Basically he was the inventor/pioneer of solid bodied electric guitars as well as innovations in recording techniques. Most "rock" (as against classical) guitarists over the last 50 years have been influenced by him.
Any one interested in music history should check out his life story. Fascinating.
The guitar has a thicker and heavier sound than the Fender Stratocaster, and is much heavier. Therefore it has a great tone and resonance to it. Often associated with the bluesy rock sound, even though Les Paul himself was a jazz musician.
Couldn't agree more with that, Scotty cameron just borrows (ahem) designs rightly or wrongly thats how I see it, Tigers putter is an Anser with scotty's name on it.
Interestingly, Gibson altered the original Les Paul design as they felt it wasn't 'rocky' enough. Les Paul refused to have his name on it, and was named the SG. Les Paul finally got his way with the design and the rest is history.