Stop buggering around with Epiphones, save a little and buy Gibson

se7ent7 · 2009-10-17T14:51:27+00:00

Just a pet hobby/interest/rant of mine I have to let loose.. - if you're going to spend good money on a Les Paul, rather sit and wait for a good deal on a Gibson Les Paul studio. You can rant all you want about how good an Epi with replacement USA pups may be, but that's just because you've probably never owned a Gibson USA. Epis are becoming unrealistically expensive for what they are, and for the R6 - R7k some people are selling them for now you can almost or or actually buy a good Gibson Les Paul studio - or even a battered 80s or 90s standard or classic if you're lucky. They're miles apart and worth the extra cash. Epis feel and sound like toys compared to good or even medium Gibbos. I've owned 3 studios and two standards - and some Epis before that - I know what I'm talking about. You can pick up a good LP studio for between R7000 and R12k (maybe even lower) if you wait around a bit. And if you're not specifically after an LP go for the Faded series Gibson SG. There have been some floating around for between R5500 and R7500 recently. Miles better than any Epi.. Epi's may "look" better but its only skin deep (literally - their "flame maple tops" are only flamed maple veneers. They're all just cheap chinese plain top maple caps underneath.) The other option is Epiphone Elite/Elitist Japanese made Les Pauls, but you don't see them in SA. What you do see sometimes (although rarely) is some fine 70's,80s and 90s Japanese replicas like Orville and Tokai. Most of them are actually or almost on par with Gibson USA. Another option is to look for some early 80's Ibanez Japan artists or set-neck LP copies - but they are a rare find these days. The Japanese know what they're doing. The Koreans are learning and the Chinese are noobs, but slowly getting there ? In the meantime save a bit and buy Gibson USA (its not so far out of your reach than you think!). Another thing to mention, is that an alternative option to Gibson/Epis in terms of double humbucker mahogany set-neck axes are the Korean made PRS SE guitars. Much much better than any Epi and only slightly more expensive second hand.

singemonkey

Oh. Be warned. Some of them are *really* heavy. In another weight category compared to the "weight relieved" or "chambered" (I think of both as "gutted" ? ) modern Les Pauls.

Skywalker

I can imagine they're a tad on the heavy side. I played on a 70's custom a while back and walked around like quasimodo for a few hours afterwards - not nice ? But for the tone and feel i reckon it's worth it :-\

chris77

Theres '97 Gibson les Paul being advertised in Junkmail for 9500.00. Probably a Studio, but even then its still a good price. Also a MIM strat for 5000.00 which seems decent. And for the financially sound, how about a cherry burst ES-335 for 22000.00...

Tone

Hey Alan I love this advice! I feel the same way. My first electric was an epiphone Les Paul classic and was good fun to learn on but WOW there is no comparison between even the top of the range epiphone compared to a Gibson Les Paul Standard (or any of the Gibson Range)!

Tokai-SA

Marco Melfi wrote Hey Alan I love this advice! I feel the same way. My first electric was an epiphone Les Paul classic and was good fun to learn on but WOW there is no comparison between even the top of the range epiphone compared to a Gibson Les Paul Standard (or any of the Gibson Range)!

Are you "Guitar Tone"?

Tone

Tokai SA wrote
Marco Melfi wrote Hey Alan I love this advice! I feel the same way. My first electric was an epiphone Les Paul classic and was good fun to learn on but WOW there is no comparison between even the top of the range epiphone compared to a Gibson Les Paul Standard (or any of the Gibson Range)!
Are you "Guitar Tone"?

No I'm not Guitar Tone, my father is. My father doesn't play I do ?

singemonkey

Marco Melfi wrote Hey Alan I love this advice! I feel the same way. My first electric was an epiphone Les Paul classic and was good fun to learn on but WOW there is no comparison between even the top of the range epiphone compared to a Gibson Les Paul Standard (or any of the Gibson Range)!

Depends what you mean by "top of the range" though. The Japanese Elitist Epiphones have a reputation for being plenty wicked LPs. But those are a far cry from the bog standard epi made in China.

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