Gibson Les Paul Special SL

This is a basic Gibson. It has the most basic features, which is why I think the price was kept down.

I play classic rock. It has wonderful tone.

The guitar was set up very well at the factory. The finish is ebony and i am not all that pleased with it. It smudges very easily and is hard to keep clean. It is a very comfortable guitar. The action is wonderful. What else would you expect from a Gibson!!!!!!!!

I am a little concerned with the lack of a grounding wire. I kept touching my friends guitar and wondering why suddenly large quantities of electricity would shoot through my system. But, thanks to the other reviews i am now clear on that. Other than that the selector switch comes loose.

Good,Wonderful Gibson!!!!!!!!

Wonderful value for the money i spent. I would have been quite willing to spend more had i had the money!!!!! It's not every day you get a gibson for 429 dollars!!!!!

Made in the USA, not sure on year. Solid Mahogany body, Mahogany neck, and Rosewood fretboard. Standard Les Paul set up H/H with a volume and tone control for each, plus the three way toggle switch. The pickups are a 490 in the neck and 498 in the bridge (both alnico). Finish is nautral and looks kickass. Tuners are fine, need to be worked in. Comes with a gig bag, which has really thick padding and is nice. I'll buy a hardcase soon. The frets are standard Gibson and the neck is comfortable(felt thick when compared to my ESP Mirage and frets seemed alittle less jumbo in comparsion). It covers what I wanted it to, a Mahogany Gibson.

I play everything and this coveres it fairly well, love the warm tone and will enjoy it more as it ages(my first guitar was an older SG and it rocked, sold it (back to the guy I bought it from) to get a Kramer Baretta with a Floyd Rose to be like Eddie. What a dumdass I was. Blends well with my effects and amp, has a sweeter tone than my ESP gives new angles. Reminds me of an SG and really works with rock tones and harder rock. Heavy stuff I usualy switch to the ESP, more of a shredder guitar. But easy to pull off speed stuff with this guitar. Bought it to find that sweet tone again. Cheaper than an SG or the other Les Paul's (and ways less, alot less).

Action is alittle high, but not to bad. Will fix when I get the chance, the stopbar seemed alittle high on the top three strings side. The finish is great, except by the neck alittle bit rough, just barely noticable. On the headstock where the nut is there is alittle bit of peeling of the clear coat. Hardly noticable, not as bad a the Peavey Wolfgang Special(it had a chip out of it). And the top of the headstock, the black paint was alittle of. The frets could've been rolled alittle better, but not bad. These little things could've been avoided, but only people like me would notice small flaws. I looked at this guitar under a microscope just about. I bought it as a keeper for life. That's why I bought Gibson, because the look, feel, and sound incredible.

If it's at all like my SG or any of the other Gibson's I have played, then it will last. It will stay home and be treated kindly. And if I took it out of my home I know it would last.

My limited experince was great. The Gibson representive i spoke with at Skips Music in Sacromento was very friendly and helpful. The warranty if lifetime.

I've been playing for almost 17 years and started with Gibson and can back to Gibson. I've owned numerous guitars from Fender(the strats I had were nice but lack that tone) to Kramer to ESP (very tempermental and very different from guitar to guitar, my beat up old one kicks ass compared to alot of others I have played) to Gibson. With Gibson, I have always found the tone and feel I wanted, plus they have a look to them that says class.

Pretty basic, just 2 humbuckers and a 3 way switch. Flat top mahogany body.

I play lotsa stuff - mainly blues and hard rock. Van Halen, SRV, Guns N' Roses. Ive had this guitar for 3 years, and have played this guitar for about a year and a half with the stock pickups, and they arent too bad. The neck pickup is a pretty damn fine jazz pickup. The bridge pickup though, is a bit too midrangey for me. Not enough bite for VH. I replaced these with a pretty standard '59 and JB set, and some coil splitters. It now works very well. I can cover just about any style with this setup now. I kinda miss the bigger and warmer sound i got out of the stock neck pickup, but the '59 has much more clarity and definition. The coil splitters are more of a cheap way to be a SRVaughanabie, but they are pretty fun. The all mahogany body is kinda cool, and i think that if you are just playin classic rock, then this guitar will kick major ass. But sometimes the mahogany body get a little too warm for me, so i stuck those seymours in. I am a firm believer in bigger strings, and i have found that 11's works quite well with this guitar. It helps create that whole big les paul sound. I think that a guitar's sound is more in the pickups than in the wood, so if you wanna a cheap good guitar that plays like a gibson, get one of these and stick new pickups in. But dont expect it to sound like a strat or anything. If you want it to sound like a strat, then buy one!!!

