Learn About Mahwah-Based Guitar Innovator Les Paul At Talk And Exhibit

MAHWAH, NJ — Les Paul, considered the inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, lived most of his 94 years in Mahwah. Now you can learn more about him via a local exhibit and talk.

Paul, who died in 2009, is the only person to have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

He was born in Wisconsin in 1915, and played music as a kid.

"Always searching for the perfect sound, Lester experimented with everything. His first Sears acoustic guitar ended up “stuffed with socks and rags and filled with plaster of Paris," his website notes.

He moved to a Mahwah mansion in 1952 and filled it with equipment.

Next month, music critic Ian S. Port will speak about, "The Birth of Loud" at the Mahwah Museum. Port will tell "the story of two protagonists, Leo Fender and Les Paul, whose instruments helped create the sounds associated with the genre. In the hands of Buddy Holly, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix among others, the Fenders and the Gibson Les Paul’s revolutionized the way guitars were perceived, played and crucially, heard."

More information on the talk is here.

The Mahwah Museum also has a permanent exhibit, "Les Paul in Mahwah."

The Mahwah Museum is located at 201 Franklin Turnpike. Find out more here.