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Tom Scholz Talks Les Pauls


05/18/2008
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(antiMusic) Forget the Strat, rock's most legendary guitar is named after the man that invented the electric guitar and has fueled some of rock's most notorious songs. We're talking of course about the Gibson Les Paul with the distinctive sound which helped create the classic music of Led Zeppelin, KISS, Aerosmith, Jeff Beck, Duane Allman, Bob Marley (his Les Paul was buried with him!), Zakk Wylde, and Tom Scholz, the mastermind behind Boston. Gibson.com caught up with Tom recently to talk about his long love affair with the Les Paul. Here is part of that conversation:

Gibson: What first turned you on about Les Pauls? Tom: They sound great―period. The first time I saw somebody play one was Jimmy Page and then I heard Jeff Beck use one on Truth. Then, I heard someone play a Goldtop in a bar and I thought it was the sweetest sounding thing. "Where do you find a guitar like that?" A couple years later that guy had to sell his equipment and offered me that very guitar for 300 bucks. It's the same one I use today. Now it has a Mighty Mouse on it. That was a bumper sticker I cut out and stuck on, then buried under 14 layers of lacquer. It's been there for 22 years now so it's not going anywhere.

Gibson: You're famous for having gigantic tone. How much of that comes from your Les Pauls? Tom: They do have a huge sound. It's tough to quantify that. I've compared them in great depth to lots of other guitars, and I couldn't even put that into technical terms. But the sound is big with lots of character, and if you want a chunky sound it's there or if you want a pure, crystal clear tone it does that. I just don't get that range from other guitars. - Read the full interview here

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