Gibson Les Paul Special SL

This is a a stripped down Paul. It is made of a slab of flat mahogany body and neck mine is a natural finish that sort of looks like butterscocth in low light. It's either a 2001 or 2002 made in the u.s. It has 22 big frets. You can tell that it was sloppily made but it has good tone and a fair price compared to the other Les Pauls. It has a 400R and 480T pickups that aren't to bad. It has a thinner 60's neck. It came with a Gibson deluxe gig bag.

I play electrified blues, classic rock(Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Beatles etc.), hard rock and metal(TOOL, A Perfect Circle, Metallica), and rock/alternative(Nirvana, Soundgarden, Weezer, STP). I think it sounds pretty good the mahogany body gets that really deep sound. I'm running it through a Crate GX-40C and it sounds good. The treble pickup makes some buzz but is isn't that bad.

The action from the factory wasn't too bad but it wasn't the way I like it so I had it set up. All of the Hardware seem to be installed alright. As I said they did a somewhat sloppy job of putting it together. There are a few minor flaws that are barely noticeable that have been sanded out of the wood. The frets are okay. I like the Gibson Deluxe tuners on it.

I haven't tried it live yet but it feels good. I haven't had it for a long time but it's solid. I always take backups on gigs but I think I can depend on this one

Lifetime warranty. Haven't dealt with Gibson

Bottom line it's a good guitar I like the sound and I like the feel if it were stolen I would replace it. I only with Gibson would make and affordable guitar like this in a carved top.

2001 USA GIBSON LES PAUL SPECIAL SL -BASIC LES PAUL CONFIGURATION W/490 & 498T HUMBUCKERS, MAPLE BODY W/BLACK FINISH. Trapezoid inlays. Gig bag included. -just a bare bones Paul without any frills...Just the way I like it. Got it for $500.00 from Musician's Friend on line.

It suits my style real well. I play mainly harder rock & heavy electric blues, i.e. Zeppelin, Old VH, Randy Rhoads, Zak Wylde, Metallica, & Hendrix. I play it through a Peavey Triumph 60 ultra gain tube head split with a Rocktron Rampage 50c solid state through a Behringer Cab w/4X12 jensens in it. I basically just use the built in distortion, reverb & chorus of the amps and maybe a splasy of delay from a cheap Ibanez pedal I have. I sometimes employ a Wah as well. Haven't had any problem w/noise & it gives a rich full sound, kinda dark which I like. Also pretty smooth and creamy. Sounds great acousitcally as well. Again, I am only rating this guitar verse other $500 guitars. For the price, it's a great buy. IMHO it beats the hell out of the Paul's three times the price. Gibson is making a killing out of selling production guitars at handmade/boutique prices. Especially for the younger players or those that don't have the cash flow to buy a $1,500 Les Paul or high end Fender/PRS - this is the guitar for you, plus it's Made in the USA which is a bonus. I like the sound overall but am thinking of putting on GHS TNT Boomers to see if that works even better. Right now I have on nickel wound .09 guage strings - just not beefy enough for me.

The factory did a great job of setting up the guitar....Although I never hold a factory accountable for a set up as I feel that is the job of the individual musician who buys it. Unless I personally custom order an axe from a dealer and tell them exactly how I want it, I don't expect them to be mind readers. This guitar was in tune right outta the box! Amazing. Everything was in proper order - no major flaws. Only bitch I have is that the back of the neck seems to smudge and hold hand grime real easy......a minor annoyance.

This guitar is a tank. The finish isn't the best, especially on the back of the neck...smudges real easy. Overall though for the money, who cares, I don't mind a few chips on this baby - gives it character.
Would never gig without a back up now; that's not to say that I never have in the past.

This is not a slap at Gibson, but Musician's Friend basically sucked dealing with on this guitar. It was supposed to be shipped within a week and when it wasn't I called MF who then said it was on back order for a month. Again, never came in, I had to call again when they should of called me to let me know. Anyways, took 4 months to get this guitar, after getting the run-a-round from MF. Maybe other people have had better luck w/them but I found them to be pretty incompetent. MF really needs to work on its customer service, I haven't bought anything since from them. I've ordered through American Musical Supply since and they do a much better job I've found.

