Originally Posted by: acapella rapemeLes Pauls were however the original for the electric guitar design, and thus any electric guitar coming after it and using the same design are just ripping off the LP. [/QUOTE]
Not even close. Solid-body guitars were developed as a response to the feedback problem players were having with their hollow-body guitars, which started out as acoustics with pickups installed in them. Les Paul did not invent solid-body guitars any more than Eddie Van Halen invented tapping.

[QUOTE=acapella rapeme]Would you say that all those Strat knock offs are original designs?

Leo Fender's designs were quite original. Not entirely unique, but much closer to a blank-page fresh approach than anything Gibson was doing at the time. His designs were based on using simple production techniques to make them easier (and therefore less expensive) to build. He also put a lot of effort into getting advice from working professionals on how to make the instruments more comfortable to play. These days, that part of design is called ergonomics - in his day, it was called common sense. Other groups were pusuing similar goals, although in different ways. Bigsby and Danelectro were two of them. So "all those Strat knock offs" are not entirely original designs, but then not many things are. Leo Fender added a lot of his own ideas to what had been done previously, and others have since added their ideas to his work. More examples of our current heroes "standing on the shoulders of giants".