Les Paul was recently named the 2008 honoree in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's American Master Series, with a week-long of tributes that culminated with an all-star concert in Cleveland, featuring Slash, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora, Patti Smith's guitarist Lenny Kaye and many more.

At 92, Paul is one of the few who can say, "They're all old friends of mine."

And the guitar innovator remains charmingly humble about the honor, crediting others for his success. "Those were the fellas that made the guitar possible today," he tells Spinner. "I'm lucky they were looking for a Les Paul -- like Paul McCartney, Slash, Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page. They all wanted to have the guitar and if it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't be known at all."

If only Lou Reed were so modest.

As folks decide to dress up as Slash for Halloween this year, no doubt the two most essential accoutrements for the outfit will be a top hat and a Les Paul guitar. For the real Slash, the top hat may have come and gone but the Les Paul will never change. "I've picked up a couple stragglers over the years leading up to when I was in Guns N' Roses," Slash tells Spinner. "But I always kept gravitating to the Les Paul. If I could get one and hold onto it for any length of time, I was good."

Eventually Slash would become just as much a poster child for that Gibson-made guitar brand as his hero Jimmy Page. In fact, the guitar company has long been manufacturing Slash's own signature line of the guitar. Of course, none of it would've happened had it not been for Les Paul himself, the 93-year-old guitar wizard who not only invented the solid body electric guitar, but also much of the technology still used to record it: multi-track recording, tape-delay, reverb, etc.