Instruments Of Change: The Forgotten Electric Guitar Hero Ted McCarty

Left to right: Les Paul and Ted McCarty holding a Gibson guitar

Without the tools to create, where would we be? Listening to the sound of one hand clapping, probably. In this column we’ll be looking at people who invent their own tools—be they musical, artistic, photographic—any sort of bespoke equipment from innovative builders of all disciplines and ages in a celebration of the fine art of invention. This week: Ted McCarty

We’ve all heard of Les Paul—the man pioneered multitracking, reverb and echo effects, and helped design the seminal solid body electric guitar, the Gibson Les Paul. Along the way, he practically invented the sound that came to define rock and roll. He was rewarded for this cultural watershed by getting his own Guitar Hero wireless controller and Google homepage doodle, but there was another man involved in the creation of the Gibson Les Paul. That man was Ted McCarty.

Unlike Les Paul, McCarty wasn’t a musician, but was nevertheless instrumental (pun intended) in the development of the emerging world of electric guitar design in the 1950s and 1960s. McCarty joined the Gibson Guitar Corporation as CEO in 1948 and soon after became president. In the 16 years that followed, he oversaw the invention of the Les Paul, Byrdland, ES-175, Flying V, Moderne, Explorer, Firebird—all way ahead of their time—as well as acoustic models and the humbucking pickup, the stoptail bridge, and the Tune-o-matic bridge. He was a golden ruler in a Golden Age of electric guitar design and here are some of his accomplishments:

Gibson ES-175

Making its debut in 1949, the Gibson ES-175 has never gone out of production since. Famed for its use by jazz guitarists in the 1950s like Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, and Elvis’s guitarist Scotty Moore as well as other greats like, er, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong. Above is the ES-175D with sunburst finish.

Gibson Flying V

With its angular design (no doubt a statement for the would-be rebel and renegade musicians who picked it up), the Gibson Flying V shocked people in 1958 the same way John Lydon shocked people with those butter adverts back in 2008. With the arrow-head design, the idea was to create a futuristic-looking instrument, one which helped rock the world of Jimi Hendrix audiences along with other rock dinosaurs like Marc Bolan’s T-Rex. The aerodynamic look was irresistible to influential blues guitarist Albert King and was responsible for many a devil’s sign at a Metallica concert.

Gibson Explorer

Popular with Eric Clapton, the Gibson Explorer was the signature guitar of 1970s/80s heavy metallers like Def Leppard‘s Pete Willis and sometime member of Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, along with their forbearers like Allen Collins from Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s also responsible for The Edge’s sound, which he used in U2‘s very early career before Bono became a total bore. It also, no doubt, rocked you like a hurricane just like it did everyone else in 1984 as it was the Scorpions’ Matthias Jabs’ (above) axe of choice.

Gibson Moderne

The Gibson Moderne is considered the Holy Grail of collectible electric guitars because at the time they were designed, in 1957, they only made about four or five and then production was halted until the 1980s. Shrouded in mystery, whether one of the 1950s models actually exists now is questionable, and if it does it’s probably being played in a band whose line-up features the abominable snowman and the still-living Elvis. It was part of the Futura series that included the Explorer and Flying V. Les Paul may’ve got a gaming peripheral in the shape of the Gibson Les Paul controller, but you can get this hallowed guitar as an unlockable feature in Guitar Hero 1 and 2.