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Epiphone Goth Les Paul Studio
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Epiphone Goth Les Paul Studio

LP-Shaped Guitar from Epiphone belonging to the Les Paul series

17 reviews
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3.9/5
(17 reviews)
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Audience: Anyone Value For Money : Excellent
Mythrandir1Mythrandir1

Simply a gem!

Epiphone Goth Les Paul StudioPublished on 04/19/15 at 17:34
This is the first guitar I bought and even though I have a Fender Strat lying around nowadays, this is the one I use for every music style I play. It is more than worth the price and I won’t exaggerate if I say that this guitar can be placed against some of the higher grade guitars which cost three times as much.
Before I continue, I need to mention that I have modified my Les Paul by changing the stock bridge pickup to a Seymour Duncan SH4 and I will separately discuss how this guitar behaves with its stock setup as well as with the SH4, which is probably the most commonly used upgrade in any LP. There was nothing wrong with the stock pickup; the replacement was a simple matter of...…
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This is the first guitar I bought and even though I have a Fender Strat lying around nowadays, this is the one I use for every music style I play. It is more than worth the price and I won’t exaggerate if I say that this guitar can be placed against some of the higher grade guitars which cost three times as much.
Before I continue, I need to mention that I have modified my Les Paul by changing the stock bridge pickup to a Seymour Duncan SH4 and I will separately discuss how this guitar behaves with its stock setup as well as with the SH4, which is probably the most commonly used upgrade in any LP. There was nothing wrong with the stock pickup; the replacement was a simple matter of taste which was also influenced by that little fanboy who lives inside all of us when it comes to our idols.

Features

As the name would suggest, this guitar is covered in a black satin finish which gives it a dark, somber look to it, while it lacks the standard fret inlays, except for the 12th fret which has the Roman numeral XII to add to its design. This is a solid body guitar, all in one piece built out of mahogany which gives the guitar a rich, warm tone. The neck is smooth with fast action, while being rather thick like most Les Pauls, especially when compared to typical Stratocasters which have skinny necks. The Tune-o-Matic Bridge used on this guitar is very simple and practical in design, making it extremely easy to adjust the guitars intonation, while its simplicity in design helps with a little extra boost of sustain when playing. This Epiphone boasts to have Grover tuning pegs, which hold the guitar in tune quite well if the stringing has been done correctly, even though I did have to grease up the interior of one of the pegs because it kept slipping during the tuning process.

The guitar comes standardly equipped with 2 open coil Alnico V Humbuckers, which certainly give the guitar a darker, warmer sound keeping in tone with its visual design. It has 2 tone knobs and 2 volume knobs, from my knowledge using the 250k potentiometers, and a 3 way selector which is placed above the neck pickup like on most LP’s.

The placement of the 3 way selector has always bothered me though, even if it’s in a typical location for a great number of guitars. Sometimes when strumming chords with a bit too much enthusiasm I accidentally hit the selector and switch from the bridge pickup to the neck one, completely throwing me off. This happens rarely nowadays, but I still wish the selector would be placed on the lower side of the guitar’s body, like on Stratocasters for example.

Meanwhile, I’d like to warn you to invest in a proper strap locking system. The stock strap pins are usually bad on any guitar, but many have ruined their LP through accidents. When I first played in a stand-up position, due to the guitar’s weight I assume, 1 of the pins slipped out but fortunately I managed to catch the guitar before it fell on the ground. Many people damaged their guitar in this way, so invest in Schaller, Fender or Dunlop strap locking systems to avoid any risks.

It’s also worth mentioning that replacing the guitars pickup with the SH4 was easy and straightforward and literally anyone can do it. There’s enough room to work with and it is extremely easy to follow the schematic. While performing this operation you might want to consider shielding the guitar’s inner cavity with copper or aluminum foil or tape, it helps to reduce any leftover hum or buzz, even though in my case this guitar didn’t buzz at all when plugged in.

