94 today (June 9). What an amazing, influential person! I just saw "Les Paul: Chasing Sound" on DVD, and recommend it highly. The glimpses of his gear and guitar collection (Django's Maccaferri!) are worth it alone. We wouldn't be here today without him, and we wouldn't play, record and hear the way we do without him.

Les is in the pantheon, no doubt. Until I started playing guitar, I just vaguely recalled his name from the records with Mary Ford in the early fifties (which, honestly, didn't knock me out). Later, I found out what an amazing player, inventor, and, most importantly, man Les Paul is. What a life!

In these days when Martin is churning out models labeled for local pickers of the week, Les Paul is one of the very, very few guitarists that deserves to have had a guitar named after him. A giant.

And when they messed with his design he yanked his endorsement (thus, the SG). Integrity- imagine that! Thankfully for all of us, the Les Paul, man and guitar, live on.

Weeell... Les was quite happy to be pictured in promo photos with the LP/SG in late 1960 or early 61. It's alleged that he cut his ties with Gibson to lessen his assets as his divorce with Mary Ford was going through... his bad-mouthing of the SG's neck joint came decades later.

Also, not 'his' design. McCarty and the Gibson crew were working on the new guitar for a solid year before they roped in Les Paul. Gold paint, yes... that was his idea. Possibly the trapeze too, but Gibson screwed up the neck angle, so the strings had to be underslung... fixed by '53 with the wraparound stop tail.

But nonetheless, a true pioneer, a talented inventor and a giant in the guitar field. Multi-tracking alone would ensure his name on the wall of all-time great inventors. 94... sheesh. And still playing.