I bought mine at Geetar Center, and it was like a Managers Special for 299 i think. The frets were all fucked up, but its workin just great now. The finish is hella thick, i beat this thing up on a regular basis. Doesnt require alot of maintainence. Ive left it on the floor of my dorm floor for this entire year, and not a single scratch

Works really well. Standard tuners suck major ass. Put some grovers on, you will like it, and so will everyone else. quite reliable

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Ive been playin for about 4 years, and this guitar has grown on me completely. At least youll be a little bit different from all those other LP totin guys. Some people are sayin that these pickups arent grounded, which is a buncha crap. The grounding wire is located on the neck pickup volume pot!!!! It is there!!!!!

2 Humbuckers sound great. Beautiful "natural" laminated finish really stands out w/ the no pick guard look.

Nice thick rich sound you expect from a Les Paul w/ great variences depending on w/ pick-up you toggle to.

Guitar arrive in great condition w/ factory strings set up perfectly (to my liking anyway).

Though I'm not a live player, I do trust this guitar will withstand the daily use it will receive from me over a long period of time. It will now replace the Samick Strat style axe which had been my "go-to" guitar.

N/A- purchased from Musicians Friend- not Gibson, although it did come w/ the Gibson factory warranty which I reaaly don't see being needed. This unit was purchased as a "blem" from musiciansfriend.com website...I beleive the normal $ from them is around $590.00 or so which is still below the specified $899.00 retail. My "blem" showed up with no signs of any defects...I beleive it was purchased & returned therefore sold a s a blem due to depreciation. I had 45 days to examine & return if needed.

As many will mention about this guitar...I think it has the look & feel of the real deal Paul's without the weight of the axe or the wallet.

1999 model. red finish, 490 humbuckers. same as everyone else

I love the sound. I stole this from guitar center for $385 brand new. Its a well worth the money. I'd consider buying it a $1000 easy. Love the sound. I play though Marshall valvstate 100w 1X12 and Peavey Delta Blues all tube 30w 1x15 combo. Sounds great clean on the neck pickup and great on the bridge for hard rock and metal on the Marshall. sustain is great. The neck feels excellent. Very comfortable.

Set up was good. no major flaws, came with Gibson strings which I changed to E Balls 10's . I like E balls better for string bends

Good. used it live. no problems though the pickup selecter is starting to not kick in the pickup i switch to without switching it back in forth sometimes. needs some adjustment. I give it a 8

never delt with them

Overall this guitar is a steal even at the list price. I know Musicians Friend has them for $599. A good price. Check one out if looking for the Paul sound but don't have lots of Money for a Classic or Standard.

1998 natural finish and every thing the other people said

I play a lot of punk and this baby rocks. I'v had it a little over a year and would play it over any guitar. I run it through a Marshall JCM2000 DSL401. It sounds great for any style classic rock, blues, ska, metal, anything. i love the sound

when i first got it the action was a little shadey but now it coulndt be better

this thing will take anything . I,v played a few gigs with it and it worked great.this will last me until i die. the finish is lasting really well

if this guitar was lost or stolen i would buy myself another

Made in 1998 in Nashville Tn; U.S.A. 22 frets. Solid Mohogony. 2 volume 2 tone controls, 3-way selector. 2 Gibson humbucking pickups 490 and 498 (passive). Black finish. Standard Les Paul shape with contour back like the 50s original with a Tune-O-Matic Bridge. Standard tuners. Came with a cheap gigbag.

I play all styles and after adjusting the pickups I was able to get the sound I wanted. Not much variety but I never got much variety with only a 2 pickup combination. Very standard Les Paul sound, nothing new. Playing thur my Fender Twin Reverb sounded excellent but on my small solid-state amp it sounded kind of weak.

The guitar was set-up I guess by the factory and from previous experiences of buy a few new Gibson in the past, they have not changed. They still set the action way to high. Somebody should clue them in of this and maybe they would sell more guitars. The finish was perfect and of high quality. The nut was cut to high. All of the imperfection were easily fixed. Wish the guitar had Grover tuners like some of the more expensive Paul's.

I must admit I dont think I've played a more solid guitar than the Les Paul Special and the Finish is very thick. I would not worry about a backup if I did'nt break so many strings when I play but I'm always bending my strings so I always have a backup.

Have had no recent contact since buying this guitar.

