Gibson Les Paul Special Review

Better than the Standard!

Right out of the box the guitar smells really good (kind of sweet). The setup was nicely done. The pickups are bright and clear! And the best of all the guitar is an affordable USA model with an awesome case. Overall, this is actually better than the LP standards in production. Shout out to Matt Christopherson!

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Les Paul Special Vintage Cherry

Received this guitar yesterday,double boxed in perfect condition.Plugged into a Fender Deluxe Reverb Limited Edition amp. This Guitar is a tone Monster!So many sounds just from volume,tone & pickup selector switch.Its the easiest playing guitar I have ever owned.Looking forward to many hours of playing & recording with it. Thank you David Mikautadze,my Sales Engineer & Sweetwater.

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My Les Paul Special

Love the feel of the 50's neck but "over the moon" on the tone and harmonics of this guitar. Just a vibration of a well built guitar like this Special makes this Paul a tone monster! I can't stop playing this masterpiece of a guitar. Thanks Sweetwater for helping me acquire my first Les Paul. J

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Very Pleased

I'm a fan of the 70's classic rock genre and have been enamored with the idea of trying a guitar with P90's so when my wife signed off on a new guitar the Les Paul Special with P90's was at the top of my list. I was mildly concerned with the neck size (chunky) but with the ability to return it if needed I felt safe in giving it a go. Order experience: If you've never bought a… read more guitar from Sweetwater (this is my second) you should expect a great experience. They send you hi-res professionally shot pictures of the guitar shortly after you order and ship super fast. The Les Paul shipped the next day and was on my doorstep in two days. Super nice. The guitar - Pros: 1) The fit and finish on this guitar are perfect. No sharp fret edges (Ive seen a few Gibson's with sharp fret edges at the local guitar store) and no blemishes at all. The finish is super nice - I'm glad I went with the Nitro lacquer finish - the pictures don't really do it justice. 2) Playability is superb. The setup was great (for me) right out of the box - action not super low - just right. The marketing blurb claims they Plek the guitar and I believe it. No fret buzz and she bends super nice all over the neck. Great out of the box experience for me. 3) The P90's!! I watched plenty of review videos prior to making my purchase but was still a bit surprised by the sounds coming from the pickups. They are definitely more "humbuckery" than "single coilery" - so more on the darker side than the bright side but without the mud (for lack of a better work) you can hear on some humbuckers. They go from fairly hot at full volume to nice and clean when you roll off - with a beautiful tone. 4) The neck feels great in my hands. I've always stuck with more modern neck shapes that tend to be more thin than chunky but that will change going forward. This is a chunky neck but it feels super comfortable and I've adjusted to it pretty quickly. Along with the sound of the P90's this is my favorite part of the guitar. The guitar - Cons: 1) The P90's. Okay - they sound great - really great - nice 70's classic rock type vibe - but they are noisy. I knew this coming in - and they aren't egregious - but they certainly put out some hum/noise. 2) Intonation is a compromise. As with the noisy P90's I knew the reputation of the vintage Wraparound Stoptail bridge and it hasn't dissapointed. I put some new strings on it and stretched them for a day or so then set about to work on the intonation. Moving he tailpiece almost all the way back has resulted in the closest I can get it - with all the strings a few cents off with the exception of the G string which is a good 10 cents sharp. I can work around this by tuning the guitar to the middle of the neck - fitting my playing style of mostly power chords and pentatonics :) - and it sounds great. If I want to use any open chords or strings I tune the G string about 5 cents flat as a compromise and it works for me. I may try some different tailpieces at some point but for now this works well enough. 3) The vintage type tuners aren't super smooth - but they work. So that's it - overall I'm super happy with the guitar and look forward to many happy years with it!

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Gorgeous Special Dark Cherry

4'th time's a charm! OK I admit I'm a perfectionist. I must be Sweetwater's most hard to please customer. They hit this one outta the park. Big shout out to my sales rep Colton Kreuser for picking out this very "Special" Special LP. I sent back three TV Yellows, one for a lousy color match at the two piece body and two for fretboard and binding scratches and nicks. None of… read more which affected playability but I gotta wonder why this one is flawless. And let me say this darker cherry finish is stunning with dark rosewood board, black headstock and black white black three ply pickguard and creme neck binding. Having had both the tv yellow an the cherry, the cherry shows the grain better. Both colors are sweet though. And ohhh those Gibby P90's! Beautiful sparkling cleans to growling, all easily controlled by the volume pot. Speaking of which, they both taper beautifully. If you want a responsive versatile tone machine this is the ticket.

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