This guitar was one of the early reissues that Gibson offered back in the late 1990’s and I instantly fell in love with the finish, the famous TV-yellow color. The story goes that this particular color was developed by Gibson in the 1950s to solve the problem of the color white, which under the glare of bright television lights overpowered the black and white television cameras. It is believed that Gibson developed the color for Les Paul's (the player) frequent television appearances, although it is said that he never actually played a TV Yellow guitar (at least not on television). As I already owned a Les Paul Special single cutaway in cherry, I thought that this double cut in TV-yellow would make the perfect companion.

The Les Paul Special was originally introduced by Gibson in 1955, as a two pickup variation of their single pickup Les Paul Junior which was introduced a year earlier in 1954. Both the Junior and Special Les Paul’s were budget versions of the popular Les Paul model guitar. Note that the names "Junior" and "Special" refer to the number of pickups with the Junior having one and the Special having two and do not have any connection to body shape.

Originally retaining the single cutaway shape of the Standard, the body lacked the contoured maple cap and fretboard inlays of the more expensive Les Paul version. In mid-1958 the single cutaway body style of the Junior and Special gave way to the double cutaway version, similar to this reissue. After Gibson switched to the "SG" body style for ALL Les Paul models in 1961, the Les Paul Special and Junior body styles went out of production. Gibson did not reintroduce this model until the mid to late 1990’s.

 In typical Gibson (and other major manufacturers) fashion, Gibson later introduced a CHEAPER version and a more expensive/more accurate (Historic Series) version of the Les Paul Special. The cheaper reissues flooded the market and differed mostly in cosmetic touches, such as the lack of neck binding and the logo (decal on the cheaper version). The more accurate and expensive Historic (Custom Shop) versions of the Les Paul Special can be identified quickly from their tailpiece (bridge). Unlike this reissue, which has a tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece, which from a player’s perspective is better, the Historic was faithful to the original and used a non-adjustable bridge/tailpiece (wrap around) and P90 pickups. Some of the reissues are equipped with P100 pickups which are really two P90 coils combined (new humbucker style pickup). The P100 had a very similar sound as the single coil P90 without the disadvantage back ground noise. The P90 was almost as famous for picking up back ground interference (hum) from neon lights for example, as it was for its distinct sound. For purists and many collectors though, the P100 pickups sounded a bit weaker and lacked some of P90 tone. To my ear, it is hard to distinguish (other than the background noise/hum) but overall the P90 does have a small advantage.

This re-issue features a solid mahogany body and neck, 2 P-90 magnetic pickups, vintage "button" style Kluson tuners, a multilayered black/white pickguard, and black pickup covers, just like the original. This model does have a few differences when compared to the originals including, the tune-o-matic bridge (the original used a "wrap-around" tailpiece), a pearl Gibson logo (the original used a decal), and chrome hardware (the original used nickel). This guitar sounds and plays great and although it is not 100% authentic like the Historic Reissues, this guitar sure looks and feels the part. This is an excellent guitar and you have to love that cool TV-yellow finish. It serves as the perfect partner for my single cut cherry Les Paul Special.