Been play more years than I care to admit. I do have a good collection of guitars mostly Gibson (ES335,SG, Howard Roberts, ES175, Les Paul Custom) a 1959 Gretch and a few cheap Epiphonies. I think Gibson did a great job bringing a Les Paul on the market that's affordable to the public without losing the quality. I do like the flat top, it makes it easier to play fast rock.

made in 1998 or 99 played over 150 gibson les pauls and i must say this would rate in the top 10 easy. made of mohogony with the standard 490 and 498t pickups (sweet) and electronics. they use a special kind of finish (not lacquer). i got the natural finish which is more durable than lacquer and looks great. standard gibson hardware with good size frets.

i play it through my marshall and fender amps and i don't think i could get a better sound if i wanted too. ouiet but very powerful sound excellent lower mids and highs. only dislikes is that i didn't buy one sooner.

this is the only real problem i had, the action was set real high but after i lowerwed the action it played like heaven. the quality is the best i've seen from gibson in a long time.

this guitar is more soild than the les paul standard. i would take it to woodstock through it in the audience and play it at a one take recording session. solid as steal. the strap buttons are kind of small but easy to replace.

dont need it.

buy one if you like a good solid traditional guitar. my best guitar yet but i hear they have been discontinued so i sure the price well go up soon its a real collectors guitar.

This is as basic a Les Paul as you're going to find. It differs from the others in that it doesn't have a maple cap on the body. It's similar to a Junior but it is a single cutaway. It also has the belly cut on the back which makes it very comfortable to play. I believe it has 490 and 498 humbuckers. There is a similar guitar out there with the stacked P100s. I guess you could call it a Studio without the maple cap on the body or the trapezoid position markers.

I've played a number of Les Pauls over the years, including a Deluxe that I owned for awhile. I never really warmed up to them because they are uncomfortable to play and always had too sharp an attack to the notes. The comfort issue is solved in the Special with the belly cutaway. For me it's more of a rib cutaway as I tend to hold the guitar higher - other Les Pauls dig into my ribs. Also the Special is much lighter than other LPs. The other big advantage for me is the all -mahogany construction. Notes have a nice blooming attack instead of the sharper maple attach. Through Marshalls, Fenders or Boogies it has the smoothest distortion sound I've found. It also has terrific sustain, especially considering its light weight. I especially like the fact that the switch between bridge and fingerboard pickup is not so exaggerated as in some LPs. The bridge is never brittle sounding. The neck pickup is nicely articulate and actually works for a straightahead jazz sound (within reason).

If you want the Larry Carlton/Robben Ford smooth overdrive tone you can't beat this guitar.

Gibson ships with .009s so I switched to .010s, tweaked the trussrod and intonation, set the bridge to my liking and now have a guitar that I'd put up against anything for playability. The fretwork is nice and tidy with no high points or weird intonation, more that I can say for the ES175 I bought in the early 80s. That thing was impossible to intonate.

I really like the red lacquer over the mahogany - the grain shows through subtly without that overdone PRS look.

The only change I will make is to add locking tuners some day. The easy action with .010s has me bending more than usual and putting the guitar out of tune a little too often.

The guitar seems nice and solid but I haven't toured with it so I'll have to wait a few years to see if it will be durable. (My guitars rarely leave the house anymore.)

I've been playing 24 years now and have owned a few guitars over that time. Right now I have a Les Paul Jr Lite, Strat Ultra, Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III, Telecaster, Washburn Classical, Takamine 12 string, Guild 6 string, Ibanez PL2660 (Charvel copy), and a Heartfield bass. Each guitar has it's own voice but the Les Paul Special has the best overdriven voice of all - it's smooth and sustaining without getting brittle. I play it through a Fender Pro Junior, Hot Rod Deluxe, Boogie .50 Caliber, and a Marshall JCM600 head and single 12. Each amp brings out a subtle difference in the LP Special but it maintains its overall voice no matter what you play through.

Overall I think this is as nice sounding an LP as you can get at any price! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a smoother LP voice.

This guitar was made in 1999. It is made in the USA. It is made of a solid mahogany body and has two humbuckers (the same pickups that are found on the $3000 LP Standard!) These are passive pickups. It has a mahogany neck, and mine has a transparent cherry red finish. The bridge is a Tune-O-Matic with a stop tailpiece.

The sound is awesome! Without the maple top to make it brighter, it has a great rock sound! My style is punk/pop, and it suits me just fine. I run it through a ZOOM 505 effects pedal, Morley distortion pedal, and into a MARSHALL MG100RCD 100w amp. It sounds just fine, but really shines when put into a tube amp!

The guitar was set up extremely well at the factory. The action was as low as you can get it without and fret buzz! The pickups were set up just fine. No flaws on this baby! Everything was perfect! Just what you should expect from a handmade, US guitar!

This guitar has never let me down. The hardware is all GIBSON and will last a lifetime. The finish is made of premium lacquer, and it's not the most durable, but it is flawless and the most beautiful! Yes, I can depend on it.

Never dealt with the company support. Never had to. This fine guitar has a lifetime warranty.

I've compared it to NEW more expensive GIBSON's, and it equals, if it's not better, then them! Overall, this is an excellent guitar!