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The Latest Breaking News from Les Paul

“In that last year of his life, I said to him one night, ‘Les, I don't know, but I swear, you're playing better than you were last year’”: Tommy Emmanuel recalls his final moments with guitar legend Les Paul

The acoustic great pays homage to Les Paul's dedication to leveling up his playing, even when he was well into his 90s

Guitar World

“He only really ever played Free Bird on that guitar. I broke rank”: Charlie Starr on the spiritual moment he played Gary Rossington’s famed ‘Free Bird’ 1961 Gibson SG

Starr had the chance to use Rossington’s iconic Gibson to perform a Lynyrd Skynyrd medley last year, after it was announced the Les Paul/SG would be loaned out to a host of players for live use

Guitar World

“Top money buys forensically aged details and incredible craft, but you won’t necessarily hear £5k’s worth of difference in the sonic performance”: How close are Gibson's ’59 Burst replicas and their boutique rivals?

We put a Gibson Custom Shop Collector’s Edition ’59 Les Paul up against a Nik Huber Orca ’59 for the ultimate single-cut shootout

Guitar World

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“It couldn’t be any simpler – yet, in truth, it couldn’t be any better”: Inside the remarkable story of the Gibson Les Paul Junior – the single-cut that changed the world

Stripped down, primal, with P-90 snarl and an unfussy aesthetic, there is something so ineffably cool about the Junior... 70 years young, it's one of guitar's hardest-working six-strings

Guitar World

"While the aesthetic flourishes grab the headlines, this guitar’s mismatched specs are its secret weapon": Gibson Mary Ford Les Paul Standard Goldtop review

A Les Paul dressed up like an ES-295, Gibson's latest signature certainly has plenty of visual appeal, but can it deliver on playability and tone?

MusicRadar

"Lady Gaga was swinging about on a JCB; it was a bit of a circus": Jeff Beck on awards shows, the end of Ziggy Stardust, and refusing to audition for the Rolling Stones

Late guitar innovator Jeff Beck lived rock'n'roll history - but was much more interested in the future

Louder

“We love it when Gibson gets it right”: Gibson ES-330 and Les Paul Studio review

Along with its high-profile limited-edition releases, Gibson continues to consider the working musician, as this pair illustrates: two new additions that couldn’t be more different!

Guitar World

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“This pickup could have come out of a late-’50s Gibson. If you had a guitar from that era with these pickups, everyone would be like, ‘Wow. That’s a badass-sounding Les Paul’”: How Adam “Nolly” Getgood and Bare Knuckle reinvented the PAF for a new era

Gibson’s PAF has to be the most-cloned pickup of all time, but what if it was used as a launching pad for a humbucker with more oomph? Getgood and Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle might just have the answer with the PolyPaf

Guitar World

“Phil and I were both on our knees trying to find this screw”: Scott Gorham's bootleg Les Paul fell apart during his disastrous Thin Lizzy audition, but his struggles inspired a key tweak he now makes to all of his Les Pauls

Gorham wasn't unprepared for his tryout with the future rock legends – he just had a guitar that almost seemed to have a vendetta against him

Guitar World

Cyber Monday Les Paul deals are starting to heat up – and I’ve picked out the best of the bunch so far

Looking for your first-ever Les Paul, or want to bag another bargain for an existing collection? Look no further

Guitar World

“All three of these guitars have their own sonic character – all of them great”: Gibson’s ES Supreme might be the ultimate modern semi-hollow, but it still feels alive

The firm’s luxuriously appointed ES Supreme looks resplendent in AAA maple but as Paul Riario discovers, the upgrades are not merely cosmetic…

Guitar World

“A great-looking guitar that’s just a few minor tweaks away from being as good as its style suggests”: Gretsch Electromatic Pristine Ltd Jet Single-Cut with Bigsby review

Always the ‘Les Paul’ of the Gretsch line since it first appeared back in the 50s, the Jet gets a snazzy Electromatic makeover. Style over substance? Let’s plug in…

Guitar World

“I don’t practice, because I don’t think that practicing in itself is necessary”: Yes icon Steve Howe on why he rarely runs scales, thrashing acoustics –and why you won’t catch him playing unfamiliar guitars

The prog legend checks in to talk all things guitar, from drawing inspiration from his parents' record collection and cutting his teeth on a cheap arch-top to finding his sound on the ES-175 and six-string explorations on Guitarscape

