All user reviews of 4/5 for the Epiphone Les Paul Black Beauty

The Les Paul Classic with three humbuckers was a fairly popular model, and considering that Epiphone basically copies everything Gibson does, it's no surprise they'd release this. It has a mahogany body with a maple top, a set mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard and trapezoid inlays, 22 frets, binding all around, tune-o-matic bridge, three humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar was put together decently. However, there were some flaws. For one, the nut slots were cut too deep. You could tell because the strings would bind a bit when tuning, and they encompassed the string a bit too much. The fretwork was decent, but there were some sharp edges going on. If I were to keep this guitar, I'd probably round the fret edges a bit so they'd feel a bit better.

SOUNDS

The pickups in this are pretty average. They kinda lack character, but considering the price, it's pretty average for something like this. The bridge pickup has some bite to it, but it's a bit muddy. It seems to lose definition once you start adding some gain. The neck pickup is the same way, only I think the neck pickup on this was a touch bright. The middle pickup is the worst pickup of all, and that's partly because it's in the middle. I just don't like middle humbuckers, and you can't really split it with the other pickups like you can a single coil.

OVERALL OPINION

These are decent alternatives to the Gibson version, but remember that you're losing a few features such as the ebony board and overall build quality. I found it didn't sound quite as resonant as the actual Gibson version, and the nut/fretwork wasn't quite as good either. I'm not really sure why anybody would want a middle humbucker, but if you're looking for a decent guitar with a middle pickup, this might work out for you.