The Gibson Les Paul Special is a variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was introduced in 1955. It is designed to be an intermediate level instrument, at a price point and trim level between the low-cost Les Paul Junior and the standard Les Paul.

Overview

Like most of Gibson's other budget models, the Les Paul Special was produced in a TV Yellow finish, which was made by Gibson as a finish that would look good on black and white television. In 1958, the model received a major change when it was introduced as a doublecut model instead of the traditional singlecut. In 1961, the Les Paul received a drastic change when it was redesigned into what would become known as the Gibson SG. Les Paul's contract had expired by 1963, bringing a change to the submodels. When the contract was renewed in 1968, the original models were rebooted.

Models

The list of Special models manufactured since 1955.

Single Cutaway

Double Cutaway

[1960 SG Special

(renamed from "Les Paul Special Doublecut" in 1959 ) The guitar on the photo features later aftermarket Badass tailpiece bridge, similar to so called "Pigtail" bridge. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/1960///Les///Paul///Special///Doublecut.jpg]

Timeline