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King Loudness « Beginner Les Paul. »
Published on 01/31/12 at 18:52The Epiphone Les Paul Special II is the lowest level LP copy made by Epiphone and is a decent ax for anyone looking to get into the Gibson feel but not pay for the higher level Epiphone or Gibson versions. It features a mahogany body, a bolt on mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard with 22 frets, a tune-o-matic/stopbar setup bridge wise, standard tuners, and a pair of OEM Epiphone humbuckers wired to a volume, a tone and a toggle switch. Pretty much a standard Les Paul as far as features go, but with the slimmed down electronics compliment and of course the cheaper bolt on construction. It also has a flat top as opposed to the carved one on the higher end models.
UTILIZATION
The ergonomics of this guitar really are nothing special to me. It's of a medium weight and seems to feel pretty LP esque when you strap it on your shoulders. That being said the bolt on construction doesn't feel right to me, and I'm not a fan of that style of construction on a Gibson type guitar. The upper fret access isn't bad but I can't really comment on it too much because it really isn't really all that remarkable or unremarkable. Getting a good tone out of this guitar isn't really a priority... the pickups are not great and honestly it's the type of guitar someone would get who doesn't focus on the sound, but rather just wants a basic set of clean and maybe distorted tones.
SOUNDS
The tones out of this guitar aren't particularly great to me. The bolt on construction combined with the cheaper pickups/electronics really makes for a fairly unremarkable sounding guitar to my ears. The clean sounds are pretty flat and not dynamic enough, and the drive sounds are pretty muddy and lacking in clarity. It's not really worth upgrading the electronics in this one either, so it's really the type of guitar you'd just use to learn on or if you want to play really loud, aggressive punk rock and don't care about the tones.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think this guitar is not really all that special. It offers a way to get into the Les Paul shape and feel for not a lot of money, but the quality isn't great, and the tones really don't represent the great tones of the real Gibson models. For about $200 new it's not a great deal, but you can get them for less used. It's in the same class as the Squier Affinities and such as far as quality... they have the shape and name but may not live up to them...
UTILIZATION
The ergonomics of this guitar really are nothing special to me. It's of a medium weight and seems to feel pretty LP esque when you strap it on your shoulders. That being said the bolt on construction doesn't feel right to me, and I'm not a fan of that style of construction on a Gibson type guitar. The upper fret access isn't bad but I can't really comment on it too much because it really isn't really all that remarkable or unremarkable. Getting a good tone out of this guitar isn't really a priority... the pickups are not great and honestly it's the type of guitar someone would get who doesn't focus on the sound, but rather just wants a basic set of clean and maybe distorted tones.
SOUNDS
The tones out of this guitar aren't particularly great to me. The bolt on construction combined with the cheaper pickups/electronics really makes for a fairly unremarkable sounding guitar to my ears. The clean sounds are pretty flat and not dynamic enough, and the drive sounds are pretty muddy and lacking in clarity. It's not really worth upgrading the electronics in this one either, so it's really the type of guitar you'd just use to learn on or if you want to play really loud, aggressive punk rock and don't care about the tones.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think this guitar is not really all that special. It offers a way to get into the Les Paul shape and feel for not a lot of money, but the quality isn't great, and the tones really don't represent the great tones of the real Gibson models. For about $200 new it's not a great deal, but you can get them for less used. It's in the same class as the Squier Affinities and such as far as quality... they have the shape and name but may not live up to them...