Paul McGuigan and his Les Paul Triumph
 Paul 'Guigsy' McGuigan played a Gibson les paul Triumph in Oasis's first video Shakermaker. Paul talked about it to Bassist magazine
"Noel told me to buy that Gibson bass originally, after he'd seen it in the
shop," comments Oasis basser Paul 'Guigs' McGuigan. Yeah, he's a lad, that
Noel Gallagher; you're never left in any doubt as to exactly whose baby
Oasis is. Noel was the one who returned to kick the assembled ass of the
original ragtag Oasis four-piece (nee Rain) which fancied itself as a band
(with brother Liam on vocals) after world-hopping stints working as a guitar
tech wuth fellow Mancunian combo the Inspiral Carpets. Noel was brimming
with ideas, songs, indisputable confidence, not too mention the total
megalomania required by any aspirant world-conqueror, demanding the very
souls of the first version of the band with the legendary statement: "If
you're in, you're mine, seven days a week, 24 hours a day and we're going
for it big time..."
When Bassist ran a recent 'My Bass Is' feature on the rare-ish Gibson Les
Paul Triumph basses ('It Takes Two, Baby'. Feb 1996), at the last moment we
tried hard to think of a high-profile user as demonstration of the
instruments in action, both for reference of looks and sound, but we drew a
blank. The Gibbo Triumph never got the user kudos awarded to the lighter,
funkier EB3, for instance, with its veritable user list. And so Bassist went
off to be printed , then guess what? The very next day Oasis were on Top Of
The Pops with bassist Paul McGuigan plugging away on a Les Paul Triumph
bass...Well, not quite an LP Triumph, rather from the info Paul gave us, an
Les Paul Professional, the very short-lived predecessor to the Triunph,
visibly distinguishable from its forebear mainly by virtue of dot inlays,
rather than block types. Instant user profile!
"We'd never seen one before," elaborates Paul, ensconced in the new A&R
guitar and bass-lined suite at Fender's UK HQ, Arbiter's in Hendon. "I think
it was £450 the shop wanted; I got it for £350. I think it's top. We've used
it in the studio a few times and I've tried to use it on rehersals, but it
just doesn't suit, it's too boomy. It's good, though, I like it like that
but it drowns other things out. I think Gibsons are a bit over the top with
bass sound that way."
The bass pictured is clearly a Les Paul Triumph - the mention of the Les Paul Professional perhaps refers to a different bass?
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