Gibson Custom Shop 1957 Les Paul TV Special Reissue. VOS.

We think very highly of the original ’55-58 single cutaway Les Paul Specials. These are extremely versatile no-nonsense guitars that can deliver a range of great useable tones. Play them clean and they are capable of fat Tele-like twang from the bridge pick up, are full and chimey in the middle position and can produce warm soul and blues tones from the neck pick up. Crank them up and they’ll turn into a raw power tone monster, growly and with plenty of bite, but always retaining clear note definition.

These recent reissues really do justice to the greatness of the original 50’s guitars and are as close as the Gibson Custom Shop has ever got to a vintage Les Paul Special. The neck profile is true to 50’s spec being a good chunky C profile but not too thick. The P-90’s have all of the sonic hallmarks that have made these pick-ups the preferred choice of many players – fat, crisp and full bodied with the right amount of top end bite. They’ll drive an amp into overdrive quite easily and will clean up nicely when backed off a little. The build quality of these recent reissues is first class.

Then there is the ‘TV’ finish. The official Gibson story of this finish is that it was developed to look good on black and white TV’s back in the 1950’s. Or maybe it was called ‘TV’ because it resembled the limed mahogany finish often seen on TV cabinets in the early 50’s? However, there is another unofficial and more intriguing story. That TV originally was an internal nickname coined by the R&D team at Gibson and actually stood for ‘Telecaster Version’. Gibson was looking to take on Fender at their own game and certainly the no fuss slab bodies and finish of these Les Paul TV Juniors and Specials of the period is very reminiscent of the early Blackguard Fender Telecasters and Esquires.

This reissue dates from late 2019 and has had a small amount of home use since new. There are a couple of very light, barely visible nicks (one on the front edge of the headstock and another on the lower edge of the body) and there is some light wear on the pick guard as to be expected, otherwise it is in mint condition. The frets show no visible signs of wear. The action is set fairly low and the neck plays superbly. Acoustically it has a good amount of natural resonance which translates very well through the P-90 pick ups to deliver bags of classic tone and loads of sustain.

If you’ve ever hankered after a vintage Les Paul Special but the current price tags are a bit too rich, then these reissues from the last couple of years really are very close. Or if you already own a vintage Special but don’t want to gig with it and would prefer something less valuable to take out then these also tick all the right boxes. They really are as close to vintage as you could expect.

Comes in a reissue brown Lifton case with the Certificate of Authenticity and all of the case candy.

Weight: 8lbs 0oz
Pick up readings: Neck 7.6k, Bridge 7.9k