure, but we would probably end up with different gear because of the timeframe
If there was ever a physical representation of 'progress not perfection' Les Paul's first Electric Guitar is it! Thank you for sharing 👍
The log repro produces some of the best sound I've heard out of any single instrument. The world needs more logs
Yeah someone should make an updated version with less noisy pickups and some other minor improvements and then sell it
I've built a half dozen guitars and a couple are basically logs where the neck, pickups and bridge are mounted on a 2x4 and the rest of the body (hollow) is made of 2 sheets of plexiglass. Front and back. They both sound great. I'm building one now that will be a 2x4 mounted on a piece of reclaimed shelving and the body (again hollow) will be made of sheet metal.
@@CaptHiltz if you're selling that shit hit us up with the link
Imagine being such a genius that you're just constantly being misunderstood and rejected by everyone around you. Laughed at even.
And despite that, still just keep fighting for your idea.. admirable.
They actually used this to record the American Football LP
Literally spot on
yep
Americ
Anfootball
bruh fr that's awesome
And they say Teles are the emo guitar
Your finger style is the most piano-like I’ve ever seen/heard. I mean seriously clean and pronounced notes. Just perfect
Huge smile when you started playing thrash on the log. I needed that, thank you.
Check out Yvette Young for piano-like finger style, she's going to blow your mind
@@TalesOfModernity Took your advice. She holds the guitar oddly, probably to fit her technique. It's sort of in between hanging normally and like a lap steel.
That tone is so clean you don't even have to sanitize your hands after playing the guitar
Imagine this trough a Roland Jazz Chorus
and a Metalzone 😂
The railway track guitar is one of the most insane looking concepts ever But looking at all of this history it really goes to show the genius of Les in how far he was willing to go to push the boundaries of the time and get the sound he wanted
I couldn't imagine living through the Golden Age of the electric guitar(60s & 70s). That had to be absolutely incredible! You old folks are some lucky folks! I was about 20 yrs late, born in '81
At least you weren’t born in the age of soulless mainstream pop rap. Late 2000s here, I’m lucky my parents introduced me to old Nirvana and Linkin Park and others early on, I never would’ve found my calling to stringed instruments and alternative rock without that, and it’s saddening to think.
@@Dovey12 don’t be a pessimist and believe that a single random pop genre defines an entire generation of billions of artists, musicians and creators. You become a crotchety asshole.
@@Dovey12 it suck’s people can’t enjoy their own genre without putting down others. 2000s was also an indie rock explosion and there are tonnes of current rock bands that are great
Nirvana and Linkin Park in the same sentence... Wow.
@@positronalpha 'my parents introduced them to me...' that part stung. where does the time go?
like EVH said in an interview, Les used to call him and say, "y'know, me, you, and Leo - we're the only people that know how to make a guitar"
*Rob Chapman has entered the chat*
Julian Potter Music bob benedetto would beg to differ😂😂
@@mirinewman i know it’s a joke, but i died inside
2014 Hall Of Fame conversation I think
I don't think that ever happened. EVH was very good with inventing stuff. Go look at interviews where people ask him about his modified Marshall Plexi. Every interview has a different answer.
I just love how this channel became more and more wholesome and educational along the years. Documentary level content + still goofing around makes it really enjoyable. Congrats and salute to the whole team !
I like the history between the Gibson and fender
Bigsby too. Very cool history
Such an interesting video. I had no idea how close the world came to a Fender Les Paul.
I remember seeing Les Paul and Mary Ford on TV in the early 50s. I'm 81.
This was sorely needed, and you were sorely missed. Bravo.
A musicians favorite words.
"Somethin like that"
You're not wrong...
I wouldn't ever say “somethin like that“ or something like dat
@@patricksommer3971 🧢
You read my mind, I always think of that word in conversations!
As soon as i read this Rob said it lmao
Rob your channel is hands down THE BEST music related channel on RUclips...it has the comedy part, your songs and of course all these informative videos about musical instruments..... you are the only RUclipsr, that after all these years you are still moving forward and providing your subscribers with great content.
