Les Paul was a musician and one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar.

Who Was Les Paul? Les Paul designed a solid-body electric guitar in 1941, but by the time it was ready for production by Gibson in 1952, Leo Fender had already mass-produced the Fender Broadcaster four years earlier, thus beating Paul to popular credit for the invention. Nonetheless, the Les Paul acquired a devoted following, and its versatility and balance made it the favored guitar of many rock guitarists.

Early Years Les Paul was born Lester William Polsfuss on June 9, 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. By at least one account, Paul's early musical ability wasn't superb. "Your boy, Lester, will never learn music," one teacher wrote his mother. But nobody could dissuade him from trying, and as a young boy he taught himself the harmonica, guitar and banjo. By his teen years, Paul was playing in country bands around the Midwest. He also played live on St. Louis radio stations, calling himself the Rhubarb Red. Coupled with Paul's interest in playing instruments was a love for modifying them. At the age of nine he built his first crystal radio. At 10 he built a harmonica holder out of a coat hanger, and then later constructed his own amplified guitar. Not content to strictly be a country musician, Paul developed an interest in jazz music and by the mid 1930s had moved to Chicago and formed the Les Paul Trio. He formed his first trio and learned jazz on the South Side of Chicago while he was playing country music during the day on the Chicago radio stations. By the 1940s Paul had established himself in the jazz world, recording with such stars as Nat King Cole, Rudy Vallee and Kate Smith.

The New Electric Guitar In 1941 the perfectionist in Paul believed he could improve upon the common amplified guitar. To do so he attached strings and two pickups to what was essentially a wooden board with a guitar neck. Paul called it the "the log," and while it drew some early criticism, mainly for its look, it produced just the kind of sound its creator had been looking for. "You could go out and eat and come back and the note would still be playing," he later described it. It was the first solid-body guitar, and it changed music in unbelievable ways. In the 1960s, the rock world embraced and adored his instrument. By then, Paul had teamed up with the guitar manufacturer Gibson, which had hired him to design a Les Paul guitar. Paul had approached Gibson in 1941, but it took 10 years, and Leo Fender introducing his solid body guitar for Gibson, for the company to develop what is now known as the Gibson Les Paul. Musicians such as Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney all used the guitar. Since its debut in 1952 the Gibson Les Paul has been one of the most popular and best-selling guitars. Paul's commitment to his music was such that in 1948 a car accident left him with a shattered right elbow. Faced with doctors setting the arm in a position that wouldn't again be movable, Paul, ever mindful of his career, asked that it be set at a slight angle so he could still play guitar.