EPIPHONE Guitars: The good, the bad and the not so ugly??

ZarK · 2010-07-07T11:56:39+00:00

In my quest for some decent budget guitars to be used for alternate tunings only, I have considered many. One brand that stuck in my mind over the years is E...

EPIPHONE Guitars: The good, the bad and the not so ugly??

ZarK

I'd definately want a set neck with mahogany body and neck on a Les Paul...

vic

ZarK wrote: I'd definately want a set neck with mahogany body and neck on a Les Paul...

Zark...hop down to Marshall Music (Zietsie says he has seen a few there) and check the Epis out. Also check for the specs of the materials used and if they are MIJ, MIC, MIK....etc and kindly let us know... ?

singemonkey

Donovan Banks wrote: It bodes well for discussions as well, every time someone mentions Gibson or Epiphone lately the discussion goes in one direction.

It wasn't until just then.

If Epi LP's are really going for R5K, that's very cheap. I've consistently seen them going second hand for that money. They've certainly been seen going for a lot more recently (way to much imo), so perhaps the second hand market was eating their sales. Now if only they'd bring all local guitars down to reasonable prices.

DonovanB

singemonkey wrote: If Epi LP's are really going for R5K, that's very cheap. I've consistently seen them going second hand for that money.

We also don't know which Epi is going for that price. It probably isn't the Custom.

ZarK

vic wrote:
ZarK wrote: I'd definately want a set neck with mahogany body and neck on a Les Paul...
Zark...hop down to Marshall Music (Singe says he has seen a few there) and check the Epis out. Also check for the specs of the materials used and if they are MIJ, MIC, MIK....etc and kindly let us know... ?

I shall do that asap! (Already spoke with them.)

killafo

Fair enough.

I have an EPI LP standard second hand....paid R4,500 for it, beautiful burst.
My '93 Gibson LP standard second hand picked that up for R14,500....yes it is original, made in USA with original case. So its not far fetched. Learn to bargain!!!
As far as the Tokai, went to Marshall Music here in Hillcrest LP standard was R9k. So prices may vary from where you live i guess.

MikeM

Yea anything more than R3500 for an epi with a case is too much IMO 2nd hand.

On the topic of good deals, I paid R1400 for my Epi that was in crappy nic, but it's actually a stunning guitar. No case though.

ZarK

singemonkey wrote:
Donovan Banks wrote: It bodes well for discussions as well, every time someone mentions Gibson or Epiphone lately the discussion goes in one direction.
It wasn't until just then.

If Epi LP's are really going for R5K, that's very cheap. I've consistently seen them going second hand for that money. They've certainly been seen going for a lot more recently (way to much imo), so perhaps the second hand market was eating their sales. Now if only they'd bring all local guitars down to reasonable prices.

?

A Gibson will always be a Gibson... No matter how long or clever the debate... You just have to decide if they are value-for-money to you. If you're buying a "copy" but really lust for the real thing, you'll probably never be satisfied untill you get the real thing, so you might as well start saving... I'll be happy with 90% of an authentic Les Paul's tone at 25-35% of their cost. -if thats at all possible. It would be epic if I could do that with a pimped epi! I should know soon enough... ?

killafo

Honestly a well build EPI with a set neck and a change of pick ups would get you more than half way there to a gibson, but like you say a Gibson is a Gibson and an Epi is an Epi. Good luck with your buy!!! Post picz or it didn't happen, ?

singemonkey

killafo wrote: Fair enough.

I have an EPI LP standard second hand....paid R4,500 for it, beautiful burst.

That's what I thought. And it's why, if the Epi standards are going for only R500 less new, it's a really good deal.

My '93 Gibson LP standard second hand picked that up for R14,500....yes it is original, made in USA with original case. So its not far fetched. Learn to bargain!!!

I fully agree. On Gumtree, LP Standards tend to go for under R20K. And R15K would be a good price to pay for one.

As far as the Tokai, went to Marshall Music here in Hillcrest LP standard was R9k. So prices may vary from where you live i guess.

True. And this is a very good price for the low-end of the made-in-Japan Tokai models which are built to specs that rival Gibson factory models like your LP Standard. Their Made-in-China range is more of a rival for Epiphone and should retail for less. Still, I would expect the average sticker price of an MIJ Tokai to be higher than that, unless all the stores are reducing their sticker prices to more reasonable levels.

To clarify this issue (because I have an interest in Tokais and it is relevant to this discussion), you can easily tell new MIJ from MIC Tokais. The MIJ's have a two-screw truss-rod cover, while the MIC's have a three screw cover. Obviously if you're buying second-hand someone could have changed the TRC and you have to do further investigations.

vic

ZarK wrote:
singemonkey wrote:
Donovan Banks wrote: It bodes well for discussions as well, every time someone mentions Gibson or Epiphone lately the discussion goes in one direction.
If Epi LP's are really going for R5K, that's very cheap. I've consistently seen them going second hand for that money. They've certainly been seen going for a lot more recently (way to much imo), so perhaps the second hand market was eating their sales. Now if only they'd bring all local guitars down to reasonable prices.
?

