One of the Last of the Single-Cut TV Specials

1958 Gibson Les Paul "TV" Special

This very early 1958 12 3/4-inch-wide electric solid body weighs 7.90 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of over 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body, one-piece mahogany neck with a medium profile and a bound fretboard with 22 frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and "Les Paul Special" silk-screened in gold. Single-line Kluson Deluxe strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Serial number inked on in black on the back of the headstock. Two perfectly balanced P-90 pickups with outputs of 7.80k and 7.81k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard with four screws. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout, plus three-way pickup selector switch on upper bass horn. Black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. The potentiometers are stamped: "134 738" (Centralab September 1957). Original combination wrap-over bar bridge/tailpiece. There are a couple of small areas of very light wear on the back of the guitar but overall this super little TV Special is in near mint (9.25) condition. Housed in a later Gibson historic brown hardshell case with five latches and maroon plush lining (9.00).

"In 1955, Gibson launched the Les Paul TV, essentially a Junior but with a finish that the company referred to variously as 'natural', 'limed oak' and (more often) 'limed mahogany'. Surviving original TV models from the 1950s reveal a number of different colours, with earlier examples tending to a rather turgid beige, while later ones are often distinctly yellow. Today there is much debate about where the model's TV name came from...One such theory says that the TV name was used because the pale colour of the finish was designed to stand out on the era's black-and-white TV screens. This seems unlikely, not least because pro players appearing on television would naturally opt for a high-end model...Others say the guitar followed the look of fashionable contemporary furniture, where the expression 'limed' was used for a particular look. Certainly Gibson promoted the Les Paul TV as being 'the latest in modern appearance'. There's also been a suggestion that 'TV' might be a less than oblique reference to the competing blond-coloured Telecaster made by Fender. But in fact the name was coined to cash in on Les Paul's regular appearances at the time on television on The Les Paul & Mary Ford Show. This was effectively a sponsored daily ad for a toothpaste company, for which the couple signed a $2million three-year contract in 1953. Gibson reasoned that if you'd seen the man on TV, well, now you could buy his TV guitar. Following a reader's enquiry to Guitar Player in the 1970s, a Gibson spokesman confirmed that 'the Les Paul TV model was so named after Les Paul's personal Listerine show was televised in the 1950s'" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul, p. 28).

"In 1955, the original line of Les Paul models was completed with the addition of the Special, effectively a two-pickup version of the Junior, finished in the TV's beige colour (but not called a TV model -- a cause of much confusion since). The Special appeared on the company's Spetember 1955 pricelist at $182.50" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of the Gibson Les Paul, p. 29).

1958 was the last year for the 'single-cut' TV Special. The Gibson shipping records show that out of a total of 4,128 Les Paul TV Special models made between 1955 and 1958, just 958 were shipped in that last year.