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

[cliffenstein]

New Guitar Purchase Day...

Cashed in my two 2020 Epiphones (Special and a '59 Les Paul - both GREAT guitars) and got the real deal Johnny Thunders NY Dolls era guitar I've lusted over for years. 2019 Gibson Original Collection Les Paul Special TV Yellow - it's never been gigged.

SELLER PHOTOS (UPS Tracking shows ETA of 7/06):

Excited!

 

[Liam1963]

NICE!

 

[jeremy]

very nice! a stripped down rock and roll machine! (or a chanky reggae ax if thats what youre into)

 

[Securb]

Holy Yellow Batman! That baby needs to be plugged into a very loud Marshall, stat.

 

[cliffenstein]

very nice! a stripped down rock and roll machine! (or a chanky reggae ax if thats what youre into)

The first one! Haha

 

[cliffenstein]

Holy Yellow Batman! That baby needs to be plugged into a very loud Marshall, stat.

Oh it will...it will!

 

[Kac]

That looks awesome! Enjoy it!!

 

[Synapsys]

Not ready to make the jump from my 2020 Epi LP Special yet, but congrats on getting that one!

 

[Mincer]

Looks like it is in wonderful condition, too!

 

[75lespaul]

Isn't it awesome when you get a dream guitar? Congratulations and rock the heck out it.

 

[JamesPaul]

That one is going to Rock! Now I'm feeling like I should have got a new Les Paul yesterday.

 

[Aceman]

RAWK!

 

[LesStrat]

:cool3: beans!

 

[cliffenstein]

Insanely good guitar...feels great, plays great, sounds great. It's meaner and tougher than its Epiphone counterpart (also a good guitar).

Got it back from my tech today, fully set up with D'Addario 11-49 gauge strings with super low action all the way up the neck, being that these guitars are plekked, there's no buzz at all even with the super low action. I also had him do my usual electronics changes (everything disconnected except for the bridge pickup straight to the volume pot to the output jack...so toggle, neck pickup and tone knobs do nothing...yes, I know I could have just bought a junior, but I like how these Specials look and feel, plus TV Yellow!). Finally, we F-One oiled the board...which was already dark...now it looks practically ebony.

While he was there, I had my tech use his digital calipers at the 1st and 12th fret. Here are the results:

1st fret: .891"
12th fret: .993"

So, nice 50's profile without being too over the top. It's just perfect.

Also, it weighs 7.6 lbs.

The seller sent the guitar in a Gibson soft case/bag (I was expecting the lovely brown hardshell case these are advertised as coming in, he claims GC gave him the soft case/bag when he bought in 2019 - I wasn't about to send this guitar back over that detail). My local shop luckily had a cool, older Gibson hardshell case, which they promptly sold to me for $90.

PICS (mine):

 

[ErikH]

Very nice. A pure rock and roll machine!

 

[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.