Guitar World

“John, Paul, George, Ringo, the first time they ever performed together in the Cavern Club, this amp was what they used”: Hear the amp said to be John Lennon’s first Vox put through its paces – with Noel Gallagher’s Les Paul

The storied 1962 Vox AC15 is expected to fetch between $127,132 and $254,265 at tomorrow's auction

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

“An ultra-rare, Golden Era signature model, now available for everyone”: Gibson celebrates one of its original guitar icons with the Mary Ford Les Paul Standard – a stunning Goldtop with vintage Cherry back, floral armrest and pickguard

This sweet Goldtop is based on Ford’s 1958 custom order and features a SlimTaper neck and a pair of Burstbuckers

Guitar World

“An ultra-rare, Golden Era signature model, now available for everyone”: Gibson honors trailblazing guitar hero Mary Ford by reviving her one-of-a-kind 1958 Les Paul Standard Goldtop

After helping to shape the ES-295, the legendary recording artist reportedly had a one-off Les Paul built in 1958 that combined aspects of both models

Metal Hammer

“Ozzy says, ‘I’ve never thrown a TV out the window.’ So I rip one out of the wall and launch it out of the window”: Zakk Wylde’s crazy tales of Ozzy Osbourne, Axl Rose, Eddie Van Halen and more

Trashing hotel rooms with Ozzy, teaching Mark Wahlberg how to rock and almost joining Guns N’ Roses –Black Label Society guitar berserker Zakk Wylde has done all of it and more

Guitar World

“This album’s the only one where I’ve sat down and planned out a solo. Otherwise, the record button’s pressed, and I just go, ‘Pentatonic scale!’”: Orange Goblin’s Joe Hoare on life’s simple pleasures –Les Pauls, Marshall ampsand signature beer

The UK metal stalwart's new album, Science, Not Fiction is a career high, but if Hoare is stretching out beyond the Pentatonics in search of new horizons for lead, the power of the riff lies in its primitivism. Some things will never change...

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Guitar World

“Some people think its gloss black top was a response to Gibson’s Les Paul Custom – but that didn’t launch officially until ’54”: The Duo Jet took Gretsch’s ’50s innovation to new heights – and was loved by George Harrison, Jeff Beck and Malcolm Young

As solid-bodied models began taking the guitar world by storm in the early ’50s, Gretsch joined the party with the revolutionary single-cut 6128 Duo Jet and its twangsome DeArmond ‘Dynasonic’ single coils

Guitar World

“It’s a symbol of creativity”: Les Paul’s experimental Klunker helped pave the way for his later innovations – now it’s been revived as a meticulous one-off replica by Les Paul's personal tech

Renowned luthier Tom Doyle hopes it will deepen the public’s understanding of the guitar’s cultural significance

Guitar World

“Daron’s the guitarist, I’m the vocalist, and yet he was using my Strat… Then somebody stole it after breaking our car window”: Serj Tankian reflects on his guitar journey with System of a Down, Tony Iommi, Buckethead and beyond

In a rare guitar interview, Serj Tankian breaks down his “fast folk” playing style and upcoming signature Gibson Les Paul, his love of shredders, and freaking out Maynard James Keenan (and being freaked out by Buckethead)

MusicRadar

“The Les Paul approach, where you play everything yourself and you’re bouncing tracks around”: How Lindsey Buckingham reinvented Fleetwood Mac

The ex-Mac guitarist sheds new light on the Tusk album

Guitar World

“Mike’s ’59 Les Paul was sitting on a stand. I thought, ‘What are the chances of this happening again?’ After the song, he turned around and goes, ‘What are you doing?’” When Les Dudek guested with Mike Bloomfield (without him knowing)

Caught up in the music and the moment, the veteran guitarist – who played on Allman Brothers Band's Ramblin' Man and Jessica – ran onto the stage while Bloomfield was at the keys, none the wiser

Guitar World

Long before shred took hold, instrumental electric guitar was pioneered by players like Link Wray, Les Paul and Hank Marvin – and their groundbreaking contributions shaped the sound of every guitarist who followed

We pay tribute to the kings of twang with this electric masterclass in early rock ’n’ roll instrumental guitar

Guitar World

“Shred-ready guitars begging to be played fast and mean”: Kramer revives a cult classic “vault find” from the 1980s – and issues a “modern and sleeker” LP-style design – as part of extensive range overhaul

Five new speed-shredding six-strings balance ’80s revivalism with modern touches via the Kramer 84, Pacer Carrera, Jersey Star, Assault Figured, and Nite-V models

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