I've been playing for 16 yrs. and have been in almost as many bands in that time. I also own a Gibson M-III, Gibson ES-330TDW, Fender Telecaster, and an Ibanez AEG-10 Elect/Acoustic. If this guitar was stolen I'd be going to jail to for handling business on the idiots who took it. I have always wanted a Les Paul but could not validate paying $1,500.00 - $2,000.00 for one - the Special SL is a good decision for those who want to own a Paul but don't want to fork out a large amount of hard earned cash to do so.

OK, so I've owend this beut for four months now, I changed the strings for the first time yesterday and decided it's time to give my review.Mine is a 2001 model made right here in the USA which I have to say is the primary reason I bought it.it has mini trapazoid fret inlays on a very fast slim taper neck, is natural in colorand weighs about 8 lbs.It is made of a couple of slabs of mahogany it has a 490 and a 498t alnico humbucker. klauson type gibson deluxe tuning pegs.and a tune-o-matic bridge. Basicly its a striped down single cutaway Les Paul all of the nessecity's none of the glitter.I hate glitter so it scores high in my book.

Great sound,I play it through a tradmark 60 and I also have an electar tube 10 for the living room. It even has a much better acoustic tone then any other solid body guitar I've played!Great for sitting in front of the tv and playing so go to your local music store pick up a les paul (studio, classic special or smartwood any will do) and hear it for yourself.

Set-up was perfect absolutly no complaints there,however there are so pretty rough spots in the finish primarly on the sides of the headstock and where the neck meets the body.Also there are some rough spots in the edge of the fretboard they appear to be from fileling or sanding.I assume the neck would'nt pass QC on a higher priced paul but perhaps thats why they are so inexpensive.Again this is strictly cosmetec and does'nt effect the overall playability one bit, and is not noticable from 2 feet away.

I am sure it will outlive me!I bought a SKB hardcase (PERFECT FIT) for it just to make sure. I have changed the strap buttons with schaller strap locks, like just about everyone else did. I also changed the black plastic jack-plate with a nice nickel one I bought for about $8 from my local store.I was thinking about changing the tuning pegs but the gibson deluxe's are working great.

The gibson warranty is cheesy, but I know that they do stand behind there products.they went above and beyond for a friend of mine absolutly top notch.
On the other hand screw you musiciansfriend! they suck Hands Down the worst friggen company I've ever delt with!! This was the second guitar I bought from them and I said I woud'nt by one after the first I should of stuck to my convictions, they caused me more aggrivation then anyone should have to deal with, and then overcharged me!Those friggen losers suck!You should'nt do business with them ever !...
Had I not fallen so head over heels in love with this guitar it would have been on its way back to them the next day! My rating here is stritly based on www.musiciansfriend.com and in no way reflects gibson.

I've said all I need to say except I've been playing on and off for 15 years with a 8 year lapse in the middle I've had tons of gear and as far as guitars go this is my favorite I shall cherish it untill the day I die and play it more then any other. I love everything about it.It has everything I need and nothing I dont.
If it was stolen I would grab my gun and become a vigalante death machine untill I found it, and believe me I would find it!

this guitar is a whole lot cheaper than the fancier gibson LPs. And it sounds so sweet.Its us made,24.75 scale, mahogany body, rosewood fingerboard, 2 kick ass sounding humbuckers and a three way toggle swith. Its got a natural finish. its got a tune-o-matic bridge and a stop tail piece. the tuners i really don't like. it does get out of tune but not that much. i gonna eventually replace them though. when i got this i got a sweet gibson LP case,which is shaped to the guitar, for almost half the price.

i play alot of punk and it sounds great on this guitar and i play alot of metal and old rock. this guitar suits every style of music.
i'm using a crate tube half stack and it sounds great. i have an effects processor but i only used it for noise reduction for my fender strat and my ibanez, but i don't need it for this guitar i use it occasionally for more the effects and it sounds great. its got a better sound tone than the epiphones, the epiphones have a mushy tone.
the sustain is great. the only thing is there is the tiniest bit of fret buzz but that can be fixed. another thing is the plastic jack which i'll be putting a new one on, i'll be putting all gold hardware on and taking those parts that came with it and putting together a guitar from scratch.My fender and ibanez are still in commission though. i'll be putting a floyd rose on it and lace sensor pickups or dual humbuckers on it or something. i put the dunlop straplock system and now i can jump around in my room without worry bou it falling off.

the guitar is set up pretty good. the toggle swith is up top so i always hit it and swith it up. i'm used of playing a strat. i always leave the volume off of one of the pickups so i can play rage against the machine. i don't see any flaws nothing seems offset or loose. my uncle who plays guitar inspected told me there nothing wrong with.

