1.
Multitrack recording
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Multitracking became possible in the mid-1950s when the idea of simultaneously recording different audio channels to separate discrete tracks on the same reel-to-reel tape was developed. Prior to the development of recording, all of the singers, band instrumentalists, and/or orchestra accompanists had to sing. Multitracking allowed the engineer to adjust the levels and tone of each individual track, as well, different electronic effects such as reverb could be applied to specific tracks, such as the lead vocals, while not being applied to other tracks where this effect would not be desirable. In the 1980s and 1990s, computers provided means by which sound recording and reproduction could be digitized, revolutionizing audio recording and distribution. Though magnetic tape has not been replaced as a recording medium. Even in the 2010s, with digital multitracking being the dominant technology, with the introduction of SMPTE timecode in the early 1970s, engineers began to use computers to perfectly synchronize separate audio and video playback, and or multiple audio tape machines. In this system, one track of each carried the timecode signal. Some large studios were able to link multiple 24-track machines together, an extreme example of this occurred in 1982, when the rock group Toto recorded Toto IV on three synchronized 24-track machines. This setup theoretically provided for up to 69 audio tracks, which is far more than necessary for most recording projects. For computer-based systems, the trend in the 2000s is towards unlimited numbers of tracks, although issues such as RAM memory. Moreover, on computer-based systems, the number of available recording tracks is limited by the number of sound card discrete analog or digital inputs. At any given point on the tape, any of the tracks on the device can be recording or playing back using sel-sync or Selective Synchronous recording. They might then record a version on track 4 while listening to the other tracks. All the tracks can then be played back in perfect synchrony and this can be repeated until all of the available tracks have been used, or in some cases, reused. During mix down a set of playback heads with higher fidelity are used. Before all tracks are filled, any number of existing tracks can be bounced into one or two tracks, and the original tracks erased, making room for more tracks to be reused for fresh recording. In 1963, The Beatles were using twin track for Please Please Me, the Beach Boys Pet Sounds also made innovative use of multitracking with 8-track machines of the day. Motown also began recording with 8-track machines in 1965 before moving to 16-track machines in mid-1969, a recording engineer can record only the section being worked on, without erasing any other section of that track
2.
Reel-to-reel audio tape recording
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Reel-to-reel or open-reel audio tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette. Reel-to-reel systems use a tape that is 1⁄4 inches in width and this compares to 0.15 inches wide and 1.875 inches per second for a cassette. By writing out the audio signal across more tape, reel-to-reel systems offer much higher fidelity. In spite of the tapes, less convenient use and generally higher cost media. Studer, Stellavox and Denon still produced reel to reel tape recorders in the 1990s, but as of 2014, only Nagra, Otari, originally, this format had no name, since all forms of magnetic tape recorders used it. The earliest machines produced distortion during the process which German engineers significantly reduced during the Nazi era by applying a bias signal to the tape. In 1939 one machine was found to make consistently better recordings than other ostensibly identical models, and when it was taken apart a minor flaw was noticed. It was introducing an AC signal to the tape, and this was adapted to new models using a high-frequency AC bias that has remained a part of audio tape recording to this day. American audio engineer Jack Mullin was a member of the U. S. Army Signal Corps during World War II and he acquired two Magnetophon recorders and 50 reels of I. G. Farben recording tape and shipped them home, over the next two years, he worked to develop the machines for commercial use, hoping to interest the Hollywood film studios in using magnetic tape for movie soundtrack recording. Crosby invested $50,000 in an electronics company, Ampex. Ampex went on to develop the first practical videotape recorders in the early 1950s to pre-record Crosbys TV shows, inexpensive reel-to-reel tape recorders were widely used for voice recording in the home and in schools before the Philips compact cassette, introduced in 1963, gradually took over. Cassettes eventually displaced reel-to-reel recorders for consumer use, however, the narrow tracks and slow recording speeds used in cassettes compromised fidelity. Columbia House carried pre-recorded reel-to-reel tapes from 1960 to 1984, even today, some artists of all genres prefer analog tapes musical, natural and especially warm sound. Due to harmonic distortion, bass can thicken up, creating a fuller-sounding mix, in addition, high end can be slightly compressed, which is more natural to the human ear. It is common for artists to record to digital and re-record the tracks to analog reels for this effect of natural sound. In addition to all of these attributes of tape, tape saturation is a form of distortion that many rock, blues. For the first time, audio could be manipulated as a physical entity, Tape editing is performed simply by cutting the tape at the required point, and rejoining it to another section of tape using adhesive tape, or sometimes glue
3.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
4.
