Did Gibson steal the LP deisgn?

Rabs

Hot on the heals of all this intellectual property stuff.   Did Gibson actually steal the LP design?

darthed1981

[Gibson]

Impossible

Now play authentic, or I'll fucking cut you.

[/Gibson]

Philtre

Shocking. I've reported that counterfeiter, O.W. Appleton, to Gibson:

https://www.gibson.com/Support/Report-Counterfeits

Tenebrous

Who wants to bet Gibson hire lawyers to take the site down?

terada

NelsonP

darthed1981 said:

[Gibson]

Impossible

Now play authentic, or I'll fucking cut you.

[/Gibson]

Ha ha. That's brilliant!

Danielsguitars

well a 1948 bigsby merle travis guitar sure looks like a LP shape to me, they rounded over the horn etc but they definitely didn't just dream it up

RandallFlagg

Gibson meed to drop this silly patent infringement nonsense and so does the internet. It's boring.

Neil

Danielsguitars said:

well a 1948 bigsby merle travis guitar sure looks like a LP shape to me, they rounded over the horn etc but they definitely didn't just dream it up

It's just a Spanish style guitar with a cutaway, nothing radical.

It's the headstock of the aforementioned guitar that Fender pretty much aped.  Even though Leo said he had appropriated it from early European instruments he had seen the MT guitar before he changed his headstock design. 

darthed1981

NelsonP said:

darthed1981 said:

[Gibson]

Impossible

Now play authentic, or I'll fucking cut you.

[/Gibson]

Ha ha. That's brilliant!

Thanks - might make it my new sig.

springhead

Neil said:

Danielsguitars said:

well a 1948 bigsby merle travis guitar sure looks like a LP shape to me, they rounded over the horn etc but they definitely didn't just dream it up

It's just a Spanish style guitar with a cutaway, nothing radical.

Exactly this.  The question comes up now and again on the Les Paul Forum.  If I could be bothered searching I'd find the reply from Big Al who as an authorised Gibson repair man visited Kalamazoo in the 70's.  He spent time with the older guys there asking lots of questions.  They said the design was just one of the chaps in the white wood dept. (I forget his name) who was asked to come up with a solid body which could be used as a basis for the LP model.  So it's just that - a single cutaway guitar shape but with a profiled top that one of their wood workers drew and made.  No big design stealing conspiracy.

 

merciful-evans

It seems clear to me that Gibson just made their 1st solidbody to look like what they thought a guitar should look like. They had been making archtops in this shape for donkey’s years anyway.

 

Single cut guitars were already common in the 40s, and I don’t see that the APP shape has any precedent for the LP. It’s curious that the book headstock and TRC are Gibsonesque on the APP though?!

 

and why did this presenter character not even bother to research any guitar history? 

pmbomb

but I believe they originated the V and Explorer, and it's those they are going after Dean for.

terada

RandallFlagg said:

Gibson meed to drop this silly patent infringement nonsense and so does the internet. It's boring.

OilCityPickups

The LP isn't an issue ... as @pmbomb says, its the V and explorer that are undeniably Gibson originals.