I thought it'd be nice to do something guitar related on the
Blog since I haven't in a long time.
So I have 2 cents to throw into the debate of where the
"TV" part of the Les Paul TV came from. There's a couple of theories that are OK but
never really did it for me. The first
theory I heard of is that the TV finish, or "limed mahogany" was
supposed to be the same colour as the old television sets of the 50s and that's
how the TV Model got its name. Another
Gibson book I have says that Gibson made the TV Model to help plug Les Paul and
Mary Ford's then-TV spots. Another
theory is the colour was off-white since TV cameras back then couldn't handle
white. I don't buy that because any
reflection from another light on any colour with a gloss finish will always be
white and that's not really fixing the "white glare" problem.
So here's a theory and what made me think of it: Gibson was always playing catch-up to Fender
since the Telecaster came out and that's where the Les Paul TV borrowed a
name. Where did the term Telecaster come
from? A television. Where does "TV" come from? A television. That might be coincidence if the "limed
mahogany" wasn't basically the same colour as Butterscotch Blonde. A "limed mahogany" body with black
pickguard is basically the first Esquire/Telecaster colour scheme. I know by the time the TV models came out,
the Fender was using a white pickguard on their Telecasters/Esquires by then
but that's splitting hairs. And the TV
model didn't have an arched top.
What made me think of it?
One day I had out both my Telecaster and Epiphone 61 Special (in TV
Yellow) beside each other. And I said to
myself, "Hmmm...Telecaster, TV, Tele, TV.."
Have a look (both aren't mine):
So instead of a "TV Yellow" finish, let's call it
"Telecaster Yellow" finish.
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