Sound

I mainly play 80s hard rock, punk/ pop punk and progressive metal. This guitar certainly has the versatility to handle all of these genres but it clearly excels on the metal side. The stock Alnico’s along with this entire setup will give you a warm, dark, bassy sound. I find it perfect for anything involving heavy distortion, but for a cleaner sound I prefer the Stratocasters richness in mids and highs. There is no sign of random humming or feedback coming from the pickups. I did experience some heavy sympathetic vibrations (when you play a string and others vibrate along with it)… more than normal, and it turned out that the nut wasn’t cut and lubricated quite right and it caused this type of hum to be more pronounced than normal. With just a bit of filly and adding some graphite (from a pencil) the problem went away mostly. Some humming will exist though, all guitars have it to some degree and it is quite manageable. You can find ways to reduce it and learn to play cleaner in order to try to eliminate it as much as possible, but it’s actually barely noticeable. Back to the tone itself, as said before, these pickups favor the lower frequencies and will make your guitar sound very warm and alive. Natural and pinched harmonics sound great, while incorporating dead note chugging in your playing will also be fun with this kind of beefy sound. All of this I do using the bridge pickup, therefore I can’t really say much about the neck pickup because I never use it at all.

Moving on to the Seymour Duncan SH4 pickup, I must say it was a nice upgrade that gave me just what I wanted. I bought this pickup because of loving progressive metal, especially Tool’s guitarist Adam Jones which uses this SH4 and because I wanted more mid and high frequencies in my sound for this style. The warm quality of the guitar’s body certainly complements the SH4 which is a high output pickup with rich frequencies overall. It’s highly versatile for any style of music and now I get even richer pinched harmonics while my dead note chugs feel more aggressive. The sustain added by this pickup is simply phenomenal and it was certainly worth the upgrade.
I must warn you, however, if you want this pickup or any other upgrades for that matter and you only have a solid state practice amp, don’t bother. I noticed that with small solid state amps all guitars and pickups basically sound the same. A Gibson will sound like the cheapest Epiphone and so on. Invest in this pickup if you own a tube amp and if you want more mids and highs in your tone mix as well as simply a more powerful sound because the stock pickups focuses on the lows a lot more.

Guitar Setup and finish

I had to adjust my guitar’s intonation and action and most likely you will need to as well. They don’t all come the same, but in my case the action was extremely high while the intonation was somewhat off. Other than that I needed to also make a very small truss rod adjustment because of a slight fret buzz problem. Performing all of this can be done easily and gives you the chance to learn more about your guitar so don’t be afraid to learn how to set it up yourself. As for the finish, I find it to be of great quality, my guitar is 3 years old and while I banged it a couple of times, the paint still didn’t chip off. The only “problem” is that because of the matte finish, you will see every single dust particle and piece of dead skin on it. It is somewhat fun to see how much pick dust you can gather in the bridge area after a while. It’s easy to clean though, so it’s not a problem. Your fingerprints will also still like crazy to the pickguard. I have no idea why, but literally every print gets stuck to it… but again, it’s extremely easy to clean.

Reliability and Durability

This guitar is highly reliable and it’s great for any situation, including for live performances. If you aren’t a gym goer or an experienced Les Paul user, you might have some shoulder or back problems if you play for too long because it is still quite a heavy guitar. I have experienced no neck dive problems at all and the guitar seems solid enough to resist for quite a few years. The only weak part I find, as mentioned before, is the strap pins. They come out easily out of the guitar and if not careful you might drop it, so invest in some quality strap locks as soon as possible.

Overall Impression

I bought a great guitar at a perfect value and I turned it into my dream guitar. Even with the SH4 addition, this guitar still maintains some of its natural deep, dark sound and it’s simply perfect for the genres I play. I used to play my modified Fender Strat for Pop Punk and Punk before I modified this guitar, but nowadays the Fender is decorating my bedroom’s wall most of the time. This Les Paul certainly is everything I need and I simply love how it looks, feels and sounds. It’s my first, and the relationship is special, therefore I will certainly recommend it to any single beginner or pro on a budget looking for a good deal. Despite all the tiny issues I encountered and small adjustments I had to make over time, I am giving this guitar max rating because it’s a gem that needs only a bit of polishing in order to shine and you shouldn’t regret buying one.