Agreed man
Les Paul lived out his last 20 or 30 years less than 3 miles from where I grew up in Mahwah, NJ. I got to meet him in 1986 at Robbie’s House of Music on Rte 17 one day when I was shopping for a keyboard. He was friends with the owners, they knew me by sight and introduced me. An amazingly friendly and brilliant man.
That tapping piece was gorgeous
Just think if Less had his way everyone would be searching for the perfect rail tone.
Can't help reading "rail tone" in kmacs voice
@@AiphTheDJ rayil towun
@@tamber5977 laughing my ass off rn
Les*
Bigsby, Paul and Fender hanging out is like the guitar version of Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker hanging out on a rainy night and inventing modern horror.
A musicians favorite words.
"Somethin like that"
Who?
Bram Stoker lived ~50 years after the Shelleys (he was born 4 years before Mary died). I think you're thinking of Lord Byron.
@@MrLivebynight I can't believe it took so long for someone to correct that. Yes, apparently I remembered that story wrong.
Bing Crosby, Jim Lansing (loudspeakers), Leo Fender, were all friends of Les...it's astounding...just some of the people in his circle...many, many more.
Old guitar created to be the cleanest possible: exists
Rob: plays Heaviest Matter In The Universe
LIE AWAKE
These people are so knowledgeable. So many things I didn't realize...particularly that Fender and Les were mates and were almost going to go into business together 😱
That Riff at 20:32 is “Rollerbladin’” by Rob and Andrew’s band First of October and I’m really happy and amazed that he still remember that riff. I wonder if he’s been playing it or if he still remembers the riff from that day.
Wait JK he made a tutorial on how to play the song
its made up of his favorite chord
Proudly watching this with a smile with my Les Paul :D
Its an Epiphone XD
Well yeah technically the first Les Paul was an Epiphone. All you need to do is cut it in half, replace the middle with a railroad iron and put back the epiphone wings and you'll have the very first Absolute Absurd. Best sustain ever.
Woord😂
it's amazing how it started with a log, and then went back to a log with Steinberger
Rob’s musical adventures are the most interesting music related videos ever
Is the finish on Rob’s signature model based on this guitar? The colors look strikingly similar.
Wow, nice observation! I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out. I know he likes "natural wood" finishes, and his signature is a neck-thru design. It may be coincidence, but either way it's super cool that it resembles the first solid-body electric.
Rob mentioned that they look alike on a Mary Spender video. He said it wasn’t intended, it turned out that way by accident.
It's just polished wood, man.
Damn
Amazing video! Love it!
_"You could dive bomb with it, but only once."_
That one caught me off guard. 🤣
Les Paul invented Djent
Well yes but actually no
Thats pretty crazy if you think about it. There would be no metal or rock without him.
@@lolopok4838 Somebody else would have done it. We get more advanced no matter what
If anyone else did it they would have done it differently. The only way we can be where we are now is if everything happened the way it did before.
I'm sure someone would have done it eventually as there was definitely a need to produce louder sounds from the guitar, but les Paul was determined to do it as it fixed his problem. looking at how guitar companies reacted to a solid body guitar, it wouldn't have happened that soon without les.
I got to meet Les and see him perform in NYC when I was 10 about 12 years ago or so. I had written a report on him for school and he signed it for me! My main memory from the experience was watching him perform, he kept telling dirty jokes and hitting on his bassist while they were playing! At one point somebody sitting right in front of the stage took a picture of him and he flipped him off! It was great and in retrospect I can't believe I got to meet such a legend.
Everybody that plays guitar today owes Les quite a bit of thanks.
The fact he plays a First of October song at 20:05 makes me so happy
20:05 "Rollerbladin'" riff from First Of October's first album!
Hope there'll be a third one this year!
Andrew announced on his twitter, that unfortunately they couldn't get together to record one this year.
@@richardu.2435 Thanks for being honest with the bad news dr 😢
that’s the best clean guitar tone I’ve ever heard
I never appreciated Les Paul enough, what an impressive history.
2:58 brushy one string knew what he had to do
Rob I'm 16 and I've been watching since I was like 11 and these videos are never boring infact they just get better
to show the power of the log, i saw this epiphone in HALF!!!!
