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Lot 54 THE LES PAUL SPECIAL
The Les Paul Special was introduced by Gibson in 1955 in an effort to fill a price point void in their catalogue. The original standard Les Paul Model, which the brand was built on, sold for $235 at the time. The more luxurious Les Paul Custom was priced at $360, while the single pickup budget priced Les Paul Junior sold at $110. Realizing that guitars at the lower end of the value range sold at higher volumes, while trying to compete with the less expensive Fender Telecaster, a two pickup version of the Les Paul Junior was introduced. The Special will always be associated with the “limed mahogany” finish unique to Gibson. Though referred to later as “TV Yellow,” the finish was a translucent blonde color, not too unlike a Fender finish, though of better quality. Like all Les Pauls, it had a solid-body with a single cutaway, until late 1959 when the body style changed to a double cutaway.
The Les Paul Special was introduced by Gibson in 1955 in an effort to fill a price point void in their catalogue. The original standard Les Paul Model, which the brand was built on, sold for $235 at the time. The more luxurious Les Paul Custom was priced at $360, while the single pickup budget priced Les Paul Junior sold at $110. Realizing that guitars at the lower end of the value range sold at higher volumes, while trying to compete with the less expensive Fender Telecaster, a two pickup version of the Les Paul Junior was introduced. The Special will always be associated with the “limed mahogany” finish unique to Gibson. Though referred to later as “TV Yellow,” the finish was a translucent blonde color, not too unlike a Fender finish, though of better quality. Like all Les Pauls, it had a solid-body with a single cutaway, until late 1959 when the body style changed to a double cutaway.
GIBSON INCORPORATED, KALAMAZOO, 1960
A SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, LES PAUL SPECIAL, TV
Closed20 June 2019
Price Realised
USD 100,000
More Information
Specialist note
David Gilmour purchased this guitar in California on 25th June 1984 while on tour in support of his 1984 solo album About Face and kept it primarily for studio use. Gilmour had acquired the guitar as a replacement for his first Les Paul Special, which was purchased from a Seattle pawn shop in early October 1970 during the North American leg of the Atom Heart Mother World Tour, and was later stolen from Gilmour’s home studio in 1976. A frequent collaborator with both David Gilmour and Roger Waters, Chester Kamen used this guitar when performing with Gilmour as second guitarist during the last two legs of the Rattle That Lock Tour from June to September 2016.