A Gibson will always be a Gibson... No matter how long or clever the debate... You just have to decide if they are value-for-money to you. If you're buying a "copy" but really lust for the real thing, you'll probably never be satisfied untill you get the real thing, so you might as well start saving... I'll be happy with 90% of an authentic Les Paul's tone at 25-35% of their cost. -if thats at all possible. It would be epic if I could do that with a pimped epi! I should know soon enough... ?

Wise words Zark... :? Ito of getting the Les Paul tone...you should of course have the right amplification as well...Don't think you'll get that tone from a 1*5 5 watter. ?

ZarK

killafo wrote: Honestly a well build EPI with a set neck and a change of pick ups would get you more than half way there to a gibson, but like you say a Gibson is a Gibson and an Epi is an Epi. Good luck with your buy!!! Post picz or it didn't happen, ?

Fair enough! LOL :goodtimes:

I've had A Gibson LP before. I'll probably have at least one again in the future. I have to try an Epi for myself...

singemonkey

ZarK wrote: A Gibson will always be a Gibson... No matter how long or clever the debate... You just have to decide if they are value-for-money to you. If you're buying a "copy" but really lust for the real thing, you'll probably never be satisfied untill you get the real thing, so you might as well start saving... I'll be happy with 90% of an authentic Les Paul's tone at 25-35% of their cost. -if thats at all possible. It would be epic if I could do that with a pimped epi! I should know soon enough... ?

Sure sure. Even that Jimmy Hendrix Gibson strat will continue to be a Gibson ?. I won't get into this again here in case we hear cries of persecution. For some people the guitar isn't the guitar if it doesn't have the originator's mark on it. People who consider an Epiphone original extend the notion of the company's ownership to the guitar - mark or not. I get it.

For others, the guitar isn't the guitar if it's not built the way it was originally. Some people just want the best bang for buck no matter who, or how faithful to the original concept it is. Different strokes.

But please. Tokais are relevant to buying a Les Paul. Secondly, there are probably many people who would feel the way I do about the issue but who don't know about their existence - and so it's relevant to bring up and I will continue to do so. I prefer Tokais to Agiles, and yet I wouldn't imply that someone mentioning Agiles in a discussion of Les Paul copies was trying to derail the discussion. In terms of Les Paul GAS, not everyone assumes non-Gibson owned products don't qualify.

vic

Zark's intention is to upgrade an Epi to sound like a real Les Paul.....if I 'm correct? He sees it as a project so to speak.

ZarK

vic wrote: Zark's intention is to upgrade an Epi to sound like a real Les Paul.....if I 'm correct? He sees it as a project so to speak.

Absolutely correct.

I've been part of similar debates in the past and the only way for me to reach a real conclusion is to just do it and see/hear for myself. I am open to Tokais as brand as well -as I am to most other brands. I played one at Bothners a while back. Excellent fit, finish and playability I must ad, but still double the price of an Epi and very much a brilliant "copy" where an epi is more of a stand alone guitar imo. (By brilliant copy I mean to say the R10k Tokai I played had a better fit and finish than my R30k Gibson albeit without the R20k logo that's worth even more than that to many, many people. I don't think you can formulate a price for MOJO...)

I’d like to see once and for all how little I can spend to get a Les Paul sounding like the real deal. When we listen to the recording I'd like a pro to murmur: That's a Les Paul, no doubt. If I can achieve this at 25% of the original's price, I'll probably change a few of my own opinions…

doncorleone

IDK about you, but i would recommend Squire Strat. Love the tone. Still SOunds like a Fender

Bob-Dubery

doncorleone wrote: IDK about you, but i would recommend Squire Strat. Love the tone. Still SOunds like a Fender

It might be a very good instrument, but I wouldn't recommend it to somebody who is thinking Les Paulish thoughts.

doncorleone

oops. was he, then? ok, epiphone is good!

Tokai-SA

What does a "good" Les Paul sound like?

How does one establish what a good Les Paul sounds like?

Bob-Dubery

There are instances of great sounding Les Pauls that turned out to not be standard and thus not typical of the Les Paul sound and certainly not sounding the way they were intended to sound and the way they sounded when they left the factory. EG Peter Green's Les Paul.

Oh... I'm not picking on Gibson here, it's just the obvious example to use following on from Lance's post. The same point can be made RE Fenders and any other brand. The fact that there are all those signature model Strats shows that at the very least some Strats are more equal than others.