Originality......

[Chuckracer]

Re: Originality......

Randy had some strange (at the time) shaped guitars, but to put him in the same catagory as Les Paul, Leo Fender, Ted McCarty? [img]graemlins/refuse.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

[nor]

Re: Originality......

Yeah, what Chuck said...

[DJROBA]

Re: Originality......

I agree with you guys. I was more so looking at artists, and there visions. Ted was probably the most creative. Les Paul really didn't have anything to do with the incarnation of the Les Paul guitar. He was primarily an endorser. But the multi track thing is all his.

[Chuckracer]

Re: Originality......

Um...Les Paul pretty well invented the solid body electric guitar.
What did Randy invent again?

[lerxstcat]

Re: Originality......

Didn't Les Paul build "The Log" which was the prototype idea for a heavy, thick-bodied setneck electric guitar? I think that led to the Les Paul guitar, even if McCarty designed exactly what we call the Gibson Les Paul today.

[lerxstcat]

Re: Originality......

Originally posted by Chuckracer:
Um...Les Paul pretty well invented the solid body electric guitar.
What did Randy invent again?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The pointy headstock, basically. If you don't consider an Explorer HS pointy, and I don't. You could say he morphed a Flying V with an Explorer, shortened one wing and sharpened both the wings and the headstock. He also came up with the harpoon headstock, which I personally don't like.

[Jim Shine]

Re: Originality......

Originally posted by lerxstcat:
Didn't Les Paul build "The Log" which was the prototype idea for a heavy, thick-bodied setneck electric guitar? I think that led to the Les Paul guitar, even if McCarty designed exactly what we call the Gibson Les Paul today.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That is correct! The Les Paul guitar we all know and love was designed by McCarty and a couple of other Gibson people after Les paul came to them asking to build a solid body guitar. Gibson designed the guitar and called Les Paul in to approve the design. The only part Les Paul really played a part in was in the bridge assembly.

[Jim Shine]

Re: Originality......

The Broadcaster/Esquire/Telecaster pre-dates the Les Paul model by two years.

[Newc]

Re: Originality......

That's a dirty lie started by CBS/Sony [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Newc

[Jim Shine]

Re: Originality......

Yeah, thats the ticket! I hear Parker Brothers had something to do with the smear campaign as well [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Chuckracer]

Re: Originality......

The Jem was no more an invention than the Rhoads. It was a varaition on a theme, just like the Bad Horsie, and everybody "designs" a pickup.

We're talking about true inventors here. What year did Paul Bigsby invent the Fender guitar? (tounge firmly in cheek!)

[Newc]

Re: Originality......

As long as the US Patent Office regards the slightest modification to an existing design as an original work, Randy DID "invent" the pointy V, and Vai "invented" the JEM/RG design.

I suppose EVH's hacking up of a Destroyer to make the Star was not an "invention" either?

Newc

[lerxstcat]

Re: Originality......

Well, did Randy get those patents, or did Grover Jackson? If it was Grover, then your own logic says HE invented it, and Randy only "consulted" on it.

[Jim Shine]

Re: Originality......

I hate to say it, but the Bigsby Merele Travis guitar was as similar to a Fender as it was a Les Paul. The item that is up for debate is the headstock shape. Yeah, it sure looks like Leo took the idea for the Strat (not the Telecaster) and CBS took it even farther when they made the enlarged headstocks. But Martin used a similar headstock outline many years before even Bigsby was alive and similar outlines can be found on ancient Croation stringed instruments. So who stole what from who?

Bigsby never built a production electric spanish solid body guitar. He was a custom guitar builder who built mostly steel guitars. There have been several examples of one off, custom built 1930-40's solidbodies from all over the country. This is why Fender gets credit for being the first company to build solidbody electric spanish guitars. The thought is in production, not one offs.

[Chuckracer]

Re: Originality......

Alright, well it's one thing to take a guitar and shape it differently, and another entirely to invent the solidbody electric guitar.

That's no more an invention than taking a wah wah and changing the sweep of the pedal.

Jim, I agree that Leo was the one to put the solidbody guitar into production and into the hands of the masses therefore making it widely accepted instrument instead of a one-off freak thing. I was just stirring the pot a little!