Gibson
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Gibson Brands, Inc. is an American manufacturer of guitars and other instruments, now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was known as Gibson Guitar Corp. and renamed Gibson Brands. Orville Gibson founded the company in 1902 as The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co. Ltd. in Kalamazoo, Gibson invented archtop guitars by constructing the same type of carved, arched tops used on violins. By the 1930s, the company was also making flattop acoustic guitars, as well as one of the first commercially available hollow-body electric guitars, Gibson sells guitars under a variety of brand names and builds one of the worlds most iconic guitars, the Gibson Les Paul. Many Gibson instruments are highly collectible, Gibson was at the forefront of innovation in acoustic guitars, especially in the big band era of the 1930s, the Gibson Super 400 was widely imitated. In 1952, Gibson introduced its first solid-body electric guitar, the Les Paul which became its most popular guitar to date— designed by Ted McCarty, Gibson was owned by the Norlin corporation from 1969 to 1986. In 1986, the company was acquired by its present owners, Gibson is a privately held corporation owned by its chief executive officer Henry Juszkiewicz and its president David H. Berryman. Orville Gibson patented a single-piece mandolin design in 1898 that was more durable than other mandolins, Orville Gibson began to sell his instruments in 1894 out of a one-room workshop in Kalamazoo Michigan. In 1902 Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. was incorporated to market the instruments, initially, the company produced only Orville Gibsons original designs. Orville died in 1918 of endocarditis, the following year the company hired designer Lloyd Loar to create newer instruments. Loar designed the flagship L-5 archtop guitar and the Gibson F5 mandolin that was introduced in 1922, in 1936 Gibson introduced their first Electric Spanish model, the ES-150 followed by other electric instruments like steel guitars, banjos and mandolins. During World War II, instrument manufacturing at Gibson slowed due to shortages of wood and metal, between 1942-1945, Gibson employed women to manufacture guitars. Women produced nearly 25,000 guitars during World War II yet Gibson denied ever building instruments over this period, Gibson folklore has also claimed its guitars were made by seasoned craftsmen who were too old for war. In 1944 Gibson was purchased by Chicago Musical Instruments, the ES-175 was introduced in 1949. Gibson hired Ted McCarty in 1948, who became President in 1950, the Les Paul was offered in Custom, Standard, Special, and Junior models. In the mid-50s, the Thinline series was produced, which included a line of thinner guitars like the Byrdland, the first Byrdlands were slim, custom built, L-5 models for guitarists Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. Later, a neck was added. Other models such as the ES-350T and the ES-225T were introduced as less costly alternatives, in 1958, Gibson introduced the ES-335T model
5.
MiniDisc
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MiniDisc is a magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 74 minutes and, later,80 minutes, of digitized audio or 1 gigabyte of Hi-MD data. Sony brand audio players were on the market from September 1992 until March 2013, MiniDisc was announced by Sony in September 1992 and released that November of that year for sale in Japan and in December in Europe, Canada, the USA and other countries. MiniDiscs were very popular outside of the USA, Sony has ceased development of MD devices, with the last of the players sold by March 2013. It took, however, almost 10 years before their idea was commercialized, Sony had originally intended Digital Audio Tape to be the dominant home digital audio recording format, replacing the analog cassette. Due to technical delays, DAT was not launched until 1989, by the time Sony came up with MiniDisc in late 1992, Philips had introduced a competing system, DCC. This created marketing confusion very similar to the Betamax versus VHS battle of the late 1970s, Sony attempted to license MD technology to other manufacturers, with JVC, Sharp, Pioneer, Panasonic and others all producing their own MD systems. However, non-Sony machines were not widely available in North America, despite having a loyal customer base largely of musicians and audio enthusiasts, MiniDisc met with only limited success. It was relatively popular in Japan during the 1990s but did not enjoy comparable sales in other world markets, since then, recordable CDs, flash memory and HDD and solid-state-based digital audio players such as iPods have become increasingly popular as playback devices. The initial low uptake of MiniDisc was attributed to the number of pre-recorded albums available on MD as relatively few record labels embraced the format. The initial high cost of equipment and blank media was also a factor, mains-powered hi-fi MiniDisc player/recorders never got into the lower price ranges, and most consumers had to connect a portable machine to the hi-fi in order to record. This inconvenience contrasted with the common use of cassette decks as a standard part of an ordinary hi-fi set-up. The biggest competition for MiniDisc came from the emergence of MP3 players, with the Diamond Rio player in 1998 and the Apple iPod, the mass market began to eschew physical media in favor of file-based systems. This allowed the MiniDisc to better compete with HD recorders and MP3 players, on 7 July 2011, Sony announced that it would no longer ship MiniDisc Walkman products as of September 2011, effectively killing the format. On 1 February 2013, Sony issued a release on the Nikkei stock exchange that it will cease shipment of MD devices. However, it would continue to sell blank discs and offer repair services, MD Data, a version for storing computer data, was announced by Sony in 1993 but never gained significant ground. Its media were incompatible with standard audio MiniDiscs, which has been cited as one of the reasons behind the formats failure. MD Data could not write to audio-MDs, only the more expensive data blanks. In 1997, MD-Data2 blanks were introduced, which held 650 MB of data and they were only implemented in Sonys short-lived MD-based camcorder as well as a small number of multi-track recorders, Sonys MDM-X4, Tascams 564, and Yamahas MD-8, MD-4, & MD4S
6.
