tjon901 « Great Edwards Les Paul Custom »
Published on 07/05/11 at 08:10Edwards guitars is another line of ESP similar to LTD. 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 custom. It has a mahogany body with a maple top and a mahogany neck. The Edwards headstock has the right open book shape for a Les Paul Custom. The fully bound neck is ebony with 22 frets. There are large block inlays like you would find on a Gibson Les Paul custom. 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-4 JB in the bridge. This is a classic Seymour Duncan set. All the hardware is finished in gold. The electronics setup is a standard Gibson setup with a volume and tone knob for each pickup. The only thing that stands out on the guitar is that they use strange top hat knobs for the knobs. These can easily be changed to speed knobs for a cleaner look.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is a very accurate copy so it has all the quirks that a real Gibson would have. 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 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. Replacing these with roller bridges can make them more comfortable and decrease string breakages. When you change strings the bridge can come off because it is held on by string tension. If this happens make sure you put it on the right way because you can put it on backwards and your intonation will be horribly off. When this happens your guitar will sound in tune on the open strings but any chords you play will sound off. Some tune-o-matic guitars come with locking bridges now so they dont fall off when you change strings.
SOUNDS
No one will be able to tell this apart from a real Gibson from sound alone. 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 JB in the bridge is the jack of all traits and can be used for just about anything. 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 they are not heavy enough for you there are models that come with EMG's or you can swap them yourself.
OVERALL OPINION
If you play one of these you can really feel why Gibson does not want them sold in America. This guitars are the quality of all of a real Gibson at slightly more than a Epiphones price. You cant get a Les Paul Custom for 1000 dollars so Gibson clearly cant compete. They probably cost less than 1000 dollars to make but Gibson would never admit to that. This is a great alternative to a Les Paul Custom. You dont have to pay 4000 dollars for it so you can take it out and gig with it without feeling scared. If you are looking for a Les Paul Custom but only want to spend 1/4 the price you should try and import an Edwards.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is a very accurate copy so it has all the quirks that a real Gibson would have. 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 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. Replacing these with roller bridges can make them more comfortable and decrease string breakages. When you change strings the bridge can come off because it is held on by string tension. If this happens make sure you put it on the right way because you can put it on backwards and your intonation will be horribly off. When this happens your guitar will sound in tune on the open strings but any chords you play will sound off. Some tune-o-matic guitars come with locking bridges now so they dont fall off when you change strings.
SOUNDS
No one will be able to tell this apart from a real Gibson from sound alone. 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 JB in the bridge is the jack of all traits and can be used for just about anything. 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 they are not heavy enough for you there are models that come with EMG's or you can swap them yourself.
OVERALL OPINION
If you play one of these you can really feel why Gibson does not want them sold in America. This guitars are the quality of all of a real Gibson at slightly more than a Epiphones price. You cant get a Les Paul Custom for 1000 dollars so Gibson clearly cant compete. They probably cost less than 1000 dollars to make but Gibson would never admit to that. This is a great alternative to a Les Paul Custom. You dont have to pay 4000 dollars for it so you can take it out and gig with it without feeling scared. If you are looking for a Les Paul Custom but only want to spend 1/4 the price you should try and import an Edwards.