Mid-way through my list of “Guitars-That-I-Should-Have-Kept” is the 1959 Les Paul “TV Special” one that I got in a trade for a 1976 Wurlitzer electronic piano (I should have kept that piano but you still see them on on Ebay). This guitar was a step up from the least expensive Gibson electric, the Les Paul Junior.

Guitar virtuoso Les Paul brought a solid body to his friends at Gibson in 1941 but they rebuffed the famed player until Leo Fender designed and marketed such an instrument with the introduction of the “Broadcaster” in 1948. Renamed the Telecaster two years later, Fender’s creation remains a mainstay of country and rock musicians who like its clean, biting sound.In 1951, this initial rejection became a design collaboration between the Gibson Guitar Corporation and Les Paul.

It was agreed that the new Les Paul guitar was to be an expensive, well-made instrument in Gibson’s tradition. However, there was a large student population to think about, a group who were happily buying the inexpensive “Telecaster.” So Gibson countered with the “Les Paul Junior,” a one-pickup, single cutaway, mahogany-slab guitar.

1959 Gibson Les Paul TV Special

(Picture from the Gibson Catalgue)

In 1959, Les Paul appeared on his TV show with a double-cuaway, 2-pickup version of the Junior and it became known as the “TV Special.” Unfortunately, this version was discontinued because there were other products that were becoming popular like the SG’s and upper-echelon Les Paul’s.

The twin P-90 “black bitches” are astounding pickups. The use of the Alnico 5 magnet makesthe P-90 a powerful pickup with a high, mid-range output making it more than suitable for rock. Pete Townsend used these pickups on the Who Live at Leads album and Leslie West played a Les Paul Junior to get the long, sustaining leads on Mississippi Queen with Mountain.

During my “acoustic phase,” in 1990, I sold it for $800. Like my other old guitars it was refinished so the price was good for the time.