Les Paul
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Lester William Polsfuss, known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar. Paul taught himself how to play guitar and while he is known for jazz and popular music. He is credited with many recording innovations and he recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and they sold millions of records. Among his many honors, Paul is one of a handful of artists with a permanent, stand-alone exhibit in the Rock and he is prominently named by the music museum on its website as an architect and a key inductee with Sam Phillips and Alan Freed. Les Paul is the person to be included in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Les Paul was born Lester William Polsfuss in Waukesha, Wisconsin, to George and his family was of German ancestry. Pauls mother was related to the founders of Milwaukees Valentin Blatz Brewing Company and his parents divorced when he was a child. His mother simplified their Prussian family name first to Polfuss, then to Polfus, before taking the stage name Les Paul, he also performed as Red Hot Red and Rhubarb Red. At the age of eight, Paul began playing the harmonica, after trying to learn the piano, he switched to the guitar. It was during this time that he invented a neck-worn harmonica holder and it is still manufactured using his basic design. By age thirteen, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a singer, guitarist. While playing at the Waukesha area drive-ins and roadhouses, Paul began his first experiment with sound. Wanting to make himself heard by people at the local venues, he wired a phonograph needle to his guitar and connected it to a radio speaker. As a teen Paul created his first solid body electric guitar using a 2-foot piece of rail from a train line. At age seventeen, Paul played with Rube Tronsons Texas Cowboys, Paul moved to Chicago in 1934, where he continued to perform on radio stations WBBM and WLS. He met pianist Art Tatum, whose playing influenced him to stick with the rather than original plans of taking on the piano. His first two records were released in 1936, credited to Rhubarb Red, Pauls hillbilly alter ego and he also served as an accompanist for a few other bands signed to Decca
7.
Guitar
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The guitar is a musical instrument classified as a fretted string instrument with anywhere from four to 18 strings, usually having six. The sound is projected either acoustically, using a wooden or plastic and wood box, or through electrical amplifier. It is typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers, the guitar is a type of chordophone, traditionally constructed from wood and strung with either gut, nylon or steel strings and distinguished from other chordophones by its construction and tuning. There are three types of modern acoustic guitar, the classical guitar, the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar. The tone of a guitar is produced by the strings vibration, amplified by the hollow body of the guitar. The term finger-picking can also refer to a tradition of folk, blues, bluegrass. The acoustic bass guitar is an instrument that is one octave below a regular guitar. Early amplified guitars employed a body, but a solid wood body was eventually found more suitable during the 1960s and 1970s. As with acoustic guitars, there are a number of types of guitars, including hollowbody guitars, archtop guitars and solid-body guitars. The electric guitar has had a influence on popular culture. The guitar is used in a variety of musical genres worldwide. It is recognized as an instrument in genres such as blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, folk, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, punk, reggae, rock, soul. The term is used to refer to a number of chordophones that were developed and used across Europe, beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas. The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, has applied to a wide variety of chordophones since classical times. Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar, at least two instruments called guitars were in use in Spain by 1200, the guitarra latina and the so-called guitarra morisca. The guitarra morisca had a back, wide fingerboard. The guitarra Latina had a sound hole and a narrower neck. By the 14th century the qualifiers moresca or morisca and latina had been dropped, and it had six courses, lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early representations reveal an instrument with a sharply cut waist
8.
