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The Latest Breaking News from Les Paul

Harley Benton has already dropped the best-value Strat copies of the year – now it looks to do the same for single-cuts with the overhauled SC-Custom III range

The cent-saving Les Paul copies start from less than $350 and offer a range of top notch specs, from stainless steel frets to active humbuckers and Floyd Rose bridges.

Guitar World

“A quintessential mashup of Fender features”: Squier debuts a new Paranormal Telecaster/Jazzmaster hybrid – and revives Fender's mischievous Les Paul-inspired 'Troublemaker' in a new affordable form

Fender once again throws the rule book out the window for two new limited edition Paranormal models – and the results are quite something

Guitar World

“This wasn’t Seth Lover’s instinctual way to create a pickup. This was Les Paul in his ear saying, ‘This is what you should do”: The story – and tones – behind Gibson’s distinctive Alnico V ‘Staple pickup’

A lesser celebrated pickup the ‘Staple’ pickup features those distinctive rectangular polepieces and a sound that makes it ripe for rediscovery, especially with a range of replicas on the market

Guitar World

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“A guitar from that dark period when the single-cut Les Paul was discontinued”: Is this oddball ’60s electric the weirdest custom model Gibson has ever created? Gibson’s archive curator sure thinks so

The guitar – reportedly admired by Billy Gibbons – was built in 1966 for Torpedo Joe, and is said to be one of the strangest custom models Gibson has crafted

Guitar World

"It's been an incredible year for me and my band so far": Peter Frampton announces Positively Thankful US tour

Peter Frampton is having a pretty good 2024, to be fair

Louder

“Leo wanted me to be partners with him, for it to be the Fender guitar – the Les Paul Fender”: Les Paul was once approached by Leo Fender to work together on a solidbody electric guitar

Before Gibson finally decided to work with Paul, the guitar innovator was sounded out by one of the firm's biggest competitors

Guitar World

“While Les Paul maynot have been the first to use tape for echo effects, he was certainly at the forefront”: The history of delay, from studio guitar reel-to-reel experiments to Line 6 and the rise of digital

How 1940s innovations in sound echoed an eternity on pedalboards, taking delay from the mechanical analog era to the digital realm, shaping guitar tone for generations to come

Guitar World

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"I am very aware that so little has happened to the electric guitar from the time that it was conceived to now": A classic interview with innovator Les Paul

Les Paul was born 109 years ago, in 2009 the guitar icon looked back in one of his last-ever interviews – "Leo wanted me to be partners with him, for it to be the Fender guitar – the Les Paul Fender"

MusicRadar

“If Les were still alive today, I have absolutely no doubt that he and Peter would be experimenting together at Les’ house”: Peter Frampton honored with Les Paul Spirit Award

Peter Frampton is being acknowledged for pushing the boundaries of music technology, particularly through his use of the talk box

Guitar World

“If Les were still alive today, I have absolutely no doubt that he and Peter would be experimenting together at Les’ house”: Peter Frampton to receive Les Paul Spirit Award

Veteran guitarist to be honoured next month in Nashville

MusicRadar

“Tracii has been so important. I’ve always loved his playing – I’m extremely grateful to have him as a mentor”: Schooled by Tracii Guns and serving in three hard-rock powerhouses, Sam Bam Koltun is a Les Paul aficionado to watch

He’s already playing with Faster Pussycat, Dorothy and Budderside, but we get the feeling this L.A.-based guitarist could squeeze a few more bands into his schedule

Guitar World

“I do not endorse your product or any company who uses artificial BS to bamboozle people”: Tyler Bryant calls out guitar company for Photoshopping his picture to promote a Les Paul copy

The Stratocaster loyalist was faked playing an LP replica by a brand bidding to market its own model

Guitar World

“I'm really dumb for doing this, but here goes nothing!” Nuno Bettencourt swapped his Washburn N4 for a Les Paul copy to shred onstage with Stone Temple Pilots – and still sounded exactly like Nuno Bettencourt

