The Mahwah Museum in New Jersey is offering an opportunity for you to play one of Les Paul’s own guitars, as part of their on-going Les Paul exhibit. A 45 minute session will cost $25 per person. The only dates available are 26th Oct, 9th Nov and 7th December. All sessions are by appointment only. You can make a reservation at the museum’s website. Source: Patch

A rare Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, dating back to the start of the rock’n’roll is to go under the auctioneer’s hammer in England. The guitar from 1954 is believed to have been played by the rockabilly musician Carl Perkins for his hit Blue Suede Shoes in Memphis. Originally thought to be worth little, it could fetch up to £50,000 according to the auctioneer. Mr Humbert said the instrument was likely to draw transatlantic interest, possibly fetching tens of thousands of…

On the 9th June we reported about Google’s doodle in tribute to Les Paul. It has rapidly become one of Google’s most popular ever doodles. Because of this popularity they’ve given it a permanent home at http://www.google.com/logos/2011/lespaul.html. Google explained that there have been 740m people who have strummed and it increased the average time spent on the homepage by 26 seconds per visit – an amazing 10.7 million hours or, if we assume the average Google user is earning $20/hour,…

A guitar once owned by The Who rocker Pete Townshend has raised $50,000usd (around £31,000gbp) at a music auction in London. The Gibson Les Paul Gold Top guitar, which smashed its original $32,000 estimate, was played by Townshend during the U.S. leg of the band’s Quadrophenia tour in 1973 and 1974. It was among the highlights to go under the hammer at a Christie’s pop and rock memorabilia sale. Source: Contact Music

On the anniversary of his birth Google have paid tribute to Les Paul with an interactive doodle that lets users play their own tunes on the search engine’s home page. Instead of seeing the Google logo above the search bar, users are presented with 10 strings of different pitches, set out to look like a composite of their name and a guitar. The Google guitar can be played either by hovering the mouse over the strings, or by clicking a…

Almost one year on from the Nashville flood, Gibson has introduced the Anniversary Flood Les Paul Studio. From the press release; “The Nashville flood of May 2010 devastated not only the city in general but the music community in particular–and Gibson lies right at the heart of that community. Countless guitars, both vintage and new, were subsumed by waters that seemed would never stop rising, and for many of their players it was hard to see how this community would…

It is alleged that a man from Hopkinton, MA, broke into a friend’s house last week and stole several items, including a vintage guitar, a prosecutor said yesterday in Framingham District Court. The items were then pawned. This included a 1970 Gibson Les Paul, along with two iPods and a laptop. The accused thief had been in a band with the victim but he’d been kicked him because of his heroin addiction. The items were recovered from the pawn shop…

Gibson have been working with Rush stalwart, Alex Lifeson, to create the Gibson Custom Shop Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess. Here’s what Gibson have to say about it: “In his work with Rush from the ’70s to today, Alex Lifeson has redefined the boundaries of progressive rock guitar. Embodying far more than that genre label often implies, Lifeson’s playing soars beyond the drama and the bluster to reveal truly stunning virtuosity that has been praised and admired by fans—and players—of…

We reported last December about Gibson’s signature Clapton Beano Les Paul reissue. Well, apparently Eric liked it so much it is already up for sale. His #1 signature Gibson will go under the hammer at Bonham’s auctioneers on March 9th, along with around 70 other guitars, 70 amps and miscellaneous memorabilia. All proceeds go to the The Crossroads Centre in Antigua, the drug and alcohol dependency rehabilitation center that Clapton founded. At launch, the list price for the hand-aged and…

From the Gibson website… “Last year, Gibson Guitar released the Les Paul ’50s Tribute, a well-crafted, but inexpensive remake of the classic models of the 1950s. The response to this limited run was overwhelming, making it one of the most sought-after guitars in recent years. Because fan response was so overwhelmingly positive, Gibson is pleased to announce an update to this popular run. This month, Gibson has begun production on both a Les Paul Studio ’60s Tribute and an SG…