Gibson Les Paul Special SL

Purchased from Musicians Friend for around $500 USD

When I got it out of the box, it was in tune and intonated perfectly. Nothing especially flashy, no arch-top, and mini-trapezoids on the the neck, finish was flawless. Plugged it in clean to a Crate 60w on clean setting, beautiful mellow tone and incredible sustain, switching to the neck p/u, nice pure sound. Fretwork was good, with no discernable rough spots. Worked it out a little clean, then into the distortion pedal, absolutely fabulous. It is a wonderful sounding guitar. Well worth it, a Gibby for $500, can't beat it.

After a month of hard playing the finish really started to goop up. The back of the neck became increasingly tacky, as did the top where my pickin arm rested. I actually think the SL designation means "Sans Laquer"!! It really shows finger marks, and the tackiness can make it hard to change chords at first. After you work up a little sweat this isn't really a problem. It could probably do with a bit of light, fine sandpapering to smooth the tackiness out, and definately requires some TLC after a long sweaty session. Not overly fond of the tuning pegs, or machine heads, stays in tune well, just a bit difficult to get there sometimes. The p/u switch worked loose after about 3 months, which would cut-out one of the p/u's on occasion. And with the LP body, strap-loks are a must, the position of the front strap peg will inevitably lead to it coming undone at some point--protect your baby!!

Overall quality is very good, with the exception of the finish and the loose switch, no complaints. All the joints were perfect. I almost had a heart-attack when I carelessly set it against an amp, and then tripped on the cord, and watched it fall, in slow-motion, to a tile floor!! Not even out of tune!!! A chip in the headstock finish, wheeeew.

An instrument well worth the money.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com