The Emotions of a '57 Goldtop.

Ever since Brian recently told me about his Les Paul Goldtop purchase, it's got me thinking more and more about my Goldtop and how I came to buy one.

About 1995, I saw Larry Carlton play at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. First off, I was sort of disappointed to see Larry play a Les Paul. I was really turned onto his Strat playing in '92. He still played the Strat that night. But what got my attention was Larry got out his original 1957 Goldtop and played this song. This song totally reached into my heart and hit every emotion with each note. I was speechless. So a few months later I was looking into buying a Les Paul. I also later bought a 1994 Fender Blues Deluxe in tweed. I got the tweed amp because Larry was playing straight into a '57 Tweed Twin. I remember how fuzzy and freyed the tweed covering was. It looked like Larry let 10 cats use it as a scratching post.

So this song is called "Emotions Wound Us So" (iTunes Jazz/Emotions Wound Us So/Last Nite live/Larry Carlton). He utilizes all 3 positions of the pickup selector switch. He starts out using neck only, then around 56 seconds into the song, switches to the middle position, switches to the bridge to "bring it home". He commands so much sustain and controls his harmonic feedback perfectly.

Larry plays this song differently every night. Each time topping the previous nights efforts. So Brian, this is for you, the new proud owner of a Les Paul Goldtop.

This is one of the main reasons why Larry is such a huge influence on me as a guitarist. Enjoy. And guitarists, get a box of Kleenex.
Larry in '95 playing his '57 Goldtop. (Sniff).