Book excerpt: (Book). The creation that would become Gibson's Les Paul guitar hit retail stores in 1952. This was Gibson's introduction to the solid body world of electric guitrs. In the early 1950s, demand for electric guitars was reaching a new customer base. Rock 'n' roll was just around the corner and ready to explode. The timing was right and Gibson took off with this idea and introduced other guitars to the Les Paul lineup. However, the new single cutaway Goldtop Les Paul Model spawned many changes in its six years of production. The wrap around and tune-o-matic bridge along with the humbucking pickup were Gibson firsts in the 1950s and still used to this day on their guitars. Early performers such as Les Paul, Freddie King, Carl Perkins and BB King can be seen in this book as early pioneers playing this model. Later years would bring a new barrage of guitarists such as David Gilmour, Paul McCartney, Les Dudek, Jeff Lynne, Danny Kirwan, Steve Hackett, Clem Clempson, Dickey Betts and more to the Les Paul Goldtop.