Les Paul Special or Junior intonation

[Deluxe78]

Why not put a tune-o-matic on these guitars? Intonation is way more important than cool looks.  What do you say, Gibson?

 

[Leonard McCoy]

Spoilers: Mr. Orville Gibson is long gone, mate. Don't expect a reply from beyond the world of the living.

[merciful-evans]

Have you intonation problems on these? Are you using a drop tuning or something? 

[Grog]

I recently bought aLP Jr Tribute. I was surprised at how close the intonation was with the compensated tailpiece. If it isn’t close enough, you can always add a Badass type bridge with adjustable saddles.

[Twang Gang]

I believe the answer to the OP's question if that a wrap around tailpiece/bridge combo is less expensive than a separate tune-o-matic bridge and stop bar tailpiece.  The price of the Special or Junior would have to go up if they included those features.

[mihcmac]

I think using the wraparound bridge is partly a retro thing, because first solid body Gibsons used non-compensated wraparound bridges. There is a tone thing that happens with P90's when the strings are wrapped around a solid piece metal and works quite well. The compensated wraparound bridge appeared sometime in the 60's, then the 70's saw the adjustable BadAss. The Jr style guitars were inexpensive usually costing just around a $100, when they were first released. So the higher end Gibsons started coming with TOM bridges in the mid 50's, for the players requiring finer intonation. But the Jrs sound of P90's and a wraparound bridge helped launch the Southern Rock sound and later Punk players like Billy Joe.

Note that Gibson has offered Jr style (and Specials) guitars with TOM bridges, at different times.

Also note that Gibsons with humbuckers rarely ever came with wraparound bridges, tying them to the P90.

Edited May 11, 2020 by mihcmac

[mihcmac]

Because nothing is absolute a new Les Paul Special Tribute w/Humbuckers and a Wraparound Bridge.

And its stable mate a Les Paul Special Tribute w/P90's and a Wraparound Bridge.