i haven't really play on stage before but i goin 2 this summer w/my band, so i'll see. the finish looks great. it looks like it would last. i'm not worried about my finish just the sound really. so if in 30 years the finish looks like crap i know the guitar i still gonna sound good as the day i bought it. like i said i put the dunlop straplock system on it because the strap buttons were a little small. i definatly depend on it and i would use all the guitars we do alot of tuning down and i swith guitars often so i don't have to keep tuning my guitar up or down. it looks like it can take a beating.

i haven't dealt w/ the company and i haven't gotten it repaired at all. it got a lifetime warranty on it.

i've been playing for 5 years and this is the guitar i've been waiting for, for a while. i wanted a les paul for the longest time and i finally got one at a great price. before i bought this guitar i asked if they had it in another color and they didn't but i went to guitar center a week later and they had it in black and it was the same thing but it was about $400 more. i'm giving my first kid this guitar that how much i love it and im gonna have him pass it down generation to generation. i want my kid to expierence this guitar.

2001 USA made Les Paul Special, Solid top mahogany guit fiddle. Came with 2 490 pickups. Typical stripped down les paul.

Sound, okay this is where this puppy excels. I love the LP sound and this unit has it. Not quite as good as a maple top but pretty darn good.

Here is the fly in the ointment. The set up is fair at best, I have had to set up low end guitars before so this was as I expected. The Klusion tuners are a joke, this will not stay in tune. Pitch the Klusions and slap on a set of Grovers. The biggest problem is the neck, this is purely a personal opinion so it is up to you but, I hate 24.75 inch scale and I hate a fat neck worse this has both. If you love a Strat feel this is the wrong guitar for you.

No idea probably will last forever if left in the case and never played. If you take care of it and do regular maintenance this should last your lifetime.

Cant say about Gibson, but I bought this through Muscians Friend. I sent it back after about 2 weeks, I am jsut too much of a TELE, STRAT kind of a guy. They took it back no questions asked. I like to support my local music shops where I can but these guys do a great job.

I have been playing 25 years, my first guitar was a 62 LP Special. I was trying to recapture my youth with this, but the guitar missed the boat. If you are a Gibson fan this is a good ax for giging. If you broke it you wouldn't cry nearly as hard as a LP Standard. If you are like me and love a Strat, save your money.

This is a 2001 Gibson Les Paul special SL with humbuckers natural finish. If you want a frilly-pretty Les paul-don't look here. If you want an awsome players guitar with great tone. Read on! It features the typical les paul set up: Twin humbuckers, three way selector switch, two volume, two tone knobs, ste neck construction, yadda, yadda, yadda. The body and neck are made of solid mahogany and the fretboard is made of rosewood. Its not as heavy as the more expensive maple capped LP's and is very comfortable. Tuners are the Gibson Vintage style. Neck scale is 24 3/4. Accessories that came with the guitar are: 1) A high Quality Gibson Gigbag(the best Ive seen to date) very well padded and lined on the inside with the same fuzzy stuff used to line cases, and 2) a tool with a philips screw head on one end and a Hex socket on the other(for adjusting truss rod)

This guitar is as versatile as all the other LP's and will suit any style from Rock,Blues,Metal,country,Jazz,punk,etc. I'm using this guitar straight into a Marshall JCM800 1/2 stack. The tone is to die for! The tone is warm, full and rich. Its not as bright soundidng as Gibson's other maple capped guitars, but this can be made up for simply by adjusting the EQ on your amp.

The action was a tad high for me, Not much, but this is easily adjusted. The finish is not your typical Gibson finish, instead of using their Laquer finishing techniqes(which takes 11 days to complete and is expensive), Gibson used a poly finish(takes 5 days to complete) Poly finishes are used on mostly all modern guitars today. This finishing technique allows Gibson to sell these LP's well below $1000.00. I didn't have any ground problems, or any problems with fretbuzz. The pots and selector switch operate smoothly. Bridge pieces and tuners-ok.Pickups are Ok and are the same ones used in the more expensive Les Pauls. The nut is plastic and this may bother some, but it suits me just fine. The only thing that I didn't like on the guitar was that the guitars jack plate is plastic. I've seen plastic jackplates crack and brake by simply having the guitar cable bumped. It appears to be the same size as the other Metal jackplates that Gibson uses, so I'll definitly upgrade to a metal Gibson jackplate.