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MGR/AnonymousMGR/Anonymous

Epiphone Les Paul Goth

Epiphone Goth Les Paul StudioPublished on 09/10/03 at 15:00
Bought this by mail order from Peter Cooks guitar world, brand new for £250. I would def recommend them - cheap, polite and fast delivery.

The thing I love most about this is its visual appeal - a matt black finish and all black hardware - ooh baby!!! The single VII inlay at the 12th give it a touch of class and the cross on the headstock is a bit gimmicky but cool nonetheless. Playing - clean, it's surprisingly good and not metally at all, a really good 'Hero of the Day' sound. Turn the overdrive switch on and it can sound fantastic if your settings and knobs are in the right place. I like it best on pure treble giving it a real AC/DC like sound with chords and a really good Metallica...…
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Bought this by mail order from Peter Cooks guitar world, brand new for £250. I would def recommend them - cheap, polite and fast delivery.

The thing I love most about this is its visual appeal - a matt black finish and all black hardware - ooh baby!!! The single VII inlay at the 12th give it a touch of class and the cross on the headstock is a bit gimmicky but cool nonetheless. Playing - clean, it's surprisingly good and not metally at all, a really good 'Hero of the Day' sound. Turn the overdrive switch on and it can sound fantastic if your settings and knobs are in the right place. I like it best on pure treble giving it a real AC/DC like sound with chords and a really good Metallica mute effect.

The worst thing is the strap handles, i'm constatly re-screwing the left and one so i'll need to get it replaced. I find it hard to get a good sound playing it heavy on the rhythm swicth. It's also quite thin and light (lighter than a strat) which does make it lose a bit of les paulness if you know what i mean. It can also get very dusty especially in the alcinos. Apart from that its top notch.

finish - excellent
set neck - better than screw on
fret board - surprisingly fast


Quite simply, for the money, you wont get a better guitar, but if your willing to spend another £50-£100, I'd go for a standard or a black beauty.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
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iamqmaniamqman

Gothtastic

Epiphone Goth Les Paul StudioPublished on 12/07/11 at 15:46
This is a Goth guitar that if you were any metal band or really like dark style of music and you probably would lean towards this instrument. It has a very dark brew rich black satin finish on the body. So therefore it just comes across very Gothic and macabre looking. Probably the reason why they used to word Goth as part of the model name for this instrument. It just gives off this mystique of dark cynicism. The tone remains there if you are after a thick mahogany based tone. The finished doesn't hide any of the guitars natural sound and feel.

UTILIZATION


Epiphone Goth Les Paul Studio Features:

Color: Satin Black finish
Body Wood: Mahogany
Neck Wood: Mahogany
Neck...…
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This is a Goth guitar that if you were any metal band or really like dark style of music and you probably would lean towards this instrument. It has a very dark brew rich black satin finish on the body. So therefore it just comes across very Gothic and macabre looking. Probably the reason why they used to word Goth as part of the model name for this instrument. It just gives off this mystique of dark cynicism. The tone remains there if you are after a thick mahogany based tone. The finished doesn't hide any of the guitars natural sound and feel.

