Super Turbo Deluxe Custom Uber-Dangerous said:
Correcto. He wasn't pro or against, but the guitar that bears his name is the result of that experiment. So an F-holed Les Paul just seems like a horse drawn pickup truck to me.
You are correct, in the sense of a completely solid electric guitar, that an F-Hole is obsolete, and becomes merely an embellishment to the design as it has no function. But even Gibson will admit that a completely solid Gibson Les Paul can be one heavy Mofo to contend with, and a sizeable number of players don't want that weight on their shoulders. The norm these days, I believe, is for Gibson to offer a chambered body for the modern Les Paul while at the same time offering the more tradtional completely solid as an option or a different model.
How
much of Les Paul's ideas and designs went into the Gibson Les Paul model has long been the subject of discussion. McCarty insisted that he went to Paul with a near complete design based upon an ES295 (essentially to gain a signature endorsement deal) but Paul argued differently on his version of events (with an insistence Paul could have his innovations added). The Gibson Les Paul, and McCarty admitted this, was only ever contemplated because Fender had made the market viable, created a demand and was taking some sales away from Gibson. But the solid body guitar was still effectively a novelty, and Gibson wanted to make it more classy than a 'plank o wood'. Gibson HAD, I think before McCarty came to the top of the company, already brushed off Les Paul's Log idea, and that was before Fender had started pushing out guitars. (So it was more of Fender's success in producing solid body electric guitars and the demand that created, albeit still smaller than one would think, that made Gibson think of getting into that guitar market, as opposed to agreeing that Les Paul had a genius idea that the world needed to see)
The F-Holes stem from Lloyd Loar's work on the old L5 and the violin and cello construction methods he brought with that research back in the 1920s. He contended that, rightfully so, that if the acoustic projection was done as efficiently as the violins and cellos had developed over centuries, the guitar could be heard better in ensemble setting. So he adopted the F-Hole as the acoustic outlet for the sound......but I guess he could have easily cut a C-Shape or Oval shape to the same effect. :dontknow: