One of the Last of the Slab-Bodied "Les Paul" TV Specials

This featherweight guitar weighs just 7.20 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body, one-piece thin-to-medium profile mahogany neck, and bound rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo. Closed-back Kluson Deluxe 'single-line' strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Serial number "2350" stamped in blind on back of headstock. Two P-90 pickups with outputs of 8.25k and 7.20k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way pickup selector switch surrounded by a thin black plastic ring engraved with "RHYTHM" and "TREBLE." The potentiometers are stamped "134 5947 (Centralab November 1959). Two original 'Bumble-Bee capacitors. Black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs with metal tops. Combination "wrap-over" bar bridge/tailpiece.

This very rare guitar has three issues which must be addressed:

1. At some time (we think many years ago) this guitar was fitted with another 'stud-tail' in a slightly lower position than the existing (original) one. This is evidenced by two small holes which have been expertly filled.

2. When we removed the tuners we discovered that at one time Grovers had been fitted. This is totally undetectable without removing the tuners, and is only evidenced by an extra four tiny holes and slightly widened shaft holes.

3. The neck pickup volume potentiometer has been replaced (we would guess in the seventies, probably at the same time as the filling in of the additional stud-holes).

We have carefully examined the guitar under ultra-violet light and can confirm that other than the two small filled holes on the top of the body, every other area is untouched and totally original.

With all that said this extremely rare guitar, one of the last of the slab-bodied "Les Paul" TV Specials, is in exceptionally fine condition, with only a minimal amount of checking and a few small and insignificant surface marks. If it were not for these issues we would have given it a strong (9.25) near mint rating but we believe that (8.75) excellent plus is very fair. And the sound of those P-90's… absolutely one of the best we've ever heard! Housed in a modern black soft-shell case with black plush lining (9.50).

"The double-cut Les Paul Special came and went in the same year. The change from the earlier single-cut style occurred early in 1959, while toward the end of the year Gibson removed the model's Les Paul logo, changing its name to SG Special even though everything else stayed the same" (Tony Bacon and Paul Day, The Gibson Les Paul Book, p. 23).

"The double cutaway Special was listed as a Les Paul for less than a year, and in the price list dated 1st November 1959 the model appeared as the SG Special. All the specifications remained the same save for the removal of Les Paul markings on the headstock and the installation of an enlarged one-piece guard covering the area between the front pickup and the fingerboard. For all practical purposes, this latter feature permits to distinguish three slightly different sub-variants of the double cutaway slab-bodied Special between 1959 and 1961. Despite the change of designation, the Specials built between late 1959 and early 1961 are often called Les Paul guitars. It is certainly true structurally, even though a Les Paul/SG designation (and not SG/Les Paul!) would be more appropriate to signal both the thick-body style and the absence of Les Paul markings on the headstock. The last samples were released in early 1961 with serial numbers either inked-on (e.g. #1-0359 registered on 20th March) or impressed into the headstock (e.g. #1155 registered on 22nd March)" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, pp. 211-212).

It is unknown exactly how many "Les Paul" TV Specials were shipped in 1961 - but what we do know is that the number was relatively small…