A No-Nonsense Les Paul With Vintage Attitude
Sometimes you just want a guitar that cuts through the mix without all the fuss. The Les Paul Special was introduced in 1955 as a step up from the Les Paul Junior, featuring a slab mahogany body and single-cutaway design that's all business. This TV Yellow finish is the real deal—one of Gibson's most renowned—and it shows off the wood grain through that gloss nitrocellulose lacquer in a way that just looks right under stage lights or in your living room.
What makes this Special actually special is its straightforward approach to tone. The solid mahogany neck has a comfortable 50s Vintage profile and is topped with a bound rosewood fretboard, giving you that chunky feel that made the fifties classics so addictive to play. You get dual P-90 pickups—those single-coil wonders that sit somewhere between the jangle of a Strat and the thickness of a humbucker—wired up with hand-wound Orange Drop capacitors for authentic vintage-style tone shaping.
If you're looking for a guitar that doesn't overthink things but delivers on that classic Gibson midrange punch, this one fits the bill. It's built for players who want Les Paul DNA without the weight or the price tag of a Standard.
That 50s Neck Feel and Playability
The solid mahogany neck has a comfortable 50s Vintage profile that fills your hand without feeling like a baseball bat. The 22 medium-jumbo frets and 12-inch fretboard radius strike the perfect balance between easy chording and hassle-free string bending, so whether you're playing open chords or working up around the 15th fret, everything feels accessible. The bound rosewood fingerboard with simple dot inlays keeps the aesthetic clean and focused.
The scale length is 24.75 inches with a nut width of 1.695 inches, giving you that slightly shorter, easier-bending Gibson feel compared to Fender's 25.5-inch scale. The GraphTech nut helps with tuning stability, and the Vintage Deluxe tuners with white buttons keep things rock-solid while maintaining that classic look.
The set neck construction gives you excellent sustain and that warm, resonant connection between neck and body that bolt-on designs just can't quite match. It's the kind of playability that makes you pick the guitar up more often than you probably should.
P-90 Pickups: The Best of Both Worlds
Here's where this guitar really shines. You get a P-90 in the bridge position and a P-90 in the neck, each with its own volume and tone control, plus a 3-way toggle switch to select between them or blend both together. P-90s are those glorious single-coils that have more output and midrange thickness than a typical Strat pickup, but with more clarity and bite than a humbucker.
What that means in practice: the bridge pickup gives you cutting, aggressive tones perfect for driving rhythm parts and solos that sit right in the mix. The neck pickup delivers warmer, rounder tones that work beautifully for jazz, blues, or anything that needs a little more smoothness. And when you blend them together, you get a full, rich sound that covers a ton of ground.
The controls are hand-wired with Orange Drop capacitors, which is a nice touch that preserves the high-end clarity when you roll back the tone knobs. These pickups can get gritty and raw when you push an amp, or clean up nicely when you back off the guitar's volume—serious dynamic range for players who use their hands and their volume knob as part of their tone.
Simple, Effective Hardware
A wraparound bridge anchors the strings, which is about as simple as bridge design gets—and that's a good thing. No tremolo to go out of tune, no complicated intonation adjustments, just rock-solid string anchor that enhances resonance and sustain. The nickel-plated hardware looks right at home on this vintage-inspired design.
The black 5-ply pickguard, black Top Hat knobs, and amber switch tip all add to that authentic 1950s vibe. The body finish is gloss nitrocellulose lacquer, the same finish Gibson used back in the day—it lets the wood breathe and ages beautifully over time. This is the kind of guitar that's going to look even better in ten years than it does right now.
Product Features:
- Body: Slab mahogany construction with gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish in TV Yellow
- Neck: Solid mahogany with 50s Vintage profile, set neck construction
- Fingerboard: Bound rosewood with 12-inch radius and acrylic dot inlays
- Frets: 22 medium-jumbo frets on a 24.75-inch scale length
- Pickups: Dual P-90 single-coil pickups (neck and bridge positions)
- Electronics: Hand-wired with Orange Drop capacitors, 2 volume and 2 tone controls, 3-way toggle switch
- Bridge: Wraparound bridge with nickel-plated hardware
- Tuners: Vintage Deluxe tuners with white buttons
- Nut: GraphTech, 1.695-inch width
- Includes: Gibson hardshell case and accessory kit
Brand: Gibson
Model: Les Paul Special
SKU: LPSP00TVNH1
Condition: New
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