Electric guitar
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The vibrations of the strings are sensed by a pickup, of which the most common type is the magnetic pickup, which uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction. The signal generated by a guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is plugged into a guitar amplifier before being sent to a loudspeaker. The output of a guitar is an electric signal. Invented in 1931, the electric guitar was adopted by jazz guitarists. Early proponents of the guitar on record included Les Paul, Lonnie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, T-Bone Walker. During the 1950s and 1960s, the guitar became the most important instrument in pop music. It has evolved into an instrument that is capable of a multitude of sounds and styles in genres ranging from pop and rock to country music, blues and jazz. It served as a component in the development of electric blues, rock and roll, rock music, heavy metal music. Electric guitar design and construction vary greatly in the shape of the body and the configuration of the neck, bridge, Guitars may have a fixed bridge or a spring-loaded hinged bridge that lets players bend the pitch of notes or chords up or down or perform vibrato effects. The sound of a guitar can be modified by new playing techniques such as string bending, tapping, hammering on, using audio feedback, in a small group, such as a power trio, one guitarist switches between both roles. In larger rock and metal bands, there is often a rhythm guitarist, many experiments at electrically amplifying the vibrations of a string instrument were made dating back to the early part of the 20th century. Patents from the 1910s show telephone transmitters were adapted and placed inside violins, hobbyists in the 1920s used carbon button microphones attached to the bridge, however, these detected vibration from the bridge on top of the instrument, resulting in a weak signal. With numerous people experimenting with electrical instruments in the 1920s and early 1930s, Electric guitars were originally designed by acoustic guitar makers and instrument manufacturers. Some of the earliest electric guitars adapted hollow-bodied acoustic instruments and used tungsten pickups, the first electrically amplified guitar was designed in 1931 by George Beauchamp, the general manager of the National Guitar Corporation, with Paul Barth, who was vice president. The maple body prototype for the one-piece cast aluminum frying pan was built by Harry Watson, commercial production began in late summer of 1932 by the Ro-Pat-In Corporation, in Los Angeles, a partnership of Beauchamp, Adolph Rickenbacker, and Paul Barth. In 1934, the company was renamed the Rickenbacker Electro Stringed Instrument Company, in that year Beauchamp applied for a United States patent for an Electrical Stringed Musical Instrument and the patent was issued in 1937. The Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts provided players a full 25 scale, with 17 frets free of the fretboard and it is estimated that fewer than 50 Electro-Spanish Ken Roberts were constructed between 1933 and 1937, fewer than 10 are known to survive today. The need for the guitar became apparent during the big band era as orchestras increased in size, particularly when acoustic guitars had to compete with large
9.
Gibson EDS-1275
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The Gibson EDS-1275 is a doubleneck Gibson electric guitar, weighing about 13 pounds and introduced in 1958. A model with a 4-string bass and a 6-string guitar neck was called the EBS-1250, it had a built-in fuzztone and was produced from 1962 to 1968 and again from 1977 to 1978. In 1963, the solid-body EDS-1275 was designed, resembling the SG model, the guitar was available in jet black, cherry, sunburst, and white. In 1974, Gibson started making the guitar again, in a number of additional colors, the EDS-1275, while never selling in great quantities, was used by a number of notable musicians. Chicago bluesman Earl Hooker is seen holding one on the cover of the 1969 albums Two Bugs and a Roach and The Moon is Rising, the model was popularized by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, most notably during live performances of Stairway to Heaven. By the time Page desired an EDS-1275, they