EXPLORING THE MODS & MYTHS OF ‘NUMBER ONE’

Nobody alive knows more about Les Paul’s ‘Number One’ 1952 Goldtop than Tom Doyle. After watching Tom, an accomplished guitarist and luthier, perform live in the mid-60s, Les invited him to become his personal tech. The term ‘tech’, however, falls somewhat short of describing what Les, with his tireless urge for tinkering, had Tom do for him.

“First of all, Les didn’t like to sleep,” Tom says. “I would be there until six o’clock in the morning working on guitars and I’d say, ‘Les, I got to go home’. And he’d say, ‘Okay, we’ll work on this tomorrow.’ I mean, it just never stopped. He just had so many ideas: he would think of them, dream of them, don’t you know?’ And I said, ‘I guess I’m supposed to be here too.’ And he’d say: ‘Well, of course! That’s why you’re here.’ It was such an honour to me – I idolised him since I was nine years old. And to have him ask me to work with him, well, forget it... That was my dream.”