Les Paul Comes Back to Life!

…No -before you ask- I’m not talking about the famous musician who was in his 90′s and inspired the design of one of the most recognised guitars in rock history (sorry!); I’m talking about one of my favourite guitars, which somehow became broken last year.

Well, I say somehow, it was kinda careless of me now I think back to it. It was about a year ago, just after Christmas. I remember not long before that I had written the riff to “Gallows”- a Frost Hammer song- which I had written in Drop D tuning on my Black Les Paul Studio, and the band were just about getting to the stage where we were forming all our influences into one unique sound.

In fact, when the band started we had such a wide range of influences (I say a wide range, it was all rock and metal!), we couldn’t yet see how it would gell together as a band. There was still an element of mystery to the project; it was a time when everything seemed just around the corner and nothing could go wrong…

That was until I -rather stupidly- placed my Les Paul up against my Randal Warhead X2, 300 watt amp (it actually has a sticker on it that says “Warning: Do not turn the gain all the way up”- with no hint of “tongue in cheek” humour…). Anyway, standing my guitars against the speaker cab wasn’t unusual for me at the time- but nor was it very safe, as I found out!

Smashed!

The full extent of the damage that happened next wasn’t something I realised right away. Maybe I hadn’t stood the guitar up securely, maybe something (or someone) had bumped into it; All I know is: my beautiful Les Paul Studio came crashing to the ground! Having been around guitars for years, I’ve seen a few fall over- so I just stood it right back up. Although this time things were different.

What I had forgotten was that the room with all my guitars in used to be a garage- and that means hard, unfriendly, concrete floor!

Picking up the Pieces

So my guitar stood back up against my amp, and I didn’t think more of it…until, hours later, I saw something strange on the floor. I leant down to take a closer look at this odd object- I have known students to leave picks, bubble wrap, and all sorts of random things everywhere, so this wasn’t a new experience for me.

On closer inspection, it appeared to be a machine head, and right away I was reminded of the guitar that came crashing to the ground- which was now missing the back part of the machine head and only the shaft with the string attached was hanging from the head of the guitar.

I was devastated. This guitar has cost me over £600, and Les Pauls really are my dream guitars. All I could keep thinking was “I’m never going to be able to play her again”.

A New Start

Don’t ask why it’s taken me just over a year to sort out a new tuning peg (a combination of money, time, and shops not having the right ones!), but here it is: my Les Paul, back from the grave!

…or at least back from standing on the stand in the corner of my room getting dusty…

I will always use a guitar stand in future; I’ve learnt my lesson!

Click here if you can’t see the video

If you like my blog, please don’t forget to subscribe.

February 1, 2010 at 8:34 pm | Music News and Opinions | No comments