were no longer in production so he ordered a custom-made cherry 6/12, Pages EDS-1275 has a slightly different body shape from that of the current model. Pages influence was such that after him other guitarists picked up the EDS-1275, including Alex Lifeson of Rush, eddie Van Halen also has one in his collection. Gibson released a VOS Jimmy Page Signature EDS-1275 model in 2007, Page kept serial number one for himself. Serial numbers 2 through 26 of these were played and signed by Page, Alex first bought a cherry 1976 EDS-1275, in Nashville at the end of the 2112 tour. It was modified with an after market tune-o-matic bridge on the six string, in 1978, during the Hemispheres tour, the guitar was broken when a speaker horn fell on it, in Uniondale, New York. Gibson later repaired it and repainted it Alpine White, he continued to use it until the Signals Tour when it was retired and it saw use again on the Counterparts Tour in 1994, where it was used to play Cygnus X-1 Book II, Hemispheres. In 1996 Alex gave his EDS-1275 to Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar, steve Clark of Def Leppard signed an endorsement with Gibson in the mid-1980s and used two EDS 1275s on the Hysteria World Tour in 1987/88. The guitar is offered only through the Gibson Custom Shop as a special order model. It features two volume and two control knobs, a three-way pickup-selector switch, and a three-way neck-selector switch. It has vintage tulip tuners, pearloid split parallelogram inlays, black pickguards and pickup rings, twenty frets per neck, the Custom Shop also makes a Don Felder Hotel California signature model. Epiphone makes a version of the classic doubleneck, marketing it as the G-1275, japanese guitar manufacturer Ibanez produced a model inspired by the Gibson, called the Double Axe, from 1974 to 1976. They were available as a 6/12, a 4/6, and a 6/6 configuration, in cherry, the Gibson EDS-1275 in both finishes Cherry, which resemble Jimmy Pages, and Alpine White with gold hardware appeared in video games Guitar Hero and Guitar hero II as purchasable guitars. The doubleneck resembling Don Felders appeared in Guitar Hero, Aerosmith as a guitar for getting 5-stars in every career song on Hard
10.
Gibson ES Series
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The Gibson ES series of semi-acoustic guitar are manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. The letters ES stand for Electric Spanish, to them from Hawaiian-style guitars which were played flat on the lap. ES-5 Three-pickup, full depth hollowbody, eS-5 Switchmaster ES-100 Entry-level archtop hollow-body model. ES-120T Most basic student model, thinline, eS-130 ES-135 Thick-body version of ES-125TDC. ES-137 Upscaled ES-135 with Les Paul sound, eS-140 3/4 size, short scale ES-175. ES-150 Gibsons first electric guitar, based on L-50, EST-150 and EPG-150 were shipped. ES-165 Single pickup ES-175 based on Herb Elliss, ES-175 Full depth, florentine cutaway, maple top,24 3/4 scale. ES-175D ES-175T ES-225T Variation on ES-125T, with trapeze bridge, eS-250 Rare, fancier version of ES-150. ES-260 Resembling ES-125T/ES-225T, but semi-hollow with center block, stop tailpiece, knob placement differed slightly from other ES-series. ES-295 ES-175 resembling Les Paul Goldtop with trapeze bridge, eS-320TD Similar to ES-330TD but with tune-o-matic and metal control plate. ES-325 Similar to ES-330TD but with mini-humbuckers, single f-hole, ES-330TD Double rounded cutaway, thinline hollow-body. ES-333 Stripped down version of ES-335, ES-335 Worlds first thinline archtop semi-acoustic. ES-335 Bass ES-336 Replaced by CS-336, ES-339 Size of CS-336 with construction of ES-335. ES-340TD ES-335 with a master volume/mixer and phase switch, ES-345 ES-335 construction, but with parallelogram inlays, Varitone, and stereo outputs. ES-347 Alternate ES-345 with a switch instead of Varitone. ES-355 Upscaled ES-345 with vibrato unit, optional Varitone and stereo outputs, eS-369 ES-390 Similar in size to the ES-339, but with the fully hollow construction of ES-330. Equipped with mini humbuckers or dog-ear P90s, eS-775 ES-175 with higher quality components. ES Artist Upscale model of ES-335 without f-holes, with active circuit by Moog, signatured models Byrdland Thinline, short-scale L-5 CES, named after Billy Byrd and Hank Garland
11.