The Extreme guitarist was spotted playing a Nelson LP copy as he shared the stage with “one of the greatest rock bands of all time”

Guitar World

“Duane Eddy twanged the thang in the late 50s and 60s and you can hear his character sound appearing throughout the decades of popular music.” Jimmy Page pays tribute to the 'Titan of Twang'

Jimmy Page salutes one of his early guitar heroes, the late Duane Eddy, who passed away this week, aged 86

Louder

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Guitar World

“He was one of my greatest heroes… His attack, tone, vibrato and melodic sense was peerless”: Joe Bonamassa pays tribute to Jeff Beck as he shares his favorite licks from the guitar icon

With a Les Paul in hand, Bonamassa checks in from Nerdville to give a lesson in the style of the late, great Jeff Beck

MusicRadar

“Sometimes life gives you opportunities to right some wrongs”: Mark Tremonti reunited with “My Own Prison” Les Paul nearly 26 years after it was stolen

It’s the guitar feelgood story of the year as the Creed/Alter Bridge guitarist is reunited with “prized possession” after his superhero manager Tim Tournier tracked it down for his 50th birthday

Guitar World

“Updated and more authentic than ever”: Epiphone rolls out the Gibson headstock for its latest high-end Inspired by Gibson Custom Shop drop, including a new 1959 Les Paul Standard – and a pink J-180

Epiphone has lifted the curtain on its “new crown jewels”, all featuring the iconic open book headstock

MusicRadar

"A high-performance Les Paul that is sure to satisfy even the most contemporary player": Gibson Les Paul Modern Figured review

A flashy contemporary take on the classic LP formula – but is it style over substance?

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Guitar World

“At some point I might come up with a new single-cut unique enough not to upset anybody”: Nik Huber on the perils of riffing on the classics and the evolution of his powerhouse boutique brand

There’s always the risk that someone might object to a maker’s designs. In the case of Nik Huber’s Krautster, it came 15 years after the guitar was introduced…

MusicRadar

"With effortless playability and the credentials to absolutely nail those iconic Peter Green, Gary Moore and Kirk Hammett tones": Epiphone Kirk Hammett "Greeny" 1959 Les Paul Standard review

The world's most famous Les Paul finally gets the Epiphone treatment – but is it worth it?

MusicRadar

"What we need is a song that is just really simple that everyone can sing": Paul Rodgers on the mission statement and magical musical combination that fuelled Free classic All Right Now

"I do think Koss’s sound was a big part of it"

Guitar World

“It’s the higher-profile artist associations that tend to attract the big money – things like your Pearly Gates and your Jimmy Pages”: Why Gibson’s replicas of famous Les Pauls are commanding almost as much as vintage guitars

Gibson’s highest-tier replicas are seriously sought after on the collector's market. We find out what all the fuss is about and examine a rare recreation of Jimmy Page’s fiendishly complex #2 Les Paul Standard

Guitar World

“I don’t know what it is about my Tele, but it’s special. Roy Buchanan tried it and wanted to buy it! I said, ‘No way in hell I’m giving that up’”: Russell Javors on his wild ride with Billy Joel – and his friendship with Les Paul after he was let go

Billy Joel’s former right-hand man had given up on music until he accidentally reconnected with his old colleagues – so what does he think of the suggestion that their Lords of 52nd Street group are better than Joel’s current band?

Guitar World

“If I knew I was gonna influence thousands of guitar players, I woulda practiced more!” Ace Frehley struts down memory lane to shoot down Kiss myths and reveal the secrets behind an era-defining sound

The former Kiss guitarist on the “dinosaur bends” and dimed amps behind his signature style, and his guitar highlights as the rock institution's original Spaceman

MusicRadar

"George Martin knew Robert Moog, and asked him to come to Abbey Road and show us this Moog thing": Paul McCartney on the synth used on the final Beatles album and how its 'noise' created tension in the band

Did the Moog synth speed up the demise of the Beatles?

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