If you want to buy a good guitar but don't have that much $$$, LP special might be a right choice. Have you heard of Gibson Les Paul? (duh...) Well, Les Paul special is basically the same guitar, with all the cosmetics stripped down. What is important about it - all the hardware is the same like on other (expensive) Les Pauls. I mean - pickups, tuners, bridge and so on. Unlike other companies, like Fender, the cheaper version of the same model doesn't necessarily comes from Korea and features crappy tuners. That's what is good about Gibson: you can always be sure you're buying the good thing. Even if you're not sure.

Now, as soon as we decided LP special is a very good instrument, let's talk about the details.

Specifications
Originally, LP special was a flattop Les Paul (like junior), with two p-90 single coils, mahogany body and neck, tune-o-matic bridge, and all the other Les Paul stuff - 3-way switch, 4 control knobs etc.
There are different modifications though.
Usually modern Specials equipped with P-100's instead of historical P-90's, which are sort of improved version of the same pickup - less noisy and so on. I never had a chance to play Gibson with P-90's, but I've heard they have more "bite" than P-100's, and really noisy.
Other LP special modifications include a version with humbuckers - they were made in the second half of the 1990's - mahogany body, flattop, no pickguard, two humbuckers - just like common Les Pauls. The finishes of these Specials were also very simple - red, white, black, or natural mahogany finish - no sunburst.
There are also other modifications, but it might take too long, so I'll stop here.

Differences between Les Paul standard and Special
The main detail: THE WEIGHT!!! I always hated Les Pauls because they are so heavy - you just physically cannot enjoy it because it is heavier than hell, so if you see someone playing a gig with his Paul, you have to respect him - he's a real hero. Check out every review written on Les Paul - it says "heavy, heavy, heavy..." But! Les Paul special - without the carved top - weights almost as much as stratocaster! It's not a light guitar, its body is still a massive slab of mahogany (about 4cm thick), but you can put it on. And survive a couple of hours onstage - without a pain in the back.

I've heard some players say the carved top adds sustain and depth to the sound of Les Paul, and that must be true, but my Special sounds amazing, much better than my friend's Les Paul with that top, so I guess there's no rule. And it's that sweet Les paul's sound, with all its endless sustain and clarity.

Differences between Les Paul and, let's say, SG
I thought about buying a SG once - it looks cool, it's light and it's easy to play. I've tried 'em a lot, but it's sound was far away from what I wanted. Probably due to the thin body it's so much thinner and midrangey than Les Paul, although it's a light, pretty and more affordable guitar. But I just could not get enough meat out of it. The dead line: I think Les Paul is probably the best-sounding Gibson guitar, and probably the most versatile one.

my LP special
A '99 LP Special, new, purchased for 1600DM in Berlin, natural mahogany finish, two-piece body, glued neck, two humbuckers (with chrome covers) wired in series, chrome hardware, gibson deluxe tuners etc.
What could I say?
It's a pure guitar - no makeup, no useless details. It plays like a dream (what a cliche!), it stays in tune, it can handle anything from jazz to metal, and you can even do that Tom Morello tricks with a 3-way switch. It's reliable, it's built to handle any abuse, and it's very hard to break.
When I've got it I naturally fell in love with it - I played it all the time, and when I got tired, I spent time looking at it and exploring its details. What a great guitar! All the parts, joints and details are just perfect - no flaws, scratches or whatever. I use it for live shows without a backup - not only because I don't want to carry my other guitar, and I already did some studio work with it - humbuckers are deadly quiet (just don't place it near the computer monitor), and it sounds sweet an full even at very low volumes (I recorded it through my Danelectro 15W bass amp - the cheapest and the best of them all!).

Tips
1. Seems like it holds tuning better with 3-5 wounds rather than with the whole string wounded around the tuner.
2. It won't hurt to clean the back of the neck (and the rest of the instrument), because its glossy finish sometimes gets sticky.
3. Get a hardshell case for your Gibson if you don't have one. It deserves it.
4. Good strap lockers won't hurt. I used to lock my strap with some black tape on the rest of my guitars, like Cobain, Korn dudes and so on, but Gibson's aesthetics don't go together with that tape.
5. The best distortion you can get is a Sola-Sound Tone Bender fuzz. It's the stomp box used by Jimmy Page on two first Zeppelins. I've got the original, but I've seen reissues in London, in a shop of vintage stuff close to Denmark street. Other pedals don't kick that much a*s with Les Paul. Fuzzface is much better with single-coils, Tube screamer and such sounds not that clear with their crazy gain, and Muffs I don't like. That's my private opinion. I'm sure there are better pedals, I just haven't seen one yet.

Nothing to add... I hope it will serve me and my children for many, many years. One of the best guitars I ever played.


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