[mmcquain]

In case hadn't heard, Les Paul's estate auctioned off a bunch (over 700 items) of his stuff from his home, studio, guitar collection, etc. this weekend. The auction ended tonight (on Les' 97th birthday!) and the prices were crazy high for the most part. There were a few "bargains" some nice Gibson Les Paul guitars from the last 15 years at a decent price. But there was also crazy bids (Epi Les Pauls going way over market, etc.).

The big ticket items were some of Les' personal guitars, research notes, early multitrack recorders, etc. $180K for a very early no-caster given to Les by Leo Fender in the early 1950's and $180K for Les' own personal Les Paul he played for many years later in life (both guitars featured in his autobiography, etc.).

So how many of you all bid on the auction (it was live on the Internet if you couldn't make it to the live event in L.A.) and WHAT DID YOU WIN?!?!??!

Here's my little piece of music history...

Page 284 (lot 520) of the auction catalog: 520 - LES PAUL MIDI TIMEPIECE - A Mark of the Unicorn midi timepiece, model MTPAVUSB, serial number 2003102049. 7 by 19 by 2 inches $100–150

I don't really use much MIDI for recording at home so I don't really need a timeclock (normally used to sync up several MIDI devices to each other or to video, etc.) but it was about the cheapest thing that sold in the whole auction (and all I could really afford - LOL). But now I can say I own a piece of equipment that came from Les Paul's studio!!! A real (albeit small) piece of history

[mmcquain]

Check out the video clip from Russ below... he is trying to get Jimmy Page to play some dates for the Les Paul Foundation. I look forward to those shows!

"Rusty" Les Paul Jr.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R171R7tJogs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY7OIrJZWMo

Videos from the auctions:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tctdAEc344w
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIng2knnFVk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=96-KwzKqSOU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUVgtvd1nUQ
www.youtube.com/watch?v=52Ap6h1pifc