...
And what to think of Les Paul's "somewhat foggy memory" in the note that goes with the heavily mutilated EB on page 67:
“Serial #614108
This is one of the 1st 67 Electric Bass Guitars Gibson made. I was responsible for the violin shape - and also my son Rusty L.P. Jr. changed it from Hi to Lo Impedance. Note - it all came about (the Electric Guitar Bass from me playing my E string on the guitar as a Bass using my thumb - this proved it could replace a stand up Bass and Leo Fender & Lots others picked up the idea - Les.”
woah! 
Didn't you know that Leo traveled forward in time and stole it from Les?
Not to mention Paul Tutmarc who was building and marketing his Audiovox in the mid-1930s. I also seriously doubt that Les had anything to do with the shape of it, he didn't even design the shape of the Les Paul guitar! And he certainly didn't invent the technique of doing bass notes on the E string.
Les "invented" multi-track recording years after the motion picture industry was already using it, and he "invented" pickups, the electric guitar, and the solidbody electric after others already had them on the market. In his later years, the 18-month series of 5-minute Listerine commercials he did with Mary got exaggerated into a TV show that ran for seven years.
Still, you can't argue with his influence.
