NGPD: 2019 Gibson Les Paul Special - first real Gibson in 12 years!

[Mincer]

The case is even really cool.

[Ashurbanipal]

Oy vey, now that's a raucous fiddle; plug into a British or Tweed amp, and season to taste.

So what would be the main things separating this and a VOS one, apart from $$? Wood grade? Pickups?

[cliffenstein]

Oy vey, now that's a raucous fiddle; plug into a British or Tweed amp, and season to taste.

So what would be the main things separating this and a VOS one, apart from $$? Wood grade? Pickups?

Custom shop version has vintage size tuning machine holes, 3-on-a-plate tuners with push-in bushings, a wide bevel pickguard and ever so slightly duller paint. I think that's about it.

The 3 on a plate tuners won't work with these Original Collection series of Specials, because the tuning machine holes are modern size and because they are not in a perfectly straight line. Conversion push-in bushings could be popped in to make it look more vintage correct from the front and a wide bevel pickguard could easily be purchased to replace the stock pickguard. But...I absolutely love how this guitar looks from top to bottom and I am not changing a thing.

As far as I know, these pickups are identical to what goes in the Custom stop version.

[cliffenstein]

The case is even really cool.

Thank you, sir...got lucky with my local shop. They had only one Les Paul shaped case in the store and it was this older Gibson branded one. I was happy to pay $90 for it.

[Ashurbanipal]

Custom shop version has vintage size tuning machine holes, 3-on-a-plate tuners with push-in bushings, a wide bevel pickguard and ever so slightly duller paint. I think that's about it.

The 3 on a plate tuners won't work with these Original Collection series of Specials, because the tuning machine holes are modern size and because they are not in a perfectly straight line. Conversion push-in bushings could be popped in to make it look more vintage correct from the front and a wide bevel pickguard could easily be purchased to replace the stock pickguard. But...I absolutely love how this guitar looks from top to bottom and I am not changing a thing.

As far as I know, these pickups are identical to what goes in the Custom stop version.

Cool, so not necessarily worth going VOS (and paying nearly 4k) unless you're pedantic about vintage accuracy. Also, the wheat shade of yellow is the way to go, imo! Seems like they've done good with this model.

10mm tuner holes certainly make it more amenable to swaps if desired.