1952
LES PAUL MODEL launched. Multi-section maple top, mahogany body and neck. Gold-finished top (a few had gold back and sides also), twin soapbar P-90s, trapeze tailpiece. Shallow-angle neck-set means strings have to wrap under bridge, preventing palm muting, to make setup geometry work, turning a good bridge design into a flawed one. Shallow neck-set also made later conversion to stopbar tailpiece or Tune-o-matic problematic. Single-ply cream binding, though very earliest models omit neck binding. Single-ring Kluson tuners with no brand name. Tall “barrel” control knobs. Silk-screened Les Paul