This was purchased by myself several years ago from a guitar shop co-owned by BJA on their opening day. The story I was told was that this is one of several prototypes created for Billie to try out while they developed his signature model, although I've never seen another one for sale. The serial dates this to mid-2005. The final models would be released in 2006. I have no intention of ever selling this, but I thought this might be good to document and of interest to some.
The differences between this and the production model are
The differences between this and the production model are
- 50's style chunky neck. Production models have a slim-taper neck profile.
- Black single-ply pickguard. Ebony production models had tortoise-shell, but white and sunburst kept the black pickguard
- The signature on the back of the headstock is rotated 90° clockwise
- Headstock says Les Paul Special
- Tone control is a push-pull pot to dis/engage the second coil in the H90 pickup