This guitar is definitly a Players guitar and appears to be built like a tank, it's the guitar to last you a lifetime. The Poly finish should withstand years of playing. Ploly finishes are very durable,more so than the more expensive laquer finishes. The straps buttons are very small, so I'd reccomend buying larger buttons or better yet, straplocks. Very dependable guitar, It's gonna be my main axe. I'd be comfortable it on a gig without a backup, making sure it had new strings prior to the gig.

This is my fourth Les Paul, I've never had to contact Gibson for anything. The warranty on this guitar is for the lifetime of the ORIGINAL owner. With a warranty like that, you can't go wrong and for this I give them a 10.

I've been playing for 15yrs and this is my fourth Les Paul. I've owned a '78 LP custom, a 79 LP standard(kalamazoo), and a '95 LP custom, JCM800 50 watt head and cab. This guitar is my favorite of them all! It sounds, plays, and feels just like the more expensive Pauls. It just lacks all the pretty stuff, like binding and gold hardware etc. This is a real meat and potatoes guitar, and I love its simplicity. As they say: "Less is more", and I think this statement applies well to this guitar. If it were lost or stolen I'd cry and get another one. I want to be buried with guitar when I die! LOL! I'd reccommend this guitar to anyone wanting a Les Paul. Its a great value for what its worth. I just wish I had known about these guitars before I plunked down the cash for my other Les Pauls! I'm looking into getting another LP SL, maybe the Black one. I just wish it came with straplocks, a metal jackplate, and a hardshell case. Well that's my $.02, gotta run! I got a Les Paul SL to play! Do yourself a favor and buy one.

two pickups, two volume, two tone, frets...it's an electric guitar.

I play mostly power pop/punk type stuff. The sound is like a big thick slab o' meat with the volume on ten, cleans up really nicely around 2-3 without petering out and sounding wimpy. I run it through a Peavey 5150. No grounding issues for me.

Okay, the polythene pam finish is a bit cheesy and there's a couple of small (tiny) flaws right where the upper part of the fretboard meets the body. Doesn't clean up real well. I had to dick with the action and tightened up the truss rod a bit. The actions just a tad high, not much, but it's fine. Also, I haven't changed out the tuners but really need to. The standard ones that come with it are pretty sucky. But, even though this may sound contradictory considering my comments, but the guitar is very, very playable and I use it for my main gigging instrument.

I've been banging on this thing, and I truly mean banging on it for several months now. It seems solid enough. I trust it in live situations. The only flimsy part of the guitar is the tuners. Why Gibson uses these (and they put them on more expensive Les Pauls) is beyond me. But, tuners are an easy, fairly cheap replacement.

Haven't dealt with the company at all.

Been playing twenty-four years. I have a Strat with Seymour Duncan JB Juniors, a Carvin SC90, and a SG Pete Townshend model. I now have two Les Paul Specials, as I said, they are my main gigging instruments. They're solid enough to withstand live use and they sound great, plus they're not so expensive that I'm worried about dinging them up as I get pretty active on stage. If they are truly limited editions and you want a Les Paul sound I highly recommend grabbing on of these. You may have to tweak it a little but it's a great guitar after you get it set up properly.

Plain & simple Les Paul. The standard config. two vol, two tone, three way. two gibson Humbuckers. I am one who looks for the most bang for the buck. I don't care is the top on my guitar is a 10 or AAA. Its just a slab of Mahogany with a three piece quarter sawn neck. It just has to sound good & play good. This guitar is the real deal. The work on it is better than most of the higer end models. I could not find a flaw. The body is almost one piece. (one little two inch wide piece on the lower side of body.) Mine is finished in natural clear coat. came with a Gibson padded gig bag.

Nothing sounds better than a Mahogany guitar thru a Marshall. Sustain for days. I have only had it for a few days but this one is going to be around for a while. The clean sound is some what dark but that is what to expect from a all mahogany body guitar.

no flaws, only complant is Gigson needs to round the edge of the nut a little more a couple of sharp edges there.

built like a tank. with the three piece quarter sawn nuck it not going to be moving much. this is how Gibson need to do the rest of there guitars.

I have never delt with Gibson on this guitar but from past experance they need to work on it.

I have been playing for 15 years now. I have owed four other LP's & with the exception of my Gary Moore(the only other LP I still own) & an orginal 57 Goldtop a friend owns ,this is the best playing & sounding LP I have come acrossed. Don't have a lot of dough but want a USA made Les Paul go out & find one of these. I would recomend buying the Natural finished ones due to you will get a better piece of wood. The Black colored ones are multi pieced bodies.

