Rare Early SG Special with Factory-Ordered "Short" Gibson Vibrola

This 13-inch-wide SG Special weighs just 6.80 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 mahogany neck (an early example with smooth neck joint), and bound rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo. Two-layer (black on white) plastic truss-rod cover. Serial number ("31329") stamped in blind on the back of the headstock. Closed-back single-line Kluson Deluxe strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Two hot P-90 pickups with huge outputs of 10.13k and 7.92k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard with five screws. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch, all on lower treble bout. Black plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. The pots are stamped "134 6140" (Centralab October 1961). Combination smooth ("wrap-over") angled bridge and rare factory-ordered "short" Gibson vibrola tailpiece. All hardware nickel-plated. Apart from a few minuscule marks on the top and sides, this forty-five-year-old "Closet Queen" is totally untouched, almost unfaded, and just plain gorgeous! Housed in its original Gibson brown "alligator" softshell case with dark red plush lining (9.00). Complete with the original hang-tags, and even the original receipt for a huge $262.60!

The Les Paul Special was introduced as the TV Special in 1955 as an intermediate model between the regular Les Paul guitar and the lower-priced Junior and TV Junior instruments. The Special underwent two successive body redesigns in 1958 and 1961, while the Les Paul affiliation was discontinued in late 1962. The model was then renamed the SG Special without any apparent changes in the specifications other than the removal of Les Paul markings.