Make it as dense as possible for maximum sustain as the vibration has nowhere else to go but into the pickup OR let some body in to encourage a bit of tone to bloom. The conundrum we still have thanks to the amazing Les Paul.
He is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the development of the electric guitar and the recording process but I wouldn't necessarily want an unchecked history written just by him. He was a 'creative' in lots of ways...Hahahahaha
Awesome video as always. I think Les would be proud.
How did you see the video this early? Lol
@@bluesalamander5527 Patreon probably
this is 1 day comment how?
Oh my gosh! I’ve actually got the chance to go their about 7 years back. And as someone playing for a few years then. And getting into guitars and the history. It was like a dream come true and so cool to see all the different guitars and the history and how they made the les Paul’s. Such a pleasant surprise video. 🥰
I absolutely love the little buzz between the finger style playing. It adds something special.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to Les Paul. What would have the world be like without him.
Read "The Birth of Loud." It goes into this, Fender and the the rest. It's a really interesting read.
The natural tone from this is exceptional.
I am a violist and an intrument and bow collector I really enjoyed this very much. Thank you!
So cool that younger folks appreciate the history of stuff, and do things like this to preserve and present it for us now, and future generations. Hell, I’ve been playing guitar since age 14, and at my age now, I could be these guys’ father, yet I’ve learned some new things from them. 👍
I’m mad that covid took our third First of October album
same
yup
I was looking forward to it all year.
I know, It frickin sucks
The way she said "Leo Fender" 😂. She's a good story teller.
It genuinely is hilarious that the first solid body electric guitar had humbuckers and a whammy bar
This is amazing. Thank u for showing this. As a bassist and guitarist this made me smile
This is Brilliant History and a great performance , There is a storey about a young kid in a music shop playing a guitar and Les asked if he could have a play ,after the young kid said to Les something like "Hey you don't play bad for an old man, what's your name ?" to which Les simply replied " It's on your Guitar "
Rob playing Gojira on the first ever Les Paul guitar is something i didn't know i needed
How the heck do you wire a pick-up in such a way that a guitar sounds like this clean?!?
Yea its Kinda like comparing a song demo to the final production
I cant believe Les Paul was working on stacked humbuckers so early, thats amazing.
“For that second” sounds absolutely beautiful on that guitar. Great video Rob!
Making me feel very secure in my first electric choice of an Epiphone les Paul, this was incredible.
THE LEGEND HAS RETURNED!!!!!
I think its been said enough at this point but just thought id reiterate i LOVE these new style of videos ur doin Rob. Keep it up man!
It looks like your signature guitar
first thing that crossed my mind too
As a model railroader and a metalhead it's so cool to see an actual piece of rail used as a proof-of-concept for the electric guitar as we know it today. Trve heavy metal! 🤘🚂🎸
Best history of the electric guitar. Great job guys.
28:30 Is that improv or a song I've never heard before?! That was beautiful
It’s for that second a song that rob wrote
@@genericthepyromain1745 como se llama??
@@JosePadilla-xt3wz for what second
@@xab5051 gracias pa
@@JosePadilla-xt3wz me equivoque pa, es for that second
When the lady said "this is", my head went "The StoRY oF A GuRL"
who cried a river and drowned the whole world
She looked so sad in photo graphs
But I absolutely love her...
WHEN SHE SMILES
Nice
34:37 I wasn't excepting to hear Gojira - The Heaviest Matter of the universe here on this guitar ^^
Edit : Forgot he already did this on Banjo with Leo..
You have such a wealth of amazing guitar experiences. I'm so happy that you've been able to do all this. I never would have thought this would be possible all those years ago watching you play. It's so awesome you've got the chance to experience all this.
Real awesome video. "Les Paul Chasing Sound" is a must watch. I think this guitar deserves its own channel. Different players playing this guitar..
I got obsessed with Les and Mary. Mary is the best singer ever. Amazing story that not enough guitar fans know. As a huge Les Paul and Mary Ford fan, I'm stoked on this. Hooray!