USA made Gibson Les Paul Special, Scratch N Dent $399 at musicians friend, H/H pickups, 490/498 just like lp studio and standard, mine is ebony with a big chip right where your forearm rests on the body(where the curve would be on a strat) The chip doesnt bother me one bit, cuz this axe still sounds awesome and I got $100 off of the lowest price I had seen it before($500), and this guitar is not made to be a looker anyway...would be nice if it had grovers, Ill probably put some on soon, and Id like a bone nut instead of plastic, but for the price I shouldnt complain. Tuners dont stay in tune very well, but I want to put grovers on anyway. The gig bag is nice, but I may buy a $50 musicians friend hard case for it. I play mostly rock, blues and this guitar is awesome. You cant go wrong with a gibson les paul. The pickups cost about $230 alone, why not just buy the whole guitar for $400-600?

Gibby> pedals(mostly boss and a tubescreamer>fender hot rod deluxe
Look out, best clean tone you ever heard(the amp helps alot!)I have not played a LP studio or standard extensively, and never through this amp, so I cant really compare to those, but it sounds great anyway.

Action was good, paint job kinda half ass it seems. Others have said they like the paint, maybe mine is bunk so thats why I got it so cheap. The neck seems like its unlaquered or whatever its called. the neck builds up fingerprints and hand mung very quickly and if I clean it with a watered washcloth, it never seems to have a good luster, just a dull matte look. I may have to look into paint jobs or something. Also, the fretboard seemed especially dry when it arrived. I just rubbed fast fret on it a couple days in a row and it helped, but it doesnt seem as smooth as some other gits Ive played. I think I need to find some of that lemon oil everyone is raving about.

I put poor mans strap locks(washers) on this axe, seems solid now, I have no worried of dropping it. If I scratch this guitar, I dont even care, it just adds character. It came with a big chip on front about the size of a cut green bean (bad analogy) or say half a piece of chalk(little bit better analogy).It also had some swirl marks or something on the back. I dont gig with this axe, cuz I play bass in my band, but I would if I played guitar and no I wouldnt bring backup. My one concern is the finish on the back of the neck especially. It seems to build up fingerprints and dead skin or something, and kinda bogs down playing. Even if I clean it with a wet rag, I cant seem to bring out a shine in the neck paint. I wonder if they forgot to clear cote or whatever.

who knows

Been playing about 7 years. If this one were lost, damn would I get mad. My woman bought me this axe for a birthday present, so I intend on keeping it. I am so protective of my gear thatI leave it all in the safety of my parents house when I go away to college. Shoot, whoever would steal this guitar needs to go work two weeks at mcdonalds and just buy their own!!!

You can read all the features below. Mine is a SINGLE chunk of mahogany--don't know if that's rare for these lower-priced Gibbies, but I think it's way cool! Mine is the natural finished one, looks really cool. I love the simplicity of it. Guitar plays like a dream. Mine has the mini-traps, I'd actually prefer the dot inlay on this guitar, but no biggie. Mine was bought used for $500 cash; I think they've been blowing out at Mus Friend for $550 or so, a KILLER deal on an American guitar that has the best pickups in the world to me--Gibson 490/498s. They ROCK.

Just the best. Fat, warm, sustains like crazy, a big rich "throaty" sound that is awesome. Great for blues and rock, this would be a great punk rock guitar too.

No issues at all.

Cannot rate, as I've only had it 8 months or so. I'm sure it'll hold up fine.

Dunno.

I LOVE this guitar! After 2-3 years of going from guitar to guitar (various Tele's, G&L ASATs, LP Studios, Hamer Vanguard, Ibanez LP copy, Epi LP, Explorer copies, Strats, G&L Legacies, Godin, Santana SE, you name it I've probably owned it) this is the ONLY guitar I've kept for more than 6 months. I don't think I'll ever let this one go. It is a PERFECT guitar for me and my mucial style. And now going for $550 new?! GO GET ONE! Don't believe the propaganda about Gibson quality sucking. A lot of fans of Hamer, PRS, etc like to dog out Gibson. Funny thing to me is, Gibson (and Fender, for that matter) has the most consistenly HIGH quality I've seen in guitars in recent years. As far as I'm concerned, Gibson's guitars are the best playing and sounding axes out there. This has been MY experience, and that's all that matters to me. Let your eyes, ears, and hands be the judge.