Edwards E-LP-105LTS/RE

A lot of people like new guitars, but they dislike the brand new look they have. On top of that, they dislike the poly that gets thrown all over these new guitars. This has a lacquer finish that has been aged from teh factory. It gives the guitar some more character, and there's even a debate about tone. The guitar has the following specs:

Mahogany body with a maple top
Mahogany set-neck with a rosewood fretboard
22 frets with Gibson-style inlays
Tune-o-matic bridge
Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck and Custom in the bridge
Two volumes
Two tones
Three way switch
Relic'd finish

UTILIZATION

The relic job on this was very nicely done. I've seen some super over the top relic finishes before, and ESP is guilty of doing this on some of their guitars as well. However, this was relic'd just enough to keep things looking worn without it being too over the top and looking stupid. The frets were pretty good, and they were fairly level. I was able to get some nice action on this without too much of an issue. A quick tweak of the truss rod fixed most things. The ends were also fairly rounded, but they could have been touched up a bit better. I would have liked to see them closer to the actual ESP guitars, but for the price, it's hard to complain.

SOUNDS

The guitar has a Seymour Duncan Custom in the bridge. This happens to be my absolute favorite Duncan pickup. It's like a thicker version of the JB, I've found. It can do everything the JB does and then some. It's not quite as "organic" as the JB might be, and a lot of that has to do with the Ceramic magnet, but it's tighter and just sounds better, I think. I've used this pickup from nearly every genre from blues to fusion to even death metal. It's just a great all around pickup. The neck is a Seymour Duncan 59, and this happens to be one of my favorite pickups in the neck. It's thick enough to where you can get a great lead sound, but it's also bright enough to cut through the mix. It doesn't have any annoying treble, and super smooth tones aren't an issue at all.

OVERALL OPINION

This is probably one of my favorite Edwards models. It has my favorite pickup combination in it, and the relic finish on this was done nicely. It makes it look like it has some character to it, and I find these guitars to be more consistent than normal Gibson Les Pauls. If you're looking for a guitar that doesn't cost a fortune but can deliver tone, definitely check these guitars out. They're very solid guitars all around.

Edwards is a small Japan only line of ESP guitars. They are Japan only so they can make really accurate copies without getting in trouble from Gibson. People have discovered them and realized their guitars are very good quality. This guitar is only about 1000 dollars whereas a real Gibson Les Paul Custom would go for thousands and thousands more. This guitar has all the same features or better features than a Gibson Les Paul Standard. It has a mahogany body with a maple top and a mahogany neck. This guitar is made to look like the Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul they made a few years ago. It even has similar relicing. It has gotoh tuners up top with a gotoh bridge out back. It has a Seymour Duncan SH-1 59 in the neck and a Seymour Duncan SH-5 in the bridge. The neck pickup is covered and the bridge pickup is uncovered in Jimmy Page style. The relicing job on this guitar isnt great. It is not the kind of quality you would get from a Fender Custom shop or Gibson Custom shop

UTILIZATION

Because of the set neck design there is a large neck tenon and joint. This can make the upper frets hard for some people to reach because the body essentially joins the neck at the 17th fret. After the 17th fret you are reaching around the body to get to the frets. The back of the neck is smooth due to the relicing process in which they sand down the neck a bit to give it a more aged look. This also removes much of the clear coat giving the neck a smooth satin feel. The Edwards guitars have super strong neck joints that are even bigger than on a normal Gibson. The tuning stability is good because there is no tremolo. The tune-o-matic bridge can be uncomfortable for some people. It has sharp edges where the strings come in contact and these can get into your hand.

SOUNDS

This guitar comes with better pickups than a Gibson would come with stock. This guitar sounds better than most Gibsons stock because of this. With the Seymour Duncan pickups the guitar already comes with some of the best pickups you can get so the tone is there out of the box. This pickup combination is something that Edwards uses in a lot of its Gibson copies. The 59 has a great PAF style tone. It has a good amount of sag and the mids are nice and pronounced. The Sh-5 in the bridge is the jack of all traits and can be used for just about anything. It is like a super hot rodded PAF You can get great overdriven tones all the way to searing high gain with it. Many Jackson guitars come with this pickup set so you know it can hang for metal too. If you are looking for even more metal tone you can throw in a set of EMG's but if you are doing that you should just get an ESP guitar that comes with them stock.

OVERALL OPINION

A Real Jimmy Page Les Paul from Gibson with the relic finish costs over 15000 dollars. This guitar is 1000 dollars. Its the same shape and is made of the same species of wood. The Gibson comes with Gibson pickups the Edwards comes with Seymour Duncans. You can play the Edwards without worried. The Jimmy Page you have to lock away in a vault somewhere. If you are looking for a guitar to play there is no reason why you should get the Gibson over this.