All user reviews for the Epiphone Goth Les Paul Studio

Gibson has a budget line of guitars made overseas named Epiphone. Epiphone makes guitars to pretty much the same specs as Gibsons except they are made overseas. The electronics are not as good but they are made from the species of wood but the wood may not be the best quality. Gibson has a line of Gothic series guitars which are all black and have a metal look so Epiphone makes a budget line of these guitars. This is pretty much a Les Paul studio with the black Goth paint job. They have the standard Les Paul setup with mahogany body with a maple top and a mahogany neck with a 22 fret rosewood fretboard. The fretboard has no inlays apart from a 12 roman numeral on the 12th fret. Two humbucking Alnico Classic pickups with dual volume and tone controls with a 3 way toggle switch pickup selector. The up position on the switch selects the neck pickup. The middle position on the pickup selector selects both pickups. And the down position on the pickup selector selects the bridge pickup. It has a tune-o-matic bridge and stop tail piece.

UTILIZATION

The Epiphone Goth Les Paul pretty much has the same advantages and disadvantages of any Les Paul. If you are use to modern guitars with thin necks the Les Paul neck will be very big for you. The 60s profile neck that this guitar has is slightly slimmer than the huge Gibson necks they use to use but it is still big compared to something like an Ibanez or Jackson. I would have preferred an ebony fretboard for a better feel and it would match the metal motif of the guitar better. 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.

SOUNDS

The most likely weak spot on any budget guitar is the pickups. The pickups Epiphone uses are not that great. They are pretty muddy and dead. You do not get much attack with these pickups. Since these pickups do not have much definition the neck position can get really muddy. With a high gain amp the sound might get muddy due to the lack of definition. With some types of music these pickups are great. If you want a bluesy sound these pickups will do really good and you will be able to get a smooth tone out of them. With a pickup swap this guitar can sound great so I would recommend to anyone who has one of these Epiphones to try it out with some after market pickups. Since this is supposed to be a metal guitar I wonder why they dont put hotter pickups in it. Some other Epiphones come with EMG's and I would strongly recommend those pickups for metal over these pickups.

OVERALL OPINION

Some smaller foreign companies are exceeding the quality of Epiphone nowadays for the same price. But being Epiphone it is like buying the official copy so its not like you are hurting the company. There are peices on this guitar that should be upgraded like the pickups but once you do that you have a solid metal Les Paul.

Made in China
Coprs in "Mahogany", 22 frets, two humbucker pickups alnico classic three position
Type fixed bridge
2 volume buttons and 2 tone (one per mic)
Channel tuning fork relatively short (24.75) but not very thick domed (closer to the U as D)

UTILIZATION

The handle is a real pleasure. I'm used to handle Ibanez RG and it does not look like dutout that. The handle is short, not very wide, thick and rather flat. Normally I should not enjoy, but it's really nice. Especially since it's fair, which is unusual for an entry level guitar. Also, what is very significant for someone who will start with this guitar, the factory setting is good.

Access to acute is not great. The heel of the neck is rather annoying and the fine is only 22 boxes. So for budding shreders is not what is best.

It is a very light guitar, which is cool for those who like to play standing. The weight and price makes it the beautiful wood used to make me doubt it is true mahogany ... but it is a good guitar to € 250!

The small body and form are not perfect les paul to play sitting ...

Also, have a volume and tone by microphones is rather pleasant. We can prepare two different sounds by playing with the switch positions without having to fiddle with the knobs.

SOUNDS

For the sound, alnico mircos are correct. The pickups in bridge distortion is not bad, relatively accurate, the harmonics come out very well. The pickups handle distortion is downright filthy ... ca drool, it's rough, short, ugly dutout! For clean sounds it's really not transcendental ... but hey, you can do with. The sound in general is rather dynamic in this price range. Afterwards, I had no opportunity to play in a group with, but I have a feeling that the sounds coming out of this guitar is pretty dug in the midrange, which will not get out of the mix group ... But hey, I'm looking for the little beast here!

I think this guitar is frankly typical metal: distortion sounds are quite nice and clear but the crunch is not beautiful. And frankly, the neck pickup is useless!

OVERALL OPINION

I do not own this guitar but I play a lot on that of a friend when I get the chance.
This is a good instrument for beginners, and the comfort of games makes it a good tool.

Frankly the sight of all the low end that I had the opportunity to test, this guitar is probably one of the best, even better than some schecter or ibanez are worth twice price.
Nikel finish is truly an instrument of this price.
And the look is, to my taste, really nice!

If one day I wanted to pay me a six string cheap and cheerful, I think I'll take that!