Specular problem

Hi, I am having a little trouble with my shader. The problem is that my specular map (stored in the mainTex alpha) has no effect, and the shinyness slider also has no effect. I thought that it because the vertex overlay blend mode is a heavy effect, but I removed a lot of code and still got the same problem (you can see the simpler code below it)

If you have any advice at all it is much appreciated. I'm sure I am just missing something simple.

Here is the code: shader "Custom/constructTex" { Properties{ _MainTex("Diffuse Texture", 2D) = "white"{} _BumpMap("NormalSpec Texture", 2D) = "bump" {} _vertStrength("Vert Color Strength",Range(0.0,1.0)) = 1.0 _Shininess ("Shininess", Range (0.03, 1)) = 0.5 } SubShader{ Tags { "RenderType" = "Opaque"}

         CGPROGRAM
         #pragma surface surf SpecularLight vertex:vert
         sampler2D _MainTex;
         sampler2D _BumpMap;
         half _vertStrength;
         half _Shininess;
         
         //**Lighting Model
         half4 LightingSpecularLight (SurfaceOutput s, half3 lightDir, half3 viewDir, half atten){
             half3 h = normalize (lightDir + viewDir);
             half diff = max (0, dot (s.Normal, lightDir));
             float nh = max (0, dot (s.Normal, h));
             float spec = pow (nh, 48.0);
             half4 c;
             c.rgb = (s.Albedo * _LightColor0.rgb * diff + _LightColor0.rgb * spec) * (atten * 2);
             c.a = s.Alpha;
             return c;
         }
         struct Input{
             float2 uv_MainTex;
             float3 vertColors;
         };
         
         void vert (inout appdata_full v, out Input o) {
             o.vertColors = v.color.rgb;
         }
         void surf (Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) {
             half4 tex = tex2D (_MainTex, IN.uv_MainTex);
             //**Here we multiply colors less than 0.5, add colors over, and colors in the middle are hue only. Sort of like a more advanced overlay blend.
             if(IN.vertColors.r+IN.vertColors.g+IN.vertColors.b>1.5){
                 tex.rgb = lerp(tex.rgb,clamp(tex.rgb+(2*IN.vertColors.rgb)-1,0.0,1.0),_vertStrength);
             }else{
                 tex.rgb = lerp(tex.rgb,tex.rgb*(2*IN.vertColors.rgb),_vertStrength);
             }
             half4 normalMap = tex2D (_BumpMap, IN.uv_MainTex);
             o.Albedo = tex.rgb;
             o.Normal = UnpackNormal (normalMap);
             o.Specular = tex.rgb;
             o.Gloss = tex.a;
         }
         ENDCG
     }
     Fallback "Diffuse"
 }

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

//Simplified code

 shader "Custom/constructTex"
 {
     Properties{
         _MainTex("Diffuse Texture", 2D) = "white"{}
         _BumpMap("NormalSpec Texture", 2D) = "bump" {}
         _Shininess ("Shininess", Range (0.03, 1)) = 0.5
     }
     SubShader{
         Tags { "RenderType" = "Opaque"}
         
         CGPROGRAM
         #pragma surface surf SimpleSpecular
         sampler2D _MainTex;
         sampler2D _BumpMap;
         half _Shininess;
         half4 LightingSimpleSpecular (SurfaceOutput s, half3 lightDir, half3 viewDir, half atten) {
             half3 h = normalize (lightDir + viewDir);
 
             half diff = max (0, dot (s.Normal, lightDir));
 
             float nh = max (0, dot (s.Normal, h));
             float spec = pow (nh, 48.0);
 
             half4 c;
             c.rgb = (s.Albedo * _LightColor0.rgb * diff + _LightColor0.rgb * spec) * (atten * 2);
             c.a = s.Alpha;
             return c;
         }
         
         struct Input{
             float2 uv_MainTex;
         };
         
         void surf (Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) {
             half4 tex = tex2D (_MainTex, IN.uv_MainTex);
             
             half4 normalMap = tex2D (_BumpMap, IN.uv_MainTex);
             o.Albedo = tex.rgb;
             o.Normal = UnpackNormal (normalMap);
             o.Specular = tex.rgb;
             o.Gloss = tex.a;
         }
         ENDCG
     }
     Fallback "Diffuse"
 }
 
 //////////////////////////////////////