Gibson Les Paul Special SL w/ Humbuckers

The Gibson Les Paul is one of the most recognizable, classic electric guitar designs that has been around since the early 1950’s when the solid body electric was first invented. They’ve been at the center of rock and roll music for years and are still used widely today. Countless artists have recorded and performed live with them. When you walk into a GuitarCenter store, you’ll see a wall full of LP’s ranging in price for as little as $230 for a made in China Epiphone version to as much as $20,000 for a Gibson Custom Shop, signature recreation of a famous artist’s vintage guitar.

Les Paul’s made in the U.S.A. are still considered to be the best professional grade instruments that Gibson offers. They are excellent playing and sounding guitars built to a high standard with the best materials available, but that all comes at a premium. U.S.A. made Les Pauls are expensive and the prices continue to climb. Materials and labor costs are constantly rising and those increases ultimately get passed on to the guitarist. To help mange this, Gibson makes a range of Les Pauls starting with made in China versions under the Epiphone brand that look a lot like their U.S. counterparts. These Epiphone versions use lower quality materials, cheaper labor and fast, scaled production efforts in order to offer a more affordable guitar. While they aren’t as nice as the made in U.S.A. Gibson models, the import versions are fine. Some of them are actually gems, but even they aren’t immune to economic factors. Prices are expected to continue to rise on these imported models also due to the impact of tariffs on instruments and parts sourced from China.

Fear not fellow guitarists! There are still loads of used guitars available at your local guitar store and online for reasonable prices. Guitars like this U.S.A. Gibson Les Paul Special SL with humbuckers. These were made between 1998 - 2006. Specials often came with P-90 pickups, but this run was a modified version of the guitar that came with humbuckers. I see them often in mint condition for less than a new made in China Epiphone “Inspired by Gibson” Les Paul’ and I think that they are significantly better. The fit and finish is excellent compared to the imports and the materials used 20 years ago for a guitar like this are better than what is used on modern Epiphones.

It’s a striped down, no frills guitar. It doesn’t have fancy inlays on the headstock and along the neck like on a Les Paul Custom. It doesn’t have binding throughout or even a pickguard. It also doesn’t have a maple top like you would see on the more traditional Gibson Les Paul models. It has a solid mahogany slab body, a mahogany neck with dark rosewood fingerboard and block inlays. It comes with two humbuckers, a 490R in the neck position and 498T in the bridge. An ABR bridge, stopbar tailpiece, 3-way switch, 2 volume and 2 tone controls and Gibson Deluxe tuners. The neck has a 60’s slim taper profile with 12” radius. The body has a “belly carve out” in the back for more comfortable playing. They were available in two finishes, gloss black and gloss natural mahogany.

It’s very lightweight for a Les Paul due to not having a maple cap and also because of the carve out on the slab body. The absence of binding also helps relieve some weight. These are such great playing guitars and are a real value for the average price of a used one. The fretwork, nut, fingerboard, U.S.A. hardware and pickups are fantastic. From classic rock, metal and blues to jazz, the pickups deliver a wide range of tones that can be dialed in with the highly responsive volume and tone controls. The neck has a modern feel that plays smoothly with medium frets and low action. The fingerboard has a surprisingly thick slab of rosewood and the block inlays are a cool throwback to Gibsons from the 70’s.

Many players will turn their nose up at these because of their plain look. Let’s face it, they don’t look as cool as a LP Custom with all the frills, inlays and binding, but they are killer guitars and a great value. If you’re in the market for a Les Paul and are the type of player that puts more emphasis on build quality, tone and playability than aesthetics, this is one of the best guitars you can buy. If you’re an experienced Les Paul player and would like to have something lighter to play on long gigs, these guitars are a great option.