Bill wrote:
In message , Stephen Howard
writes
On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:09:11 +0100, The Wanderer
wrote:

Les Paul died yesterday. Where would modern music be without his
inventions?

Same place, courtesy of Rickenbacker.

One could argue the case for Paul Bigsby who built a guitar to Merle
Travis' sketch, leading to Fender which triggered Gibson to build the
Les Paul, and indeed Travis himself with early multitracking
(unnecessary in his case) and the first pop videos.
The '40's and '50's had some very inventive people.

yeah. Les paul wanted a note perfect instrument for jazz..Fender wanted
a cheap country style guitar and wasn't that concerned about accuracy.

The thing is a Les Paul sounds the same whoever plays it. A fender
sounds like its 'X' playing..

A les paul is easy to play, but leaves no room for personal quirks IMHO.
A start? Its as good as the person playing it.

If you list all the 'guitar heroes' 90% are strat men.