Sorry John, but I strongly disagree. Archtop Les Pauls were heavier than most Fenders. I have had Bursts over 10 pounds. I have had over 100 1952-1960 Les Pauls [excluding Juniors and Specials] and a comparable number of fifties Fenders. It's a very rare day when the Fender outweighs the Les Paul. There are always exceptions, but an 8 pound Les Paul is very light, while an 8 pound Fender is pretty heavy.John Catto said:BTW the weight argument holds little force since the majority of 50's Les pauls, early goldtops and pretty much all Customs in particular were super light compared to later issues and often lighter than some of Fenders early Telecasters/Esquires/Broadcasters not to mention Gibsons maple bodied Jazz boxes.
Doug H said:Hmmmmm.......... thoughts......
I believe country was (proportionately) more popular at that stage, and those guys probably gravitated more to Fender, who already had the Broadcasters/Teles/Esquires out for 3+ years before the LP came out. Plus, some of the rock doods like Buddy Holly & Ritchie Valens used Strats- I'm sure that helped the Strat's popularity. Jazz doods seem to have stuck to their guns and kept using hollowbodies. So perhaps the musical climate at the time was a bit LP-unfriendly. Of course, I wasn't there...