"The Klunker" No. 3 (serial no. 7133)

Visionary guitarist and inventor Les Paul used a variety of experimental models, including “the Log” and three archtops nicknamed “Klunkers,” as testbeds for new ideas in amplification and pickup design, and as fully functional performance instruments. He built doors in the guitar backs so he could easily install and replace his homemade, hand-wound pickups and experiment with different tone circuits. The Klunkers were at the core of Paul’s “New Sound,” in which he combined amplification with groundbreaking studio techniques like tape-based “slapback” delay and multitrack recording. Paul refused to stop playing his Klunkers until Gibson built him a solid-body electric guitar to his specifications—the famous Les Paul model, introduced in 1952.

Technical Description:


Archtop hollow-body with closed f-holes; maple body and neck with walnut stripe, rosewood fingerboard; 25 ½ in. scale; natural finish with ivoroid body binding; set neck with mother-of-pearl block inlays and ivoroid binding; headstock with later Gibson decal covering Epiphone logo; two homemade single-coil pickups, three-way selector switch, volume and tone controls; nickel bridge and tuners, hand-cut black pickguard, black chicken-head knobs; "door" cut out from back, aluminum chassis installed within body, f-holes blocked, gold Vibrola tailpiece added