Epiphone Les Pauls

[jameshall]

Any of you have an Epiphone Les Paul? How are they, I'm thinking of getting one. How to the Gibson's?

[Aaron]

I am a big fan of Epiphone Les Pauls. They are very heavy and thus produce excellent sustain, similar to but not quite as good as the Gibsons. The only difference between Epiphone and Gibson Les Pauls is that the Epiphones are made cheaper. The quality of the parts and construction on the Epiphones is just not in the same boat as the Gibsons.
Overall, if you're looking for a mid level electric guitar, and you're a fan of the Les Paul, the Epiphone is a great buy. If you know how to work on guitars, then you can greatly improve some of its small flaws for very little money.

[danbos]

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Studio. For the money it's an amazing guitar. I payed $200 for it from musiciansfriend.com. I don't think I could have come close to this guitar for under $400. It's a nice looking guitar, sounds good, and stays in tune pretty good. The only problem I've had with it, is one of the intonation screws is loose and I have to tighten it every once in a while or it will rattle when I play that string. I don't really know anything about the 'higher end' Epiphones, if that's what you're looking at.

[lilmikey]

i do like it I basically like anything other than Ibanez.

[Martyred]

Any of you have an Epiphone Les Paul? How are they, I'm thinking of getting one. How to the Gibson's?

I dont know how the Epi's are, but the Gibson's are nice.
My parents bought me one for my birthday. :D

[Snap]

An Epiphone Les Paul Custom was my main gigging guitar for four solid years and really was a great workhorse.
They sound pretty good stock and are great guitars for the price but I did end up changing a lot on it (sperzel locking tuners, burstbucker pro pickups, straploks, volume pots, silver hardware, etc).

[E. Blues Gomer]

Epi's are decent guitars for the money, problem is you have to play many of them to find the one, and I found myself still gutting them and upgrading parts.

[Greyshades]

I've had an Epi Paul Classic, honeyburst, for at least 10 years +. It's never let me down. The only thing I've ever had to do is replace the tuners. The gears wore out, which happens with time. I put on some Grovers, and adjusted the bridge, and since then, polished it and changed the strings regularly.

It's got a fat, very Gibson-like tone. Between the settings (bridge-mid-neck), it's very versatile. I play through a BOSS GT-9 (I think that's what it is), and I can vary my tones enough with the EQ to go from the fat tone that's natural, all the way over to a nice Tele or Strat-esque twang. And the crunch... oh, the crunch... I can plug that thing straight into a Marshall, and just use the amp distortion, and frighten the paint right off the walls. With the bridge tones, I can get squeals with ease.

It's a good investment. Just make sure you play through a couple of them. Your best choice will be, obviously, the one that sounds best plugged straight in, with no effects.

[Jake]

I had an Epi Les Paul and loved it. I just traded it and an Epi acoustic (plus some cash) for a Gibson LP though.

[Greyshades]

Upgrading rocks.

One other note I forgot to mention about Epis:

The plastic flange piece at the input. Replace it. I don't know if anyone else experienced this, but it ends up drying out and cracking if you have to work on your input jack any. If you try to make due with it, it will allow your input to loosen regularly, and cause an issue with the signal. Swap it to a "Genuine" Gibson replacement input, which is all metal. This allows you to also put a locking washer on the post, so that you don't have to worry about it loosening.

[DustinMac]

I have a limited edition Les Paul Studio with gold hardware, grovers, and gibson '57 classic pickups. It is terrific. I would recommend that if you do get one, that you upgrade the electronics. Even with buying the guitar and upgrading the electronics, you'll be spending $1,000 less than for a Gibson and it will sound pretty close! It was my first real electric and it has a special place for me. :D

[lespaul59]

I have an Epiphone: SG and a Les Paul and neither guitars have ever let me down. I've played 30 or more Epiphone: Les Pauls and I've might have played some that I didn't really like but I've never played one with some of the problems some people clame to have. By the way my favorite shop was an Epiphone dealer and I played pretty much every Les Paul he ever got in along with a bunch of other Epiphones. I've even played a Epiphone Ace Frehley Les Paul that played and sounded better the the Gibson Usa version.

[Ehud Elijah]

I have an Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Custom on the way.

[guitarhero5150]

I have an Epiphone SG G-400 Faded (paid $300 at musiciansfriend.com) and I like it better than the Epi Les Paul that my buddy has because I can reach ALL the higher frets with ease. I personally have to fight every step of the way to play leads past the 12th fret on a Les Paul, and I have BIG hands. I also like the satin finish on the faded SG because my hands don't stick to it or leave fingerprints. I replaced the bridge pup with a Gibson Burstbucker 3 and I can get almost any tone i want with it, including the ellusive Third Day tone. I think you may like this guitar better than a Les Paul. Try one and see.
:cool:

[gasmanguitarist]

I have never been disappointed with my Epi LP's. I think they are great guitars, and are a better value than Gibsons. Sure, Gibson's quality is better, but I think that their sound is only slightly better but the price tag is 5x higher. I have 2 Gibsons, and I love them, but my favorite is still my Epi LP Standard in transluscent amber that my son "bought" for me on my 1st Father's Day. Never has let me down.