NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

C

CodeDante

New member
At least this is what the people at guitar center said it was. It does have a bound neck and I think its a rosewood fretboard (I can tell its not baked maple). It plays very nicely and is not really that heavy. This is also my first P90 guitar. The cleans are really nice and I am still working on fixing the eq for my amp for the distortion. But distorted it sounds open and raw. I just got it so I still need to play it, get a feel for it, and hopefully get passed the honeymoon phase. I cannot wait for my next band practice to really test it. I'll post some pictures I have just taken of it shortly.

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Heritage Cherry
New Guitar.jpgNew Guitar 2.jpgNew Guitar 3.jpg
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

Your guitar isnt fancy, it isnt heavy, and it sure didnt cost as much as a "real" LP.
With all these pros listed, yes, it is a real LP. with a good neck and P-90's. This is open to debate, but the P90's are probably the best pick-ups that Gibson makes.
Figure out how to control their rawness and you'll join the legion of P-90 users and admirers.


You sound like you are on the fence deciding if this was a good buy. I hope you realize what a good score you have.
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

So after doing some research, I found out that this guitar is actually a guitar center exclusive model and that apparently is made of one solid piece of mahogany. So this is a big plus. Very excited to extensively play this guitar through my equipment.
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

Crank yo' valve amplifier to within an inch of its life. Tame the P90 goodness using the volume pots. Work the tone pots too.

For example, as an experiment, set the neck tone pot to fully up and the bridge tone pot turned fully down. Use the selector switch to flip between the two pickups. Notice anything? ;)
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

So I spent a lot of today playing my guitar. I'm very happy with it. I'm enjoying these P90s. They really produce a great sound. The dynamics and range of the volume and tone pots are much better on this guitar then my old guitar (which I had to sell to help pay for this guitar). The playability is also much better.
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

So I finally got around to playing my new guitar with my band (and being able to raise my amp's volume). This guitar is defiantly a keeper. It is very easy for me to play this guitar standing up and with the p90s, I'm getting a much better clean sound and the distortion is much more open and raw (compared to the duncan designed humbuckers in my old guitar).
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

Very nice. I love the look of the bound fretboard with dots. Looks like urs is rosewood from the headstock pic. I have an SG faded with a baked maple fretboard and I didnt even notice that it wasnt rosewood til I got home. I actually love the baked maple, It adds a nice snap that really benefits an all mahogany guitar.
 
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Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

XPAULPITT said:
Very nice. I love the look of the bound fretboard with dots. Looks like urs is rosewood from the headstock pic. I have an SG faded with a baked maple fretboard and I didnt even notice that it wasnt rosewood til I got home. I actually love the baked maple, It adds a nice snap that really benefits an all mahogany guitar.
Click to expand...
Yea. The fretboard is rosewood. I have not actually tried a baked maple fretboard, but I have heard others say similar positive statements about the snap it adds.
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

Already have enough P-90 guitars, couldn't justify buying another. But if I did, this would be on my list. Welcome to the p90 club. I must now give you the requisite sdugf/Gibson unsolicited advice: these p'ups looove 500k pots. Gibson will sometimes wire them with 300k. There. You've been warned. You're welcome.
 
NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

Those are sweet guitars. Check the volume pots. They might be 300k. If you find it too dark or like a blanket is over it, change them to 500k.
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

What a beauty. I'd love to have scored that guitar. Looks like a rosewood board to me, from that little sliver of it that I can see in the one pic.
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

I'm loving the Cherry color! I'm planning on building a neck through version of one of these (Same color too!) over the summer, along with a 24 fret explorer.
 
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Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

Just a little jealous....fantastic score, that is a great guitar.

Played one a GC the other day that was light as a feather, if it was red I might have given in.
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

For everyone saying to get 500k pots. How do I check what the current value of my volume pots are? Also would I just change the volume pots and leave the tone pots as they are?
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

CodeDante said:
For everyone saying to get 500k pots. How do I check what the current value of my volume pots are? Also would I just change the volume pots and leave the tone pots as they are?
Click to expand...

The volume pots are 300k linear, and the tone pots are 500k audio. The is the "standard" Gibson set up. Just change the volume pots with some 500k audio, and you will be good to go. I did this on my recent LP special, and it was like lifting a blanket off the guitar.
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

Ayrton said:
The volume pots are 300k linear, and the tone pots are 500k audio. The is the "standard" Gibson set up. Just change the volume pots with some 500k audio, and you will be good to go. I did this on my recent LP special, and it was like lifting a blanket off the guitar.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll will try doing this when I can find the time. Any particular brand? I was thinking CTS 500k.
 
Re: NGD: Gibson Les Paul Special Single Cutaway

CodeDante said:
Thanks. I'll will try doing this when I can find the time. Any particular brand? I was thinking CTS 500k.
Click to expand...

Those are good. Spend the little extra and get the ones that are within 10% spec or even 5% of spec. The tighter the tolerance, the closer the actual stamped value they are.

It should say in the stock pots what they are.
 
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