My personal connection with Les Paul

When the internet was just getting started in the mid-1990s, I was obsessed with learning HTML. Once I got tired of Geocities, I wanted to host my own website. At age 13, I gathered up all my allowances and sent Network Solutions $100 to register lespaul.com (and yes, my CDNow ad still renders on archive.org).

That site became my sandbox. I was a guitar enthusiast who wanted to catalog every instrument I could find. My favorite was the Gibson Les Paul, so I figured buying lespaul.com was a smart move. I updated it almost every day, learning about guitars, web design, CSS, and publishing along the way.

I maintained the site for about a year until Gibson sent a cease-and-desist letter claiming they had owned the “Les Paul” trademark since 1954. My dad’s lawyer jumped in, explaining I was just a harmless 13-year-old playing with the web. I wasn’t selling anything and I linked to Gibson all over the place.

We eventually reached an agreement—I handed over the domain, and in exchange I received a free Epiphone Les Paul Custom Black Beauty.

Days later, I bought guitarinfo.com:

Twelve years later, I still wonder if Les Paul himself ever knew I owned his name dot com. I liked to imagine he told Gibson, “Let’s get this ugly website redirecting to something prettier.”

What was your first domain name?