Epiphone Les Paul Customs-Any Opinons? (1 Viewer)

[JonZ]

If you have $600, I think you should wait and save up for a better guitar. My first bass was a Epiphone and I wouldnt buy another.

Alot of people say theres no big difference between the imports or lower models compared to the USA Handmade stuff, but believe me, there is!

You should be able to find a decent guitar for around $600.
I would recommend a guitar made before the 90s.New doesnt mean better where guitars are concerned. In fact,I think youd be much better off with a older guitar from someone who took good care of it.

Good Luck!

 

[Ike]

Does anyone have any kind words for the Mustang? I still think it's a cool looking guitar, and were it not for Jeff's negative comments, it'd be the forerunner in my guitar search.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

You really need to plug these things in and play them to hear what they sound like. The Mustang has always been a fringe guitar, and one of Fenders lower sellers (well under Strats and Teles). They have thier own sound, and if that's what you want, great, but I wouldn't be looking at a Mustang for my principle axe.

I also would advise against relying on pedals for distortion, but that's personal taste. Give me an old 50W Marshall played LOUD and you get the amp doing what is meant to, with preamp, power tubes and speaker cone combining for a rich, harmonic crunch, without a bunch of odd-order fizz mucking up the tone. However, for a home setup, I'd probably suffice for a POD these days if volume was an issue. A good range of tones, easy to record, and you can plug it into your stereo if need be.

As for the bolt on/set neck, I would say this is only an issue with cheap guitars that don't use good body wood, or those whose scale length doesn't suit the body. I can easily get as much sustain out of my Fenders as my Les Pauls if they are set up right.

Looking at Ebay, the price for a used Les Paul Studio and the Epi studios are pretty damn close.

To compare a Paul to a Strat (with humbucker) as far as diversity goes, you have the following:

Les Paul - dual humbuckers: Thick, but biting tone on the bridge, with a creamy, blues tone on the neck pickup. Mid position is often mud.

Strat: Thick (though not the same as a Paul due to body composition) tone on bridge, plus 4 other cleaner tones from the other positions. If I could only have one guitar, it would be a fat Strat. I would coil tap the humbucker for even more variety.

Get thee into a guitar store, and get your hands on a guitar and plug it in. You'll know pretty quickly what sucks and what doesn't. I've seen some very attractive guitars that just didn't cut it when amplified.

 

[JonZ]

I forgot about this guy.
Highly recommended!!!!!!
I've dealt with him.Hes fair and honest and asks very reasonable prices and deals with lots of Gibsons.
Check out his site you wont be disappointed.
http://www.chrisguitars.com/

 

[Joe D]

The best advice you can get for guitar buying is go to Mars or Guitar Center and play a bunch of the guitars there. See what you like and don't like.

You should also look at what kind of sound you're going to want to get with the guitar. If you play mostly clean stuff, buy a guitar with single coil pickups, if you're into distortion, buy some humbuckers. Fender's will get you a great clean sound, but a poor distortion sound. Gibson's on the other hand will get you a decent clean sound and a great distortion sound.

Neck construction is also important, do you like the big heel like a fender has due to its bolt on construction, or do you prefer a neck thru body construction style guitar.

Ultimately go to a guitar store and play a whole bunch of instruments, pick three that you really like. Go back another day and play those three.

My personal preferences in guitars are Gibson, which I own a Les Paul, and Ibanez, which I would like to own a Jem someday.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Give me an old 50W Marshall played LOUD and you get the amp doing what is meant to, with preamp, power tubes and speaker cone combining for a rich, harmonic crunch, without a bunch of odd- order fizz mucking up the tone.

Actually, a little modern Fender 12W tube amp cranked up the same way sounds LOADS better to me than the big Marshall. Distortion on the power amp stage of a small amp sounds even better than the preamp distortion of big tube rigs IMO.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Yes, it is the integration of the power tubes going into distortion that makes the sound, hence the LOUD part. I'd play my Hiwatt more if it didn't cause my teeth to rattle to get "the tone". I haven't tried any of the new Fenders, but love low watt oldies, but more for their clean sounds than dirty ones.

Back to the guitars, while Gibson and Fender are the majors, there are other good boutique guitars in that price range that are also good, but with my personal aversion to many of the body, and especially headstock, designs, there are few I'd want around. The old Charvels are a pretty good bang for the buck, despite the cheap neck design (also used by Ibanez) with two piece wood. You won't find the new though. There are also Kramers, Hamers, etc that could work for you.