UTILIZATION


Epiphone Goth Les Paul Studio Features:

Color: Satin Black finish
Body Wood: Mahogany
Neck Wood: Mahogany
Neck Profile: Set, 1-11/16" nut
Fingerboard: Ebony
Position Markers: "XII" inlay at 12th fret
Scale length: 24 3/4"
Number of Frets: 22
Pickups: 2 Alnico V Humbuckers
Controls: 2 volume, 2 tone
Pickup Switching: 3-way selector
Hardware: Black chrome
Bridge/Tailpiece: Stopbar

SOUNDS


This guitar has a nice warm thick tone especially when you use a nice medium to high gain amplifier. If you use a clean amplifier than this guitar really won't sound as good as it naturally can any high gain amp setting. The tone is very robust and driving. It's very easy to do a palm mute with a good thick rhythmic tone. This is a guitar that features Alnico V humbuckers to you get a really bright and brilliant sound from your pickups. Overall this is a cool guitar if you're really after that dark, mysterious Gothic look. Otherwise this is exactly same instrument as any other Epiphone LP, but it also comes in assortment of different colors and styles.

OVERALL OPINION


You can find his guitar for right around $350. That is a great price for someone is looking for an alternative or on a budget and doesn't want to pay the prices of a new Gibson Les Paul. Overall this is a cool guitar and I recommended to anyone who is looking for a sound that is particular to there rich mahogany Les Paul type tone.
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nickname009nickname009

Epiphone Goth Les Paul StudioPublished on 09/01/11 at 03:47
I can't remember where this was made. I bought this guitar when the goth series first came out. I thought it was pretty badass! I think they were made in Korea at the time, but they may now have them produced in China.

Anyway, the features:

Mahogany body and neck, set neck with rosewood board.

No inlays except the awesome roman numeral XII.

Alnico pickups, 2 volume and 2 tones with a 3 way switch.

Satin black finish, with a tune-0-matic bridge.

Decent tuners.



UTILIZATION

Pretty much an LP all the way around. Set neck and the big huge bulge there so you can't really reach up unless you have gorilla hands, which I don't.

There are no contours as far as I remember, it was pretty...…
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I can't remember where this was made. I bought this guitar when the goth series first came out. I thought it was pretty badass! I think they were made in Korea at the time, but they may now have them produced in China.

Anyway, the features:

Mahogany body and neck, set neck with rosewood board.

No inlays except the awesome roman numeral XII.

Alnico pickups, 2 volume and 2 tones with a 3 way switch.

Satin black finish, with a tune-0-matic bridge.

Decent tuners.



UTILIZATION

Pretty much an LP all the way around. Set neck and the big huge bulge there so you can't really reach up unless you have gorilla hands, which I don't.

There are no contours as far as I remember, it was pretty traditional shape-wise, nothing fancy. The fretwork was quite good when I got this, didn't have to do anything. Setup was ok too and it stayed in tune since it's not a floyd!!

So it's average.

SOUNDS

Sounds huh? Well let's just say the first few days I got this, I changed the pickups right away to EMGs and made this guitar a real workable guitar afterwards.

I just couldn't stand the pickups, they were too shrill and fizzy sounding. There was no soul, no clarity, no definition. Just complete noise and the cleans were completely sterile and lifeless as well. For such a big and warm sounding guitar you'd expect some better sounds, but I guess this is where they sort of 'cut corners' on this guitar.

I hated the pickups, period. They were never good.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall, my korean LP was awesome. Finish was fine, setup was good, frets were good. Guitar looked great overall, super metal look! Great aesthetic! The pickups were horrible so you need to change them if you want it to sound any good. Though I as is, it's horrible sounding in my opinion and needs to be upgraded!

I actually prefer this goth LP version to the gibson one, not only for the price point but there's no creepy old guy pictures of gibson himself (i think) on the back of the headstock on these like there is on the gibson version.

Also it's a traditional LP shape. So if you're used to playing these types of guitars and love'em for how they are then this wouldn't disappoint you in any way.

So it's decent. It's a working man's guitar that needs upgrades.
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Tech. sheet

  • Manufacturer: Epiphone
  • Model: Goth Les Paul Studio
  • Series: Les Paul
  • Category: LP-Shaped Guitars
  • Added in our database on: 08/14/2006

We have no technical specifications for this product
but your help will be much welcomed

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Other categories in Solid Body Electric Guitars

Other names: gothlespaulstudio, goth lespaul studio