Gibson Firebird
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The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson from 1963 to the present. The Gibson Guitar Corporation released several new styles during the 1950s to compete with Fenders solid-body instruments, after success with the Les Paul in the 1950s, Gibsons popularity began to wane in the 1960s. Fenders colors, shapes and multiple pickups were endorsed by notable guitarists, Gibsons guitars, most of which were hollow or semi-hollow designs, seemed old-fashioned. Coupled with higher prices, this contributed to a decline in sales, Gibson had made forays into radical body shapes - the Flying V and Explorer in the 1950s - which met limited initial success. The president of Gibson, Ted McCarty, hired car designer Ray Dietrich to design a guitar that would have popular appeal, under Dietrich, the Firebird took on the lines of mid-50s car tailfins. Dietrich took the Explorer design and rounded the edges, the most unusual aspect is that the guitar is backward in that the right-hand horn of the body is longer than the other. Thus, the original Firebirds were unofficially referred to as reverse, the Firebird looks like an Explorer with softer points, or maybe a reverse Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster. The Firebird is the first Gibson solid-body to use neck-through construction, the neck itself is made up of five plies of mahogany interspersed with four narrow strips of walnut for added strength. Other features were reverse headstock and banjo-style planetary geared tuning keys, there are no screw poles on Firebird pickups. Some Firebirds from 1965 featured Gibsons single-coil P-90 pickup, the Firebird line went on sale in mid-1963 with four models distinguished by pickup and tailpiece configurations. Unlike the Les Paul and SG line, which used the terms Junior, Special, Standard and Custom, Gibsons line of Thunderbird basses is rooted in the design of the Firebird, and uses even Roman numerals to distinguish it. From 1965 to 1969, Gibson introduced non-reverse models after failing to achieve marketing success with the unusual reverse-body design, Gibson had also received complaints from Fender that the Firebird headstock mirrored the Stratocaster and that the body violated Fenders design patents, with Fender threatening a lawsuit. The non-reverse body is a more standard double-cutaway design, with the horn being longer than the treble horn. It also had a standard glued-in neck rather than construction, as well as other, less noticeable changes in design. Pickup and tailpiece configuration for the V and VII were the same as the earlier models, although the I-. After a few years of disappointing sales, the line was dropped. Reverse body Firebirds were first reissued in 1972, with a commemorative Bicentennial modelreleased in 1976, the bicentennial model was distinguished by a red-white-blue logo on the white pickguard. The logo on most other models is red, the reissue Firebirds are usually based on the original reverse body design, however Gibson reintroduced the non-reverse Firebird in 2002 as a Custom Shop guitar
12.
Gibson Les Paul
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The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The Les Paul was designed by Gibson president Ted McCarty, factory manager John Huis and their team, the Les Paul was originally offered with a gold finish and two P-90 pickups. In 1957, humbucking pickups were added, along with sunburst finishes in 1958, the sunburst 1958–1960 Les Paul – today one of the best-known electric guitar types in the world – was considered a failure, with low production and sales. For 1961, the Les Paul was redesigned into what is now known as the Gibson SG and this design continued as a separate guitar when the traditional single cutaway, carved top bodystyle was re-introduced in 1963. The Les Paul has been produced in countless versions and editions since. Along with Fenders Telecaster and Stratocaster, it was one of the first mass-produced electric solid-body guitars, Les Pauls have been used in many genres, including rock, country, pop, soul, rhythm and blues, blues, jazz, reggae, punk, and heavy metal. In 1950, the ancestors of Fender Telecaster were introduced to the musical market, in reaction to market demand, Gibson Guitar president Ted McCarty brought guitarist Les Paul into the company as a consultant. Les Paul was an innovator who had been experimenting with guitar design for years. He hand-built a solid-body prototype called The Log, often suggested as the first solid-body Spanish guitar ever built, in 1951, Paul, McCarty, and his team at the Gibson Guitar Corporation began work on what would eventually become the Les Paul Model. Early prototypes are very similar to the final version, the new Les Paul guitar was to be an expensive, well-made instrument in accordance with Gibsons reputation at the time. Although recollections differ regarding who contributed what to the Les Paul design, however, this reversal would have caused the guitar to become too heavy, and Pauls request was refused. Paul states that the original Custom should have had the maple cap, Les Pauls contributions to the guitar line bearing his name were more than cosmetic, but certainly included them. For example, Paul specified that the guitar be offered in a finish, not only for flashiness. The later-issue Les Paul models included flame maple and quilted maple tops, the 1952 Les Pauls featured two P-90 single coil pickups, and a one-piece, trapeze-style bridge/tailpiece with strings fitted under a steel stop-bar. The guitar made its debut when Paul used it onstage in June,1952. On July 24,1952, at a special musicians clinic at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, it was previewed by prominent guitarists such as Tiger Haynes, George Barnes, Mundell Lowe, Tony Mottola, and Billy Mure. The clinic preceded the annual NAMM Show held at the New Yorker hotel starting July 27, a second Les Paul model was introduced in 1953. Called the Les Paul Custom, this guitar with gold-plated hardware was dubbed the Black Beauty
